Time Management Expert, Event Speaker: Mark Lamendola
 

Time Tips: Finding Hidden Time Tip #11

How much time do you spend doing the same things over? This is a very common practice. Some examples:

  • You can't find your keys. So, you look everywhere. Then, you look in the same places again. This is rather pointless, isn't it?
  • You have a conversation and discuss the weather. Guess what? It's going to rain, snow, sleet, or be dry. What's to discuss? How many times in your lifetime will you tell someone else you have rain? Why would they care?
  • You are cleaning your house. You go to your supply area to get a bottle of cleaner X. You go back to get a bottle of cleaner Y. You go back to get another rag. How many times are you going to make that trip? Why not get all of your stuff together the first time?
  • You pay your bills by check. How many times are you going to write the name of the same company, put the same kinds of paper in the same kinds of envelope, and put a stamp on it? Use autopay.
  • You have a fight with your spouse. Have you ever noticed how the same tired arguments and accusations come up again and again? Why don't you either resolve those, or make a Chinese menu? Then, you can save time while quarrelling by simply saying, "Gripe #13." You can reply with "Defensive remark #7, and epithet #23!" Quit dragging your "loved one" through the same mud. Or, save time by using the technique just described. If you think this technique is silly, then just tape your next argument and try to tell me that isn't silly. People say the most absurd things when they argue.
  • You have developed consummate skill at backseat driving. Look, if you've already told your spouse (or other driver) how to drive and that person hasn't improved, why are you wasting your time repeating yourself? Maybe all that repetition and nagging is the problem.
  • You go through an appraisal at work and your boss is unaware of your accomplishments. Why repeat that drill? Keep a running list of your accomplishments, and present this to your boss at least 3 weeks before your appraisal is due. Using a spreadsheet where you've also shown ROI and other factors is a very good idea.

 

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A great way many businesses are managing time is using software. There are many forms of time and attendance software which allows managers to track and monitor employees time usage.
 

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.

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.