How Effective is Your Time Management?

Have you ever felt that you could spend your entire life working on one task after another and never get done? That's a very common feeling...and you know what, you are absolutely right!

We live in a time when there is more stuff to do than anyone could possibly accomplish in an entire lifetime.

Just think about all the books that are available for you to read. You could spend your entire life reading one book after another and never get done reading them all.

My goal here is not to add more stress to you, but to help you think about your tasks in a new and more productive and less stressed way. To realize that just because you CAN do something doesn't necessarily mean that you'd want to or even that you should.

Effective time managers KNOW that they can't possibly do everything that is available for them to do... so they don't even try.

Instead of trying to do everything, effective time managers find good, worthwhile things to do, things that can really make a difference in their life and career, and focus their limited amount of time doing those things quickly and well.

This means that you have to be willing to make difficult choices, to stop doing some things so you can focus your time on better things instead.

Here are a couple of suggestions to help you get started with the process:

1) Make a WRITTEN list of your main work responsibilities right now

What is your job right now?

What are the different areas where you can make a difference?

What do you need to work on to produce excellent results?

This list will help you think about all the ways that you could be spending your time.

It's very difficult to do this type of analysis in your head, so put it in writing and make it as detailed as you need to.

The point of this exercise is to help you see all the different ways that you could be spending your time so you can recognize the most valuable ones.

2) KNOW that you can't do everything.

When you first make a list like this, you might feel totally overwhelmed and feel that you can't possibly do it all... and you are right, you can't.

The point of this exercise is not to make you feel that you have even more things to do than you did before, but to help you find the BEST uses of your time right now.

Since you can't do everything, you have to DECIDE what is most important for you to do right now.

Which of these areas would make the most difference?

Which ones do YOU need to spend your time on right now?

Which ones do you need to delegate to your team?

Use the list that you made in step 1 as your checklist as you ask these questions and they will help you find the best projects to work on right now.

3) MAKE time for these high-value projects

Now start making time for these few, vital, high-value projects that you've identified.

Since you know that you can't do everything, you'll have to make room for these important projects by NOT doing some other things that you might have done otherwise.

What are you going to stop doing?

What are you going to give up?

What are you going to delay or postpone creating a room for these important projects?

One way to make time for your most important projects is to remember the story of the big rocks in the jar. You can make time for your most important projects by putting them in your schedule first, and then allowing all the other busywork to fill the gaps.

How much time do you need to spend on these high-value projects each week?

Make a committed decision to spend at least two hours each day (preferably the first two hours) working on these high-value projects. Then add more hours as you can.

Ready to make significant changes?

Recommended Resources:

BrianTracy.com