- August 27, 2013
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10 Time Management Tips That Work
Great Time Management Tips
Are you working on clock time or “real” time? Chances are you’ve taken a time management class, read the books, and tried the day planners — so why does it still feel like you can’t get everything done? The answer is simple: everything you’ve learned about managing time is a waste of time, because it doesn’t work.
What Time Actually Is
Before you can manage time, you have to learn what it is. A dictionary defines time as “the point or period at which things occur.” Put simply, time is when stuff happens.
Clock time vs. real time
60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, 365 days in a year. All time passes equally — turning 50 means you’re exactly 50, no more or less.
All time is relative — it flies or drags depending on what you’re doing. Two hours at the DMV can feel like 12 years, while your 12-year-old seems to have grown up in only two hours.
Time management systems fail because they’re designed for clock time — but you don’t live in clock time. You live in real time, which is mental. It exists between your ears. You create it, and anything you create, you can manage. It’s time to remove any self-sabotage around “not having enough time.”
Thoughts, Conversations, and Actions
Regardless of the type of business you own, your work is composed of only three things: thoughts, conversations, and actions. As an entrepreneur, you may be frequently interrupted or pulled in different directions. You can’t eliminate interruptions, but you do get a say in how much time you spend on them versus on the thoughts, conversations, and actions that lead to success.
Track it, schedule it, protect it
Carry a schedule and record all your thoughts, conversations, and activities for a week. You’ll see how much time actually produces results versus how much is wasted.
To-do lists get unworkable. Appointment books work — assign a start and end time to every important activity or conversation, and have the discipline to keep those appointments.
Plan to spend at least 50 percent of your time engaged in the thoughts, activities, and conversations that produce most of your results.
Plan time to be pulled away from what you’re doing — “office hours” are really just a name for planned interruptions.
Take the first 30 minutes of every day to plan your day. Don’t start until you complete your time plan — the most important time is the time you schedule to schedule time.
Take five minutes before every call or task to decide what result you want. Take five minutes after to check whether you got it — and if not, what was missing.
Put up a “Do not disturb” sign when you absolutely have to get work done.
Don’t answer the phone just because it rings, or reply to email just because it shows up. Disconnect instant messaging and schedule specific times to respond instead.
Block out Facebook and other social media unless you’re actively using them to generate business.
10. You Can’t Get Everything Done
It’s impossible to get everything done — and odds are good that 20 percent of your thoughts, conversations, and activities produce 80 percent of your results. Focus there.