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Home » Business Life & Skills

The 12 Simple Self-Management Strategies: Simple Self-Management Strategy #7 – Master the Tools in Your Toolkit

Submitted by Lori Grant on May 24, 2007 – 12:48 pmNo Comment

notebook-data-flowMake a List of the Tools in Your Toolkit
Mastering your work tools in your toolkit is the seventh self-management strategy. Make a list of the tools of your trade such as competitive intelligence templates or marketing plans. Perhaps your company uses CRM solutions like Salesforce.com or web conferencing like WebEx. Do you need to know computers inside and out? Or project management?

Identify What You Know, What You Don’t Know
After you make the list, identify if you know these tools inside and out; if not, then master them. They should be second nature to you. By being proficient with the tools of our trade, we can keep out of embarrassing situations.

For example, I remember someone who didn’t know WebEx as well as she could have. She was new to the company and still forming her personal brand in everyone’s mind. She scheduled an executive team meeting. The email invite went out. Everyone who was supposed to be in the meeting was logged in, except for her. She didn’t know WebEx well enough access her own meeting. Ouch.

Another upside to mastering your work tools is using them creatively. The fun part about mastery is the way you start adapting the tools to new situations or applications. The work is not only play, but an artistic expression of you.

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