Time Management Expert, Event Speaker: Mark Lamendola
 

Time Tips: Grocery Shopping Tip #4

 
While most people waste every second they spend in a grocery store because they use that time to buy poison rather than food, let's assume you are not one of those people. You buy very little in the way of processed foods, and your shopping cart contains mostly items from the produce area. It contains no processed grains, no instant mixes, no formaldehyde-enriched beverages, no osteoporosis in a can, and no hydrogenated oil. Congratulations--you have saved yourself hours of medical care and years of pain.

Now, based on this assumption, let's say you want to save even more time. You want to save time while in checkout. Here are my own habits--maybe you can think of others (send me your suggestions, please):

  • Shop in the middle of the week. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the slowest days at grocery stores.
  • Shop during the off hours. I used to work the graveyard shift, and shopping on the way home meant no lines. Today, I work as a telecommuter, so I can shop in midmorning--also a great time.
  • Put items on the belt in an orderly way. I group things, according to how I want them packed. Canned goods go first--you don't want these on top of your kale or bok choy. All the produce goes together. Eggs (free-range), yogurt (plain), and frozen vegetables (no carrots or peas) go together--the frozen provides refrigeration for the trip home.
  • Turn the barcodes toward the cashier. When you put that bag of apples on the belt, turn one so the cashier can see the label. Line cans and jars up neatly, facing the same direction.

I go to my in-the-store bank, shop for my groceries, and am on my way home in about 20 minutes. I know that's not normal and that normal means a long time at the store (all of which is normally wasted, due to what is purchased). These little tips can save you a great deal of time. If you go shopping once a week, how much time to you save in a year? Suppose it's twice a week?

 

 
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.