544. POINTS TO REMEMBER - TIME

POINTS  TO  REMEMBER

 

10 Time Wasters To Be Alert To As A Leader Or Manager

You can buy additional memory for your computer to speed it up and make it work better. On the other hand, the amount of time you have in a day is fixed. What that means is we need to invest it wisely. So what are 10 time wasters to be alert to as a leader or manager?

1. Incomplete information which means you cannot take a decision.
2. Employees coming in with problems that are important to them but not urgent.
3. Telephone calls, including mobile phone calls, coming in on a totally random basis.
4. Routine tasks that should be taken care of by someone on your team being delegated upwards.
5. Poorly organised or poorly run meetings.
6. Attempting to do, or offering to do, too much in the time available.
7. Being overly optimistic in your estimates of how long things will take.
8. Procrastinating; either putting things off or leaving things partly completed.
9. Not listening and going off on the wrong track.
10. Not being willing to say ‘no’ when you are already fully utilised.

Boost Your Productivity And Results

Ask just about any leader or manager what their biggest challenges are and you are almost guaranteed that a lack of time will be on their list. We all at the end of the day have the same allocation of time yet some seem to get vastly different results from others. So how can you boost productivity and results?

In his excellent book, How To Save An Hour Every Day, Michael Heppell suggests that you start with a big enough ‘Why?’. By that he means being clear about why saving time matters to you. The chances are that you are missing out on, or not getting enough of, something that really matters to you. What is it and why does it matter anyway?

A time tracker is another great tool for getting insights into where your time is going. I remember having to account for every 15 minutes of the day when I worked in one of the Big 4 accountancy firms. Sometimes it felt like a chore but it sure helped with focus.

Another great strategy is to organise things so that you can easily put your hands on them when you need them. If you are one of the many professional people who like to hold on to things just in case they are needed, you might want to invest in a couple of sacks and get rid of stuff.

Cut down the delaying and procrastinating and start taking decisions and actions to get things done. The reality is things will never be easier when you put them off, they will just be later.

Distinguish between the ‘must do’ and ‘to do’ list. ‘Must do’ activities are those areas that are critical to achieving your results. What are those for your role? If you don’t know, make it a priority to find out.

Delegate more rather than holding on to stuff out of habit or because you wrongly believe that you are the only one who could do it so well.

Hold meetings only when you really need to. They can easily swallow up a bunch of time. When you hold a meeting, make sure there is a defined outcome and time limit.

The Bottom Line: Mastering time management is an important area in being a successful leader or manager and will require review from time to time. At the same time, it is often small changes that can yield big results.

7 Secrets Of Achieving Work / Life Balance

One of the things I have noticed is that, despite all of the advances in technology and gadgets, achieving some reasonable work / life balance seems to be a bigger challenge than ever.

So what are the secrets of achieving work / life balance?

Secret 1: Decide that it matters to you

• It seems obvious but you need to decide that getting some sort of sensible balance matters to you.

Secret 2: Set boundaries

• We all need money to live. At the same time, it is of little benefit if you are so burned out that you cannot enjoy the non-work time. Set boundaries on how much time you want to spend at work and stick to them.

Secret 3: Let others know your boundaries

• If you are happy for people to contact you any time they like by ‘phone or on your Blackberry, that’s fine. On the other hand, if you are not, make it clear to others what is okay and what is not.

Secret 4: Turn off gadgets

• If you are a doctor or on-call in your job, you need your ‘phone and email on. If not, you can probably turn off your gadgets.

Secret 5: Ask yourself what you would say on your death bed

• I remember a fairly new trainee saying to me when I worked at one of the Big 4 Accounting Firms, Do you want to be lying on your death bed saying, ‘I wish I had spent more time at work’? Essentially, she was saying, Decide on your priorities.

Secret 6: Focus

• It is not about working harder; it is about working smarter.

Secret 7: Track your time investment

• Once you start tracking where you are investing your time, you start to get insights on where you need to change.

What other secrets would you add?

Are You First To Arrive And Last To Leave?

