Ten
Strategies for Time Management
- 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 workday 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 clients is early in the morning, just before or after
lunch, or late in the day.
- 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. 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 that 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.
It is critical for your health and emotional balance that you find a way
to separate your work from your personal life. If possible, don’t take
work to be done after hours 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 work after hours. If you work from a
remote office, 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.
- Remember that 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
tailspin. 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.
Ken Roys, CEO
BTF Management Consultants Inc
866-385-1900 Toll Free 713-983-7904 Fax
Ken.Roys@btfmanagement.com
www.btfmanagement.com