INTERIM CEO, BC NOTARIES ASSOCIATION
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Wayne Braid
How Time Flies!
W
e have all heard that old saying a thousand— maybe two thousand—times! Time moves swiftly forward. Time was said to fly or flee by the Romans, for whom Tempus fugit was a well-known adage. To paraphrase a quote from Chaucer’s The Clerk’s Tale, For though we sleep or wake or roam or ride, time flies and for no man will it abide. In Ten Khun in 1710, Kaibaka Ekken noted, “Time flies as swiftly as an arrow” and today we sometimes say time flies when you’re having fun! This past weekend at our BC Notaries Association Annual Conference at the beautiful Delta Grand Hotel in Kelowna , that adage came to me in many ways. I am back as the (Interim) CEO of the BC Notaries Association. Away 2 years, I realize time indeed does fly! Old friends, acquaintances, many of our sponsors, and of course our Notary members have grown older. Our Notaries have matured, changed locations, travelled to different provinces and other places around the globe, welcomed children and grandchildren, and changed the way they practise as a BC Notary. Volume 28 Number 3 Fall 2019
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Much of my day involves speaking with members who most often open the conversation with “I am sorry to bother you; I know you are really busy.” In my mind, we can never be too busy to speak with each other, listen to each other, and offer the advice or assistance that is being sought. In today’s connected world, a lot of our conversation takes place via email, Facebook, Messenger, and texting. Our styles of communication are getting briefer, perhaps with the expectation that the fewer words we send, the faster the recipient will respond!
Time has become a commodity. How can we understand the issues our colleagues are putting forth when we are in such a hurry? Time has become a commodity. How can we understand the issues our colleagues are putting forth when we are in such a hurry? Are we listening less? Getting time to slow down so we can listen more effectively is a real challenge; there is just so much to do in a day! The Scrivener | www.notaries.bc.ca/scrivener
I am often concerned I may not be as effective as I can be or perhaps I am not responding 110 per cent to situations in my work or my home environment because I am distracted by my thoughts about the many things that need doing. Here is a Wikiquote about time management: “Good time management enables an individual to complete more in a shorter period of time.” Initially, time management referred only to business or work activities but the term has expanded to include personal activities. The major suggestions in timemanagement literature include the following steps. • Create an environment conducive to effectiveness. • Set priorities. • Reduce time spent on nonpriorities. • Implement goals. Yes, time does fly. We spend much of our time trying to figure out how to manage the beast and grapple it to the ground so we will have more time! s TABLE OF CONTENTS
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