9 Ways to Great Time Management

Renowned author and self-improvement specialist Paul J. Meyer said ‘Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort’ and it prudent to remember that activity does not necessarily equal productivity.

In this terribly busy world great time management is our friend and whilst not every aspect of our lives needs to be planned, we do need to plan to allow us down-time away from our work life demands.

Here are the steps to good time management

1. How will you plan your time, in a paper diary electronically?

2. Schedule your weekly regular events including your breaks and personal time.

3. Have a regular day and time each week where you plan for the week ahead.

4. Set and prioritise your goals for the week ahead remember good goal setting practice is to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound.

5. Translate these goals into tasks and schedule them according to their priority value.

6. Schedule sprints. A sprint is a period of time, perhaps 1 hour where all mobile and computer alerts are turned off, do not disturb signs are hung on doors and your sole focus is a single scheduled task. 7. Colour coding your schedule will give you a visual guide at a glance which in itself will save you time. 8. Finally, avoid distractions and disruptions but accept that they will happen and roll with them getting yourself back on schedule as soon as possible.

There is one more step that our Time Management Coach wants to introduce you to, and it will take your workplace time management from good to great. It is the Three 3s step which is 30 minutes, 3 weeks and $3,000 and I invite you to challenge her today to find you an extra 30 minutes of daily productivity which will give you an additional 3 weeks per annum which will increase profitability by $3,000 plus and increased productivity output value.

To take that one step further NZ non sole charge businesses have on average 15 employees which equates to a massive saving of $45k per annum plus and increased productivity output value.

Here are some common push backs on time management:

1. Time management does not allow me to be spontaneous. Activity without management is just busyness which is the thief of time. Entrepreneur Jim Rohn says, ‘Either run the day or the day runs you’.

2. I do not like structure; I work better under pressure. The truth is if you are working under pressure you are working in the flight or fight mode and this is not sustainable or healthy.

3. I do not have time to put into planning each week. Yes, you do, you just do not see it as a priority.

4. I am great at time management. Fantastic, we would love to chat with you about how you have optimised your time.

In closing if you are an employer what would you do with your savings? Perhaps you would gift it back to your employees in the form of an annual bonus or allocate it to fund another staff member or invest it in a new marketing campaign. If you are ready to put our Time Management Coach to the test, I invite you to reach out to us.