One of the greatest impediments to good time management is a failure to set priorities.
It’s hard to decide how to spend your time when you’re unclear about your goals, says Eileen Chadnick, principal and certified coach with Toronto-based Big Cheese Coaching. “People sometimes try to wing it; unfortunately, that makes you more susceptible to distractions.”
Spend most of your time doing things of real value, advises George Hartman, CEO of Market Logics Inc. in Toronto. Hartman cites a system developed by Toronto-based Strategic Coach, which divides each week into two “focus days,” three “buffer days” and two “free days.”
On focus days, you direct your time and efforts toward revenue-generating activities, such as prospecting, meeting clients and other business development.
On buffer days, you prepare for focus days, with activities such as team meetings, client meetings and researching new products.
You would use free days (usually Saturday and Sunday) to rejuvenate yourself, avoiding work-related problems and focusing on other areas of your life, such as health and personal relationships.
“For each of those categories,” Hartman says, “identify three or four priorities and schedule them. Make sure to take care of the top priorities first.”
Those who lack the ability to manage their time haven’t properly defined their business goals, says Tyrone Matheson, a Mississauga, Ont.-based business and personal development coach with LMI Canada Inc.
“Deciding what needs to be done automatically,” Matheson says, “leads you to the activities needed to achieve those goals.”
Matheson recommends that you spend most of your time doing things that put money in your pocket.
“Identify high-payoff activities,” he says. “Remember the 80/20 rule: 80% of your results come from 20% of your activities. In this case that means sales calls, prospecting, requesting referrals, networking and connecting with centres of influence. Schedule those activities on a regular basis and block off time for them during the day.”
Chadnick is big on making lists. “Don’t rely on your memory because you can easily become overwhelmed,” she says. “Keeping everything in your head makes it difficult to focus on clients.”
When priorities and commitments are visible on your computer or elsewhere, you can refer to them easily. But remember that they are not cast in stone; you will have to revise your list often to accommodate the fluid nature of your work.
Also consider your short-, medium-, and long-term priorities. It might be wise to schedule an activity today in order to achieve a longer-term goal.
The key to good time management is proper self-management, Chadnick says. And that involves more than performing units of work.
“Spending eight hours a day on client calls isn’t a good use of your time. You need to balance your energy and periodically clear out your ‘caches’ in order to recharge yourself.
“Remember,” she continues, “to schedule time for thinking, planning and doing follow-up work. Unless you make time for yourself, you can’t bring your best professional self to your work.”
This is the second in a two-part series on time management.