Time management means focusing your efforts to get more important things done, in less time. It’s as simple as that.

There are an infinite number of demands on your time and attention.  Many problems and tasks are new and can’t be planned.  Many are thrown at you urgently by co-workers. The opportunity to use your time effectively or ineffectively is huge.

Time management is a habit that begins with goal setting. Without setting goals, you are merely putting together lists of “stuff” on your plate at that point in time.

Your goals should be SMART:

· Shared

· Measurable

· Attainable

· Relevant

· Time-based
Before the start of each week, month, or quarter, write down all of the goals you want to achieve during that period of time.

• Thirty minutes of focusing will allow you to really plan what goals you want to hit and how to hit them.

• Always think in advance but be focused on NOW.

Years ago I heard a story about filling a jar with Rocks, Sand & Water.

If you took a large jar and filled it with LARGE ROCKS all the way to the top would it be full?

NO, you could then take a bunch of pebbles and pour them into the jar filling up all the space – then it would be full – right?

NO, you could then fill the entire jar with sand, filling all the spaces between the rocks and even the pebbles – then it would be full – wouldn’t it?

NOPE, only after you poured some water into the jar – filling all the spaces between the sand, pebbles, and rocks would the jar be full.

BUT- even then you could pour a bit more water into the jar allowing the meniscus to build and the water level would actually rise above the top.

This is the type of planning your need to do:

· Put the Rocks – important items, or A’s into your schedule in advance.

· Then add the next list of B’s.

· All the C’s and extra stuff that come along will get done, like they always do, but at least by starting with the largest priority items, you know they will get done.
Planning allows you to work on the high priority items BEFORE they get urgent and begin causing you stress. If you tried to put all the water, sand, pebbles and rocks into a jar in the reverse order it wouldn’t work – same with managing your time.

The hardest part of time management is sticking to your plan. The second hardest part is to know when to change part of the plan so that you can hit your goals.

Getting Started

Getting started with time management does require some planning, but once you familiarize yourself with the process, it will become second nature to you.

1. List activities

To get started, list everything that you have to do in the time frame for which you’re planning. Do a full brain dump. Don’t miss a thing.

2. Prioritize

After you’ve listed your activities, put a number beside each of the items (e.g., 1, 2, 3, and so on) on the page. You must number every single item!

Having a hard time figuring out priority? You may find Steven Covey’s Principle of Impact and Urgency helpful. Both are linked in deciding what needs to be done first.  Impact is assessed by asking yourself, “What will help the most towards my end goals?” For example, if you’ve got a deadline looming, organizing your files isn’t going to take top priority.

Next, separate the activities into A’s & B’s.  A’s are considered to be those items which must get done today.  A’s are also usually reserved for items that will help you hit your goals.  B’s are for those items that should get done if possible. Once you’ve done this, order each ‘A’ by importance, like this: A1, A2, and so on. Then repeat this process with the B’s.

Once you are done, start putting each of the activities into your calendar with specific times you’ll do them, for example:

10:00-11:00: Interview Customer Support Rep – (A1)

Remember, when you’re putting the A’s & then B’s into your calendar, be specific with times and leave time open for interruptions like emails and phone calls, because you will get them! You’ll need the buffer time to allow you to stay on track.

It’s hard to stick to the plan.  As humans, we’ve all caught ourselves working on low priority tasks such as cleaning out our desk drawers or checking email instead of working on critical projects.  The hardest part is sticking to the plan.

The second hardest part is knowing when to modify your plan. For example, maybe it’s more important to continue a call you’re doing that is an ‘A’ priority and run over time than to end on time to start a ‘B’ priority item you’ve already scheduled.  A’s have priorities over B’s.  And lower numbers have priority over higher ones.

Remember: Plan your work and work your plan.  I find telling at least one other person what you are going to get done in a day will help you stay focused on doing it.

3. Review

Review your progress often, typically daily and weekly.  Are you hitting your goals?  Have all A priorities been complete? This is also the best time to transfer uncompleted B’s to a new day.

