Is Time Management for Everyone?
Successful people manage their energy and priorities for the long term through a structure. Without this structure in place, they face stress and ultimately, a failure to work. If you are struggling to organize your efforts and you value your relationships and priorities, time management are essential to your success.
Time management is not about managing time per se. Its a matter of managing priorities, commitments and staying on top of your game. Your credibility and ability to grow depends on how much you can handle and what your priorities reveal themselves to be. Relationships depend on how you manage your commitments. Making time to also take care of your health and to learn something new is also a byproduct of effective time management. Not to do so means you will burn out, degrade over time or grow complacent. In order to keep yourself going and growing, you need to use a reliable system to stay engaged with work.
What Is a Time Management System?
The following system is based on a hand written system on paper in a journal or notebook. This is the best place to start. With about 20 minutes of effort daily, and by making notations throughout the day, you will recover at least 1 additional hour through focus and productivity.
Taking the time to plan and structure your day will pay more than the same time back. It will bring you success and peace of mind. You need to allocate time at the start of your day and keep the journal handy to ensure that you are staying current with your priorities and focus.
What are the Rules for Successful Time Management?
There are certain principles around how to look at how you invest your time that are important to observe on a daily basis:
1. Keep track of it: Knowing ahead of time what needs to be done with a timeline to complete is a mature responsible way
2. Scheduling: When you are pre-committed or make a commitment, block out this time so that you can schedule yourself
3. Planning: Before scheduling anything further, go through a mental check list of what it takes to prep and organize well
4. Priorities: Staying on top of your day means that you may need to move things around, manage your focus accordingly
5. Break it down: Think in terms of work as activities that have tasks and steps under them so make a effort based plan
6. Lead Times/Setup Times: Factor in time to shift from one activity another so that you don’t run around stressed out
7. Pacing: When we rush at what needs to be done, the work actually takes longer so relax once you factor steps 1 – 6
8. Get a Grip: Ask yourself when you start each activity, “What is the great result in plan?” Make excellence a practice
9. Clear Your Head: Working without unnecessary tension in your body and with presence of mind is an essential skill
10. Work mindfully: This is about doing one thing at a time once you allocate your time and go back to step 1 for reference
When you observe these rules through your daily practice, confidence will develop and with it the capacity and efficiency to handle more work over time.
How Do I Do This?
There are 5 steps to my structure that I follow to stay on top of my time and productivity:
- Make a Complete List: Start with a full list of all the things in my mind before sorting or prioritizing the activities
- Use Symbols: In the margins of my notes, I use asterisks for follow up, question marks and hyphens for reference
- Summary Table: Every morning, I go through the work left from the day prior and then add follow up items to the list
- Prioritize: Before I start my day, I look at the most time intensive and critical work items to prioritize to be focused
- Check things off: Once I complete things, I check things off and follow up with those concerned to clear my head
Staying on top of my goals, priorities, relationship commitments and personal growth is winning the day. Managing yourself makes you capable of managing others and delegating tasks effectively. Finally, asking others to work hard and helping them with their priorities is an extension of how you manage your own time and energy. Your competency as a Leader is always subject to scrutiny and those people that look up to you or report into you take cues on acceptable standards.