The Top Ten Strategies for Managing Your Most Precious Resource - TIME
July 2003
I am pleased to send to you this month's
issue of Champions. Champions is a monthly e-zine of thought provoking
ideas. It is a celebration of positive thoughts and ideas that
when put into action will lead to a positive, productive, fulfilling
and satisfying personal and business life. It is my hope that Champions
will help to inspire people to learn, grow, evolve and achieve.
Lately, as I speak with clients, I hear a common theme, people
say that, "I just don't have the time to get everything accomplished".
This month's Champions provides some tried and true suggestions
about managing your time. I hope that you can apply one or more
of these suggestions to improve your efficiency and effectiveness.
The Top Ten Strategies for Managing Your Most Precious Resource
- TIME
- The first step is being aware of where your time is going, now.
You can't find something you've lost when you don't know where
you might have lost it in the first place. So the first strategy
for managing your time is to know where it's going, now. That means
actually tracking or logging your time daily, for at least 1 week
(preferably 2). Track the exact time you begin and end an activity,
make a note of the duration in exact minutes, and a few words to
describe the activity. This step requires you to be really honest
with yourself and track EVERYTHING you do in your work day so you
can see where your time is really going -- so if you spent 23 minutes
chatting with coworkers at the coffee machine (no cheating by logging
all your time in nice, even 15, 30 or 60 minute intervals) -- write
it down EXACTLY!.
- Analyze and summarize your time logs. At the
end of the week, review your time logs and start to summarize
the tasks (and the amount
of time spent on each) into categories. You will create these
categories yourself, and you should have between 6 and 12 categories.
They
should be meaningful to you, self-defining, mutually exclusive
and as concise as possible. Some examples might be: Administration,
Business Development, Sales & Marketing, Computer, etc.
You will then summarize, for each day, how much time you spent
doing
tasks or activities for each category, in the exact number
of minutes. You might also do a little math, to figure the
percentage of time
each category takes out of each day. You make this step as
detailed as you like, but the key here is: AWARENESS.
- Create a New Daily Routine. If you were honest and diligent
during steps 1 and 2, chances are you had a rude awakening when
you reviewed
and analyzed your time logs. You no doubt can see where the
time drains are occurring -- and now you're ready to make better
choices
and create a new daily routine. This routine will maximize
the time you spend on productive work by conforming to the natural
flow of your day and with your natural rhythms, by taking into
consideration when you're at your best for certain tasks, grouping
similar tasks together for greater efficiency, and by setting
aside
dedicated time for doing uninterrupted work. How do you create
your routine? Look at where you've been spending your time
and start making some decisions about where the different tasks
can
best be fit into your day, then actually write this routine
down and post it where you'll see it every day. Strategies 4
through
10 will give you some food for thought as you develop and implement
your new daily routine.
- Prioritize and stay focused. Once you've done the up-front
work of tracking and analyzing your time, and creating a new
routine,
how do you keep it on track? You will also need to do some work
on prioritizing what you do. You can create your own easy tools
to do this. On one sheet of paper, create 5 sections: High Priorities,
Secondary Priorities, People to Contact, Telephone Calls, and
Schedule. You can fill this out each day, first thing in the
morning (or
better yet, at the end of your work day so you are well prepared
to start fresh tomorrow!) Each day, ask yourself: "If nothing
else gets done today, what are the one or two items that absolutely
MUST be done?" Those are the items you will use to focus
your day. You should also periodically go back to the time logging
exercise,
so you can determine if you are slipping back into those old
bad habits and take immediate steps to get back on track.
- Reduce interruptions by creating stronger boundaries. It is
true that interruptions to your day can and will happen, and
to some
degree they are out of your control. However, you probably have
more control than you think. Instead of blaming other people
and getting frustrated with them for interrupting you, take responsibility
for creating stronger boundaries with your co-workers where appropriate.
