Use your capacity to multitask to your advantage

May 16, 2011 09:57 AM •

At the end of every class I teach, I encourage students to email me for my recommended reading list. The other day, a student asked me “Do you actually read all of the books you recommend? How do you find the time?” That’s when I finally admitted my “secret;” my iPod is only about 30 percent music, and the rest of my playlists are actually audio books. If a new book intrigues me, I buy the audio version and listen to it while I workout or travel. I like the option of being able to re-wind and take notes when I hear a particularly interesting point. If the book is a volume I intend to refer to often in training or in an article, I’ll purchase the hard copy to highlight, quote, and share.

Utilizing audio books (a trick I learned from my husband) allows me to multi-task (something women are biologically hard-wired to do well according to Dr. Louann Brizendine, MD, author of both The Female Brain and The Male Brain) as well as learn new concepts more quickly, and save space on my bookshelves.

Here’s my top five favorite titles right now, check them out either on tape or in your favorite bookstore, they are all worth the read!

• Lie Spotting — Pamela Meyer
• Five Dysfunctions of a Team — Patrick Lencioni
• The Resiliency Advantage — Al Siebert, PhD
• Leadership & the Sexes — Gurian and Annis
• The Law of the Garbage Truck — David J. Pollay

Women in Law Enforcement

Betsy Brantner Smith

My column is undergoing a bit of an identity crisis. I’ve been writing for the Street Survival “Newsline” and the P1 Newsletter for several years. As a Street Survival seminar instructor, I write about officer safety and survival, but I’m also a supervisor, a mom, a trainer, a cop’s wife, and dare I say, a woman, so I’ve got a lot to say about any number of topics (what woman doesn’t?!), and I’ve always received great feedback from our readers. So when Police One approached me and asked me to author a monthly column dealing with women’s issues, I enthusiastically agreed. “What a great opportunity” I naively thought “to bring issues to light that both women and men in law enforcement could all relate to, perhaps discuss at roll call, and ultimately learn something from each other.” Yeah, just call me Sergeant Pollyanna…I forgot that by calling it a “women’s” column, not only will most of our male readers skip over it, but so will at least half our female readers. What?! Why in the world wouldn’t women read a “women’s” column?! Because, there are a lot of female crimefighters out there like me who have spent a lot of years just trying to blend in, to be “one of the guys” if you will…to be perceived as and conduct ourselves as “warriors,” not “victims.” We don’t want special treatment; we just want to be cops.