Time Tips: Break it Down

Break big goals down into smaller ones. Then, have a driving goal or two for each day. If you find that you are dragging yourself out of bed, this will cure that problem.

I attack each day with excitement and vigor. When I wake up, I can hardly wait to get going. Why? Because I have some goals to accomplish for that day. Not busywork, not tasks, not process--but specific goals that are measurable and achievable for that day. This mindset automatically makes you manage time better.

But, don't stop with goals. Whatever you are doing, break it down. You can chew more efficiently when you don't bite off too much at once. So, break your tasks down into small chunks.

The more "in the moment" you are, the more energy you can bring to bear on what you are doing. Rather than groan that you have four hours of work to do, look at the first step of the project. Hey, it's only about five minutes of work and anyone can work for five minutes. Take this approach, and you won't be pacing yourself to last four hours. In fact, you are likely to finish in much less time--and with a lower error rate because your focus is sharper.

Remember, a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. If you take one step enough times, you'll complete the journey. But if you think of the journey in its entirety as you begin, you set yourself up for failure.

More thoughts on time management

The phrase "time management" is an unfortunate language quirk. You can't really manage time. It just is. You can't gain time, create time, or even lose time. Time is what it is, regardless of what we do. And, paradoxically, many common "time management" techniques and practices are timewasters because they divert limited resources (such as time) to the wrong things.

It would be better to say "time allocation" or "activity management" "time usage" or some other phraseology to indicate that it's not time itself you're managing but how you use the time that exists. But we'll use the common terminology here to avoid confusion.

Some things time management is not:

Being more efficient. Suppose you become very efficient at making buggy whips. Does this fact mean you are managing your time well?
Getting more done in a given amount of time. Getting more done of what? And to what degree of quality? If you rake the leaves on a lawn from one side to the other all day long, does that mean you are a good time manager?
Being able to juggle multiple priorities. Instead of juggling priorities, assign priorities. First tend to the urgent things, then the most important things.
Mastering multi-tasking. This concept conflicts with what we know about the human brain. If you buy into this self-defeating, time-wasting, quality-killing ideology, you might also be interested in practicing solo flight by flapping your arms frantically.
Working faster. No, this mode is how you make mistakes that you subsequently have to spend more time fixing.

Some things good time management involves:

Deciding what to do. This is trickier than it sounds. Which is why there are time management experts.
Deciding what not to do. This is even trickier than deciding what to do. Which is why there are time managers and why discipline is a huge, huge factor in accomplishing this.
Deciding what to do when, and in what order. In essence, prioritization.
Determining the scope, goals, and metrics for each activity you undertake. In this area, we the find most room for improvement. Precision here allows you to avoid waste on the one hand, and falling short on the other.
Planning out the work, task, project, or activity such that you determine the necessary steps to quality completion. That is, what must you do to meet the intended goal and quality metrics?
Identifying unnecessary steps. Get this right, and you can cut your wasted hours significantly.
Figuring out what resources to use. Not all resources applicable to a task are equal. Picking the right tool for the job saves time, improves quality, and makes life less stressful.

We've highlighted only some of the factors involved in good time management. We actually teach extreme time management, which is a methodology that allows you to make effective use of your time almost second nature. You don't need a complicated system. Our system puts many of the variables on autopilot, so you have more time to do what you need to do. Our system goes way beyond most other systems in results, yet is far simpler.

Contact us for a presentation to your organization: comments @ mindconnection.com (remove the spaces after pasting into your e-mail client's "to" box.