Finally, a bit of self-analysis: Did you take too long to do any tasks?  Why?  Were they worth doing?  Is there anything you can do to better manage your time tomorrow?

If this short video resonates with you, let it nag you every day, until you start getting focused.

I suggest you have ALL your employees watch it too…

Don’t consistently work at night or on weekends.

You’ll never get it all done.  Don’t try.

It’s about working smarter, not longer. It’s about outsourcing and off shoring, not working harder.  It’s about being focused, not working 17-hour days.

Trust me, I’ve tried both.

Working too much and sparing little time for your loved ones has an unhappy ending.

I’m still not great at this but I’m getting a lot better…

Stop the insanity of checking email first thing everyday.  Yes, email is great.  Yes, email helps us.  However, the people getting the most done are not checking email first thing in the morning, nor are they checking email throughout the day.

You’ve heard this dozens of times, so why are you still choosing to be one of the unproductive ones?

Instead of watching the clock, watch the results.  Some of the most productive people work less hours, but their work is by far more focused.

I used to make jokes about bankers’ hours only to see how it punished those who got into the office early, worked hard, and left at a normal hour to play sports.  I had it backwards.

Many of those being praised for staying late actually showed up three hours later, worked less focused, stayed late, got less done, and inspired nobody because they had no balance in their lives.

Hide the clock on your screen and phone. Put the stupid ticking clock on the wall in the broom closet. And for one week, I challenge you to check email twice a day. TWICE. A. DAY.   Email me at the end of the week to let me know how productive you were.  Do it.

cameron at backpocketcoo dot com

pic Inside SoCal

Eighty percent of your results come from twenty percent of your clients – as a business coach, I always advise CEO’s to at least fire the bottom twenty percent of your clients (they’re sucking up eighty percent of your time).

Feels odd to be thinking about getting rid of some of your revenues at any time, let alone during an economic downturn, but these clients likely generate very little revenue, and perhaps even cost you money.  So get rid of them.

Your bottom 20% also take up more of your time and energy too.

When cutting these bottom twenty percent clients, you can also eliminate some of the waste or overhead you have in supporting them.  You’ll free up time in all areas of your business especially shipping, customer service and accounting.  You’ll save time in your sales meetings by not talking about these clients.

Fire the bottom twenty percent: clients who take up time, suck up energy or don’t pay their bills. You’ll free up more time for your profitable clients and get more business from new, better ones.

Who would you rather spend time with?  Your Top 5% or your Bottom 20%?  Where are you spending it now?

When writing this post I was sitting in a quiet room with a fireplace up at a Whistler, BC lodge.  No people, music, phones or email.  Just me sitting beside a window watching the snow fall = perfect environment for me to focus and get some real quality work done.

Being   a CEO and running your own business  comes with a lot of pressure. It’s critical to take the time to think and be away from the distractions of the business.  I coach and mentor CEO’s to find an environment to focus weekly and productivity improves.  So will the quality of your work.

Strict Focus Days are helpful. Slowing down every month or quarter long enough to sit quietly and obsess about the future helps fuel more thoughtful decisions about the present and future of your business.

During these times, it’s good to think about the following:

• Where in your business could you be focusing more?
• Who could you be building better relationships with?
• Who are your biggest clients?  How could you get more business from them?
• Are you taking time to really focus without the trappings of day to day life distracting you (laptop, email, phone)? If not, I strongly urge you to think about taking a Focus Day (or a few) to disconnect from the rest of the world and be alone with yourself and your thoughts.

I’ve looked at my companies metrics or KPIs every week.  Back in my College Pro Painters days, we called it the “Weekly RAG” (Results At A Glance) and it was critical to the goal-setting and planning we did weekly to drive the business.  If you’re not looking at a dashboard for your business weekly already, how’s that working for you?