Keep in mind, other people don't mean to be inconsiderate by
interrupting,
they are just caught up in their own "stuff" and probably
don't realize. It is really up to you to set up some guidelines
for when you can and cannot be interrupted, to communicate them
to others, and then to stick by them. For example: you might institute
a "quiet time" policy (mornings are usually best) where
you let everyone know that this is a time where you cannot be interrupted
-- and then set up another time later in the day where you have
an open-door policy. This strategy creates a firm boundary but
also provides time for you to be accessible to others. At first,
those around you might try to cross your boundaries, and it's up
to you to gently remind them that they can come back and talk during
your "open door" time. After a while, they'll get used
to it. Change takes time, so stick with it!
- Structure your telephone time. Set aside certain periods of
the day to accept, initiate and return calls. The best time to
accept
incoming calls is just prior to lunch or at the end of the work
day (the other person will not want to dawdle on the phone at
those times either!) -- so whenever possible, let others know
this is
your preference and set that time aside so you are available.
When initiating or returning calls, the best time to contact
those difficult-to-reach
folks is early in the morning, just before or after lunch, or
late in the day. Other tips for making the best use of your phone
time
-- plan in advance what you need to cover during the call; and
at the beginning of a call, you might say "I have about
10 minutes to spend with you now. If we don't finish, we can
always
schedule another time."
- Don't procrastinate. Procrastination is probably one of the
biggest "time
hogs" we have. Not only are we NOT doing the thing we're
procrastinating about, but we also end up wasting even more time
worrying about
how much we're procrastinating. So, if you have an unpleasant
task to do, simply make up your mind to take care of it immediately
and just get it done!
- Under-promise and over-deliver. You may have heard this one
before, but a little reinforcement never hurts. Many of us have
too many
requirements on our time because we take on more than we
should... we don't like to say No, don't want to hurt someone
else's feelings.
When we over-commit ourselves, we are not only creating unnecessary
stress in our lives, but we are also creating potential situations
where we cannot deliver what we've promised. We also don't
realize that when we can't deliver what we've promised, we can
inadvertently
cause more pain and hurt feelings than if we'd been willing
to say No in the first place. Remember, you're not doing yourself
or anyone else any favors by taking on more than you can
reasonably
deliver. Commit yourself to making this strategy a high priority
in your life, and watch what happens!
- Separate your work from your personal life. Whether you work
in or out of your home, it is critical for your health
and emotional balance that you find a way to separate your work
from
your personal
life. If you work out of the home, don't take work home
at all unless you are certain you can get to it -- it's better
to
stay
a little longer at the office (but be sure and set time
limits for yourself!) to get it done, then enjoy your leisure
time
without the stress of having to do that work at home. If you
work at
home,
you will need to be even more diligent in setting aside
separate times in your day for work and for your personal time
and family.
Post your schedule where your family can see it, and make
it clear when you can and cannot be interrupted. (When you work
at home,
you have to create better habits for the whole family to
ensure
your success!)
- Remember, you're only human. We all have only 24 hours in
the day -- and sometimes that just doesn't feel like enough,
does it? There
will always be days where things happen that are unplanned
and which can throw even the most organized day into
a tail-spin. When that happens, take a deep breath or two, and
accept
that you are
doing the very best you can, right now. Tomorrow is a
new day and a chance to start fresh. Let go of the need to be
a perfectionist
and remember, you're only human!
About the Submitter
Copyright 1997, 98, 99, 00, 2001 Coach U www.topten.org. This
piece was originally submitted
by
Lisa J.
Huff, (PCC) Professional
Certified Coach, President of Coach 2 Success, corporate
refugee, and Web Diva.
Survey Question
In the April issue of Champions, I wrote about the Top Ten Attributes
of Resilient People. I received a very positive response to the
article. That feedback has inspired me to ask you to email me the
answers to these two questions;
- How do you overcome adversity?
- What do you do to recharge or stay resilient?
I'll publish the feedback in a future Champions. Just email
me your responses and thank you for sharing your feedback. To
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Best regards,
Bob Arzt
Polaris One
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
email: bob@bobarzt.com
voice: (301) 610-5624
web: http://www.PolarisOne.com
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