As I rang in the New Year, I thought about ways to doing it again in 2010. In other words, what I can do to continue to balance time and maintain a healthy life between work, family, school and church. I am been practicing tie management skills for over 15 years and as I reviewed and prepared for this year, I went through my notes, books and some helpful websites to put together a list of things to think about to stay focused and to manage the time you have.
For me, planning is very important, I suggest that you schedule the big rocks first; I learned this from the Franklin Covey system. What this means is that you need to schedule you non-negotiable items in your calendar first, whatever has to be done and cannot be changed you need to do first. Once you have done this then you will have a better idea of what time you have to do other things.
With that in mind, if you are going to be a planner you need to take time to plan. You need to take time every week to schedule events and take time every day to plan for the day. There is nothing better than have the plan ready to go. I know that I feel much better when I do this even if there is no much on the calendar; it at least refreshes me and focuses my attention on what needs to be done today.
I used to get analysis paralysis. That means that I used to see big daunting task and thing that I could not do anything about it. Try taking big items that you are fearful of and break them down into little pieces that you can handle. This way you can celebrate successes for the small things and help build momentum for the larger task at hand.
Always use the 3 minute rule. If you can do something in 3 minutes or less, then do it. I got this from David Allen (see prior post on his book) and it is a masterful piece of work. Once I started to do this things were getting done much quicker. This is especially very helpful when dealing with e-mail.
Re-negotiate time lines if needed. If you realize that you are not going to finish something on time. Re-negotiate the time with the persons who are involved if possible. This will make you feel better and give them a heads up on what is going on. It will also release the stress that you have from not being able to meet the time line.
Group similar tasks together and get them done at the same time. Take the time to schedule and make all your phone calls that you need to make. If you have a variety of work that needs to be done with the use of a computer or internet, schedule them together and make sure you are at your desk. Taking time to group things makes it easier to get them done and helps to compartmentalize things in your brain so you are not worrying about calls when you are working on your computer.
Sometimes it is best to take a break and step away. Sometimes when I get so focused on doing something that I forget to step back and look at things and make sure that I am not missing the point of my work or running myself down until I just can’t do it. Stepping away allows for recharging you batteries.
We are all inundated with work every day. More than likely we are given so much that we cannot even finish it all, when you can, delegate and match the job to the right person. There is no reason to do work that you don’t have to do if someone else can do it and help you out. No one said you had to do it all on your own.
Keep things with you that can be done in down time. Often we do not use our downtime wisely. We have free time that just slips by us that we can use to get our stuff done. You can do this by listening to books on tape during commutes, reading articles, books or messages while waiting on the doctor or when you are waiting for a child. Have things with you that you can do when you find yourself with extra time in-between things.
Know when your peach times are and work during you peak times. I am a morning person and I start to trail off in the afternoon, but I get a burst of energy right before work is done. I schedule complicated things in the morning to work on. Remembering this will allow you to schedule work for the appropriate time in your energy cycle.
These are just a few tips to think about. Regardless, you need to take time to schedule and prioritize work in a way that helps you to be efficient. I know from my perspective it allows me to do things like clear my desk off and have zero e-mails in my inbox each day I leave work. I hope some of these tips will help you out.God bless.
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