To assist me in keeping teams and individuals focused, I’ve had one-on-one meetings each week with all my direct-reports.  And I’ve ensured that they had these same one-on-one meetings with those who reported to them.  At College Pro Painters, we called it GS&R: Goal Setting and Review. This simple meeting rhythm provided a ton of focus for all of us.

Fortune magazine asked me once, “How do you motivate your employees?”  I said, “I don’t.”  I continued, “I refuse to try to motivate people. What I want to do is try to take people who are already motivated and inspire them to do the stuff they know they have to do, and give them the systems and tools to create change. Then be there to support them.”

Help align and keep people focused who are already motivated.  That’s a recipe for growth.

It’s not as much about setting the goals as it is about getting the damn stuff done.

Too many people write lists.  Lists are great.  I use them too.  However getting stuff done isn’t just about lists and setting goals.  That’s only the starting point.

REALLY getting stuff done is about deciding exactly when you’re going to do it and putting that task right into your calendar at a specific time based point.

a) What are you going to do

b) When are you going to do it

All the CEOs that I mentor and coach use this as a tip in getting their way to their goals effectively.

Try that for a week… Prove me wrong.  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Are you struggling to stay on task?  Do you often feel like you are jumping from here to there and back to here, only to forget where ‘here‘ was?

Good news: You’re not alone.

Bad news: If you don’t fix it, you will be alone (with a struggling business).

Tom Peters, the author of In Search of Excellence ,used to say you need to be a “monomaniac with a mission.”

True leadership is saying “no” more than you say “yes”.  Saying “no” will allow you to focus on one project rather than taking more on.

As a CEO coach, I always tell my clients that multi-tasking may make you feel busy, but it doesn’t drive results.  It’s impossible to get real results while doing two things at once. One of the core things the CEOs I’m mentoring benefit from is me helping them say no to the big shiny objects they are attracted to starting as entrepreneurs.

pic: foxnomad

I coach CEOs to get stuff done properly for cheap by using websites like eLance.com, Guru.com, CrowdSpring.com or Amazon’s Mechanical Turk.  Or check out an awesome new service called Outsourcing Things Done.

It’s really cool how they work: You post the projects or work you need done and people around the world bid on the project, offering their price to get the work done for you. They even provide references and samples for past work they’ve done. Over the last year alone, I’ve had research done by someone living in Karachi, Pakistan, for $2 an hour. I needed to get some contact info, addresses, and information related to venture capital firms and angel investors in Washington state and British Columbia. It would’ve taken me all week to do it and an employee would have cost too much when this person was thrilled to do it for $120 in total.  And the output rocked.

I needed to have all of my training DVDs from speaking events transcribed so I used the transcription services of someone in Sweden for $8 an hour.  I also had some media interviews that produced content I thought could be useful, so I simply emailed her the files and she typed them all up in Word for me. Many transcription firms used to charge $75-125 an hour for this. Her 20 hours of work was a little more than $125 in total.

I’ve used virtual assistants around the world to work on miscellaneous tasks for me. Even CEOs that I mentor are already starting to outsource work they used to delegate to employees. It just doesn’t make sense to delegate work to people for three to ten times what it costs us when you can outsource using services like this. As long as you’re getting the right quality out of these services, it’s worthwhile.

When I lectured at MIT at the Entrepreneurial Masters Program, I promised the CEOs in the class that we’d start on time.

When I actually delivered on that promise, they were dumbfounded.

If CEOs weren’t present at the start of class, or hadn’t returned to the class after a break, we shut the door and started without them.

A gesture this simple respects people’s time and helps you stay on course.

I coach and mentor CEOs to try to also ’compress time’ when you are booking meetings.  When you are thinking of booking a meeting if what ever time amount you first think you’ll need to have the meeting in – reduce it by fifty percent and book it for that shorter period of time.  So instead of booking it for one hour, book it and finish it in thirty minutes.

Like so many other obligations, meetings tend to fill the space you give them. By compressing the time of meetings, you increase everyone’s productivity, and implement a highly profitable system of time management.

For more information on this topic, check out: Leadership at 100MPH.