I have to be honest, when it comes to time management I’m probably the worst person to take advice from. I spend 90% of the day running from meeting to meeting and in the middle trying to get whatever work I haven’t been able to delegate done. I manage, I don’t know how to meet those deadlines, but luck has been on my side. But that doesn’t mean I won’t burn out sooner or later if I can’t get my time in order.
After insane research and asking around, I have rounded up the 10 best tips in order to better manage your time, hence making us all more productive (hopefully!):
- Carry a schedule and record all your thoughts, conversations and activities for a week. This will help you understand how much you can get done during the course of a day and where your precious moments are going. You’ll see how much time is actually spent producing results and how much time is wasted on unproductive thoughts, conversations and actions. After walking around with a notebook, I have definitely become way more organized and realistic with my time.
- Any activity or conversation that’s important to your success should have a time assigned to it. To-do lists get longer and longer to the point where they’re unworkable. Appointment books work. Schedule appointments with yourself and create time blocks for high-priority thoughts, conversations and actions. Schedule when they will begin and end. Have the discipline to keep these appointments. I know you think I’m crazy, but sometimes scheduling time with yourself for yourself helps you break through the clutter.
- Plan to spend at least 50 percent of your time engaged in the thoughts, activities and conversations that produce most of your results.
- Schedule time for interruptions. Plan time to be pulled away from what you’re doing. Take, for instance, the concept of having “office hours.” Isn’t “office hours” another way of saying “planned interruptions?”
- Take the first 30 minutes of every day to plan your day. Don’t start your day until you complete your time plan. The most important time of your day is the time you schedule to schedule time.
- Take five minutes before every call and task to decide what result you want to attain. This will help you know what success looks like before you start. And it will also slow time down. Take five minutes after each call and activity to determine whether your desired result was achieved. If not, what was missing? How do you put what’s missing in your next call or activity?
- Put up a “Do Not Disturb” sign when you absolutely have to get work done.
- Practice not answering the phone just because it’s ringing and e-mails just because they show up. Disconnect instant messaging. Don’t instantly give people your attention unless it’s absolutely crucial in your business to offer an immediate human response. Instead, schedule a time to answer e-mails and return phone calls. I’m still working on this and although it’s hard, it’s true. You should not always be readily available and you must systemize yourself and those you work with about the concept of “Working Hours”.
- Block out other distractions like Facebook and other forms of social media unless you use these tools to generate business.
- Remember that it’s impossible to get everything done. Also remember that odds are good that 20 percent of your thoughts, conversations and activities produce 80 percent of your results.
