Time Management Successful Living
By Chuck Groot
People might say to me, "Chuck, it's nice to say that we learned
all this great stuff about planning and goal setting, but let's
face it, I don't have time to do this on a regular basis!"
So, (one might ask) how do we get all this done and still have
time left at the end of the day for ourselves and our family?
I know that you have heard about time management, but do you
really know how easy it is to do?
Do you know how much time you can actually save by applying it?
If you do, why are you not applying it?
If you don't know how much time you can really save and do
something you enjoy with it, charge ahead and learn how.
Have you ever heard the old saying that: "If you want to get
something done - give it to a busy person?" How can that be you
ask when God gave us the same 24 hours in a day? The secret is
not how much time we have, but how we use it!
What are the reasons that people run out of time and don't get
much accomplished?
Many people spend time on things that are not important. These
concerns may seem important at the time, but I am reminded of
what my pastor loves to ask, "What is the better question?" The
better questions is, "What is the most important thing that I
should work on right now that would advance my company or get me
closer to my goals?"
Often people spend a lot of time worrying about the problems
that occurred because they didn't plan! When you are busy
putting fires out because you didn't spend the time to properly
organize, you end up running around a lot more, don't you?
Another reason is that people spend trying to decide what to do
next. Now that excuse sounds silly, but if you think about it,
if you don't know where you are going, it is difficult to decide
which way to take, isn't it? Often, people remain undecided to
the extent that they don't have time left over to do things they
should do.
A really common reason people don't get much accomplished is
that they let other people dictate what they should do. How
often do you hear someone come up to you and say, "We have a
problem"? Usually it is their problem, but they expect you to
help them solve it.
Last, (although there are a lot more), if you don't plan your
time, it is really easy for other people to take it. It is so
easy for you to get distracted by someone else when you have no
real hard and fast reason to get on with what you are doing,
other than the fact that you are doing it. If you had a plan, it
is so easy to tell someone, "I'm sorry but right now I need to
get this done because I have an important deadline to meet."
Doing so is made much easier by the fact you have set both goals
and a date by which you want to accomplish them. Moreover, your
confidence is boosted by your certainty that those plans and
goals are important!
International training company Priority Management systems has
poem in their daily planner that is quite appropriate:
Take time to think. It is the source of power Take time to play.
It is the secret of perpetual youth Take time to read. It is the
fountain of wisdom Take time to laugh. It is the music of the
soul Take time to work. It is the price of success Take time to
give. It is too short a day to be selfish Take time to pray. It
is the greatest power on Earth
Time management is comprised of these 10 essential factors:
Clear Specific Goals: know what you want. You already have these
written down from Chapter Two On. Doesn't that feel great to
know?
Have clear specific plans on how to get your goals accomplished.
Wow. You have done this too.
Make a list every day of all the things that you must do.
The best time to do this is at the end of the day.
Pick the six most important things that need to get accomplished
and write them on your list of things that need to get
accomplished today. There are three great benefits to this:
You won't lose any precious sleep thinking about what you have
to do because your subconscious will know that you have them all
listed and it won't worry about forgetting them.
You won't be running around trying to remember what you had
forgotten because, since it was written down, there is no need
to waste time trying to remember.
You won't clutter your mind with a lot of details or petty
information - once you write it down you can forget about it. If
something comes up during the course of the day, rather than
doing it or forgetting about it, write it down on the bottom of
your list so that it can be included on your list of priorities
for tomorrow.
The critical idea here is to keep focused and working on the
most important items.
Prioritize each item on the list in order of importance. I
actually have a list with everything that I need to do.
I list them in groups of "A", "B", and "C".
A's are essential and must be done as soon as possible.
B's are secondary,
C's are items I will get to when I have extra time.
These groups are then further prioritized with a priority code
of 1 - whatev¬er. 1 being the most important, 2 being second,
and so on.
Always work on the most important item first and stick with it.
Don't be seduced by doing the easiest or the most fun thing
first. If something stays on my list for more than a month, it
can't be that important so I eliminate it. Every time I finish a
task, I scratch it off of my list and it is forgotten. This last
step also gives a sense of accom¬plishment and satisfaction.
So go ahead and take ten minutes and write down the things you
need to do right now. Start small; just do the top six things
that really need to get accomplished. You can increase your list
length when you get into the habit of following this routine.
Yes, this needs to be a habit. Go for it!
Once you have determined your "A", "B", and "C" priorities and
then sub-prioritized them 1 to whatever, you can then figure out
how long, approximately, each project will take. This estimate
will help you to plan your day and/or week.
Make life a lot easier right now, get out your day planner and
schedule time to work on these, priorities.
This next suggestion may seem a bit extreme, but the most
successful people I know do the following; they block out time
for appointments, sleep, daily routine, family time, and leisure
time. They also include travel time if appointments are away
from the studio.
It is also a good idea is to block out time on a consistent
basis so that you will be available for consultations, photo
sessions, and sales sessions. Making this schedule will help you
be "in the zone" when it comes to being creative, or selling, or
doing your studies. Many people find it very difficult to change
mindsets on the fly whereas others find it energizing. Which are
you?
There is a powerful psychologically impact achieved when you
concentrate your appointment so that your clients arrive at the
studio around the same time. If your clients see others coming
or going when they are, they will get the impression that you
are very popular and busy. Those may be the only two
appointments you have that day, but your clients don't know that.
Finally, concentrating appointments together frees up bigger
blocks of time so that you can accomplish a lot with minimum
amount of interruption. Doctors, lawyers and dentists do it all
the time, why can't you?
Focus on only one job at a time. If you start something finish
it. If you are pulled away from it for whatever reason, get back
to it as soon as possible and finish it. Don't start "B" until
you have finished "A", unless you are one of those people who
love to have lots of unfinished projects around everywhere!
Overcome procrastination. Remember the slogan - DO IT! What¬ever
you are working on will not go away by ignoring it. DO IT NOW!
When the mail arrives, we know that you have already blocked off
time in your schedule for sorting through it, haven't you? Scan
through it quickly and do one of three things:
Toss out the junk mail immediately, preferably into the
recycling. Have a file system so that you can put the mail in
the appropriate place to be dealt with in the time you have
scheduled for it. Bills go in the folder to be given to the
bookkeeper or for you to enter into the computer. Cheques should
be recorded immediately - getting paid makes us feel good!
Magazines should be scanned for articles of interest, and these
should be read in the time you have set aside for reading. (By
the way, most really successful people read a book a week.
Learning something that can be used for business, marketing, or
general interest to broaden their horizons.)
If all possible, telephone calls and salesmen should be
screened by your receptionist. Only on rare occasions should you
take the calls immediately. Have your receptionist say that you
are in an ap¬pointment - which you are because you have
scheduled one for yourself.
Inform the caller that you will phone back at say approxi¬mately
4:00 p.m. Hopefully that will be satisfactory. Then make sure
that you return all your calls at 4:00 p.m. If it isn't
satisfactory, ask the caller for a time which is preferable or
you can ask them if an email will do the trick.
More time is wasted on the phone than one can imagine. It is
also a good idea to plan your telephone conversations so that
you have control over them. For example, you can write down the
questions that you want to ask and make sure you stick to those.
Remember to keep a phone log handy.
If you plan and budget your time, you will find that you achieve
more and that you will have more time to yourself. Try it! You
might like it!
Permission to use the poem was granted by Dr. Dan Stamp of
Priority Management Systems.
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