In the modern business world, people seem to be working longer and longer. It is all too easy to fall into the trap of being the first to arrive and last to leave. How do I know this? Well simply because it was an area that I found a challenge when working in the accountancy profession.

So if you are first to arrive and last to leave, what can you do to address this?

Get clear on your priorities

• You have lots of things you could do. The question is what should you be doing? Getting clear on your priorities is essential.

Focus on your priorities

• It is all well and good being clear on your priorities. At the same time, you need to make sure that you are focussing on them. That means continually checking what you are doing to make sure you are focussing on what matters.

Discover what can only be done by you

• In my experience, most tasks can be grouped into 3 brackets:
1. Things that need doing and can only be done by you.
2. Things that need doing but not necessarily by you.
3. Things that might not need doing at all.

Learn to delegate

• Delegation is not just about getting stuff off your desk. It also provides a great development opportunity. So learn how to and start delegating.

The reality is that if we allow it, work will expand to fill the time we have available. Remember, few things are so critical in management that they need attention right away.

Work Smarter Not Harder

Sometimes delivering better results is not always about work harder but about working smarter. Discover my

Secrets Of Managing Your Time

Time is the ultimate limiting factor. It does not matter who you are; you have 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week, 744 hours in a month.

As a result, how you manage your time is vital to the results that you get.

So what are some of the secrets?

1. Be clear on what your priorities are and what you are expected to deliver.
2. Plan how you are going to invest your time.
3. Keep a track of where you are spending your time.
4. Do what you do best.
5. Delegate and empower others.
6. Set boundaries.
7. Focus on results.
8. Keep a sense of balance so that your productivity does not dip.

The truth is, how you manage your time makes a big difference to your productivity and results. So what have you found makes a big difference to managing your time?

 

7 Simple Tips To Improve Your Work / Life Balance

The more senior you become in the organisation, the tougher it can be to maintain some form of work / life balance.

So what simple tips do I suggest for improving work / life balance?

Tip 1: Set deadlines

• Have you ever noticed that when you set a deadline for getting something done or a timescale to do something, you somehow do it? Setting a deadline is a bit like setting an intention which sends a signal to your mind.

Tip 2: Prioritise well

• Whether you believe it or not, some things are more important than others. Make the point of identifying and prioritising how you will use your time.

Tip 3: Be well organised

• Being able to find things when you need them, whether in a computer or filing cabinet, can pay big dividends.

Tip 4: Plan things out of work

• If you don’t, you will just end up staying that extra half hour, which will in reality end up being two hours.

Tip 5: Ask for help

• Don’t suffer in silence. Ask for help if you are struggling.

Tip 6: Focus on what matters

• Rather than stuff that keeps you busy.

Tip 7: Learn to switch off

• Tough as it might be, you need to be able to switch off.

The truth is, maintaining a healthy work / life balance can actually enhance your performance. So what’s your first step?

5 Fast Actions To Boost Your Personal Effectiveness

1. Know what your priorities are.
2. Plan your time utilisation to focus on your priorities.
3. Periodically record where you are spending your time so that you can be sure that you are spending it appropriately.
4. Do what you do best and delegate or dump the other things.
5. Get the team you lead or manage taking on the things that they do best.

 

5 Tips To Boost Your Personal Effectiveness

Tip 1

• Get clear on what’s priority and what’s not.

Tip 2

• Invest your time in the priority activities.

Tip 3

• If you have something that you have to do, make sure that you have the skills to do it.

Tip 4

• Keep track of where you are spending your time so that you can be sure that you are investing it wisely.

Tip 5

• Reflect periodically and make changes where necessary to take your personal effectiveness to the next level.

6 Tips For Achieving Better Results

 “Too much to do, too little time”, is an all too familiar cry these days. So what can you do to get more done and achieve better results?

1. Know what’s important and priority and what is just a time filler.
2. Set yourself challenging but realistic targets for each day, week and month.
3. Set start and finish times for every task.
4. Don’t leave things half completed otherwise you end up with a whole lot of work in progress.
5. Get organised so that you can find things.
6. Automate whenever you can to boost productivity.

What additional tips would you add?