As a PR practitioner I am like the proverbial plumber…so busy fixing everybody else’s drains that I don’t have time to fix my own leaking tap.
I have three main PR jobs. The first is as a consultant to a bank, the second is a board member for the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) in Thailand, the third is the small business owner of a resort. Every week day I spend 10 to 12 hours in a manic whirl of activity at the bank. Once a month I send out a flurry of emails and calls as I organize the monthly IABC meeting. As for promoting my own business? Well that only gets done when I have time…a few minutes snatched here and there and a concentrated effort about once every three months.
Sounds familiar?
If you know anyone who works in PR (which I am sure you do) you will have noticed that there are three basic modes…busy, frantically busy, or unbelievably busy. Heaven forbid that anyone would confess to being laid-back and relaxed!
But perhaps we should critically review ourselves and how we operate.
In his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Stephen Covey pointed out that ineffective people are forever scrambling around trying to cope with the daily demands of life. Effective people, he says, make time for the things which have long term rather than immediate benefits. These may include planning, mentoring others, and learning about new trends.
Our own brains are our own worst enemies when it comes to these less urgent activities. How often has a good idea popped into our heads but we have dismissed it,“ Nah,” we tell ourselves “it probably wouldn’t have worked.” What a shame that we ignore our brilliant ideas in order to grind our way through the usual “unbelievably busy” day.
Yesterday I realized with a jolt the value of these “extra” things that we usually put off. I did a Google search on my own name and was astonished to discover that the top two entries and half of all the entries on the first page were about me. A year ago, I had to scroll through several pages before I found myself. So how did this happen? All but one of the entries were articles I had written which were “extra” things I did outside of my day-to-day work. The fifth item was about a radio documentary I had done many years ago which was previously languishing on about page 10 of Google. Now that made me think. The few articles I had written had not only given me prominence but had had a halo effect on my earlier work. What a boost that would have given to my business if I had actually written the dozens of articles that had popped into my head but I have been too “busy” to do?
Perhaps I had forgotten the lesson I learnt long ago as a radio journalist. No matter how busy you are, no matter how tight the deadline, the job will get done. Time has the marvelous ability to expand and great things can be done in very tight squeezes – if they are important enough.
For more about Bronwen and her life and work please visit www.faasai.com
To learn more about this author, visit Bronwen Evans's Website.
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Bronwen Evans
(Visit Bronwen's Website)
Bronwen Evans is a senior public relations
practitioner based in Bangkok with more
than 20 years experience in public
relations and journalism. She is a
director of the Bangkok Chapter of the
International Association of Business
Communicators. You can see more of her
articles at www.faasai.com
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