Trying
to manage time, which is relentless and never stops, is as effective as shouting
at an approaching tornado and telling it to go the other way. We cannot ever
manage time, but with foresight and planning, we can choose to allocate our
time more effectively. Money is infinite and we can earn more money at any
time. Time on the other hand, when viewed from our current linear perspective,
is most certainly finite. Should something so valuable, not be invested as
effectively as possible every day, to earn you the best return possible? I want
to share a few really powerful and practical tips with you today, on how utilise
your time as efficiently, effectively and productively as possible every day.
Activity Log
An
extensive study done in the USA, found that people who utilised an activity log
and recorded their activities for one week, all felt like their productivity
and free time doubled. Using an activity log is really simple. You create a
daily log sheet, broken up into hours, with a few lines below each hour to
record your activities during each hour of the day. As each hour passes, spend
a few minutes recording how you spent the last hour. Do not analyse the data,
you are collecting. Simply think about what you did and record your findings on
your log page. At the end of the week look back over the seven pages and analyse
the data. Look for periods of productive and non-productive time.
One
of the greatest benefits, which will come from this exercise, is one of
awareness. After completing this exercise for seven days, switch your thinking
around for the next week. Before each hour starts, look at the activities you
will be carrying out and ask the question is this most effective and valuable use
of my time?
As the week progresses, you will be far less
likely to waste any time reading emails every time your smart phone bleeps or
shooting the breeze with work colleges. You will learn the art of utilising
your time as effectively and efficiently as possible. Over time, ensuring that
each hour is invested as wisely as possible will become one of your new success
habits. You won’t need to consciously think about it. You will just unconsciously
use your time as productively as possible.
Planning Your Day the Night Before
Armed
with the information gained after conducting the week long activity logging
process, you will know the time of day when you are most or least productive.
This will give you an opportunity to understand your daily rhythms, so when you
are “Planning your Day the Night Before”
you are able to allocate the most difficult tasks, to be carried out during
your most productive time every day.
Sit
at the end of the day or as I like to call it “Done for the Day”. At a time chosen the night before during your
daily planning session, you decide, when you will stop all work related activity,
for the day. This is a time you give yourself permission to switch off from
work related activities and to recharge your batteries. Ten minutes prior to
reaching your done for the day time slot, you start your daily planning
session, in which you plan how you will invest your time the next day.
The
best way to start your planning session is to first review the day, which has
just passed. Explore all the activities; you had allocated yourself, to carry
out during your planning session the night before. Reward yourself for all your
successes that day. Even if that means you just sit, smile and feel the glow of
satisfaction, for a job well done. If there are any tasks, which you were
unable to complete that day, for whatever reason, these must be allocated, during
your planning session, to be performed in the first available time slot the
next day.
You
will then explore any meetings you have and any priority tasks you must
complete. Armed with this information and knowing when your most productive
time in the day is. You will set aside time slots, which are cast in stone, to
carry out your daily priority tasks. The secret to make these time slots work
for you and to ensure that you don’t keep reaching the end of the day, without
having completed all your priority task, is to not allow any distractions or interruptions
during this crucial priority time, during the day. You would not allow any interruptions
during a meeting with a client, to disrupt proceedings. Treat your daily time
slots where you carry out your top priority activities, the same way.
Do Not Disturb
The
reason most people get to the end of the day and they feel exhausted, but they
still feel like they got nothing done, is that they allow constant interruptions
during their day. They never remain focused on completing single priority tasks.
Set aside time for meetings, handling emails, time when people can pop in to
discuss things etc. The real secret to mastering the use of your time every day
is to tell people when you are available and when they can only reach you in an
absolute emergency.
During
those priority task times, close your door, switch off your mobile phone and
focus all your energy on completing those priority tasks. When you follow this
simple process of allocating time slots to complete your top priority tasks
every day and you remove any possibility of distraction from the equation, you
will effortlessly complete all your priorities every day and will start to see
incredible results show up in your life and business.
Earl
Nightingale was quoted as saying that he can tell exactly how successful
someone will be, purely by looking at the daily agenda. Are you satisfied with
how you are utilising your time every day? Is your daily agenda, going to
deliver the level of success you want or is it the major reason why you are
trapped in a life of average? Introduce these few daily disciplines into your
life and you will see a remarkable improvement in your outcomes this year.
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