Time Management

Contents

Introduction: What is Time Management?
Why is Time Management Important?
Why should you learn Time Management Skills?

How Much is Your Time Worth?
Learn how to put a value on your time – what does an hour cost?
Learn how valuing your time helps you manage your time

Keeping Track: Where Does the Time Go?
Developing a log
Finding the Time Wasters

Setting Goals: Long Term and Short Term Goals
Learn how goal setting affects time management
Find out how to create long and short term goals

Scheduling: Making the Most of Your Time
Schedule according to your prime working hours
Creating ‘To-Do’ Lists and Action Plans
Learning to Prioritize

Special Tips for Family Time Management  
Calendar of appointments
Respecting each others time
Organizing household chores

More Than a Schedule…Final Thoughts
Staying on Schedule requires more from you
How Time Management affects your life

Introduction: What is Time Management?

Do you find yourself rushing through your morning, stampeding to the door, making your way through traffic only to arrive 10 minutes late for work because you had to wait for the train?

How does the rest of your day go?

Once you get yourself into work do you need to take a few moments to compose yourself? Perhaps you get a coffee and relax by chatting with a co-worker on your way to your desk. When you sit down you see five items that need immediate attention (some left over from yesterday) and the phone starts ringing.

You forgot the morning meeting! So you start rifling through your papers….

Is this sounding all too familiar by now?

Regardless of whether you work at home, an office or a factory or if you work for a boss or yourself, getting a grip on time seems like a daily struggle for millions of people.

Are You Overbooked?

It’s true that many of us have heaped our daily schedule full of activities. Despite cell phones, internet and microwaves it seems we never have enough time to take care of business, ourselves, our friends and family.

So many of the activities we do everyday are demanding our attention that it can be difficult to make plans for the future. Even if the plans will ease our burdens down the road. We are busy but are we productive with our time? This is where time management has become important.

What Will Time Management Do For Me?

Time management isn’t a physics course, but it is worth making the effort to review and apply in your busy life. Why?

Because time management isn’t just about having time – it’s about making certain our time is well spent. There will always be times in our life when we get extra busy (back to school, taxes, holidays, important projects) but learning the skills to manage the time we have wisely will alleviate much of the stress and frustration that can lead to burn out and fatigue.

Working Smarter – Not Harder

Your time is a valuable resource – both to your employer, business and family.

When we treat every task we do as a priority it is easy to slip into bad habits that eat into our time but do not give us enough benefits. We run around ‘putting out fires’ and face every day’s activities as emergencies. Nothing is planned and we never have time to get things done properly. Identifying these areas and restructuring your routine and mindset enables you to optimize your time so you produce the most results with the least effort.

How does this work?

By identifying daily routines and your own body ‘rhythms’ you can try to plan the most energy consuming activities during your most productive times of the day and use your less productive times for activities that do not require the same amount of concentration or effort.

This applies equally well to all parts of our life – work and home. But it goes beyond that. Time management also helps you identify time (or energy) wasters. Perhaps there are activities that must be removed or delegated to someone else. By learning how to identify these we will not succumb to guilty feelings that we were not “up to the job” but we will conscientiously decide that to keep doing them is a waste of valuable resources – your time.

Time Management is a Skill

You’re not at boot camp. Although the discipline encouraged by boot camps may be useful it does not relate well to daily life. Work and family usually call for flexibility and learning the skill of time management will allow us to make wise choices without being tied to a strict routine.

Would your boss be pleased if you turned down an important assignment presented to you with urgency by hearing you say “I have a strict schedule to follow and tomorrow is my filing day so I cannot accept another assignment at this time”?

Or would your daughter, having forgotten to mention her soccer game until the night before, be satisfied with “we planned to do the laundry, remember? It’s on the schedule.”

Developing time management skills with the help of this guide will show how to determine what tasks need doing and when in harmony with your overall goals at work and at home.

You Can Make Last Minute Decisions

That means when you have a last minute invitation out for a ‘couples only’ supper on Friday night, but you’ve already booked up the weekend for family activities, you will determine if one more social activity will contribute to your happiness as a couple or drain you for the family activities you planned for the weekend.

When your supervisor asks you to help out with some backed up invoicing, you can determine if giving a helpful hand to an important part of the business will improve your reputation as a team player or will cause other, equally important jobs that have already been assigned to you to become delayed or jeopardized.

Making conscious decisions about why we use the time the way we do will prevent you from appearing incapable or feeling overwhelmed. You will have the confidence to give your answers (even if it’s ‘no’) without questioning your judgment.

If you do say no to a task you will be able to furnish an explanation as to why you are making that decision if need be. Or in the case of an employer or manager you can explain your situation and allow them to decide which task uses your time to the most profitable ends. You may find that they were unaware of your current load and are thankful that you are concerned about making the best use of your time and talents.

You Will Have a Purpose in What You Do

While time management is a skill that should be used day-to-day, it is also useful to help reach your long term goals.

Your goals may be hazy right now, or even obscure, but by incorporating them into the ‘why’ of what you do every day you will be making strides to accomplish them while enjoying what you do.

Even the drudgery that sometimes comes with life is easier to manage if you know why you must do it. Knowing why will make these chores a part of your plan, and thus a choice rather than a burden. Managing your time can also prevent these areas from becoming dragged out and thus affecting your usefulness and energy.

Getting Started…

The first step to getting your time managed is to find out exactly how much your time is worth…

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How Much is Your Time Worth ?

What does an hour of your time cost?

While every dollar has the same value, every hour does not. An hour at 10:00 in the morning may be of much more value as a working hour than 11:00 at night. On the other hand an hour at your child’s bedside when he is sick is worth more than an hour at the office catching up on your filing.

However, most of us recognize that an hour at work is an hour at work and if you will be there for eight or 12 hours you want those hours to be used productively so they don’t become extra hours catching up to missed deadlines or preventing you from spending time with your family.

There are two methods for determining the value of your time.

What Does an Hour Cost Your Employer?

What Does an Hour Cost YOU?

What Does an Hour Cost Your Employer?

If you work for someone you must realize that the activities you do cost the business more than just your hourly wage. You need to account for the cost of overhead and the percentage of income that you are responsible to provide for.

If you are a salaried employee you can take your salary (month or year) and add the cost of the office space, equipment or other costs as you presume them to be. Divide this number by the amount of hours you would work in an average month or year.

A month gives you approximately 20 working days. A year has about 240.

The resulting figure is what an hour costs. Now when you are deciding to do an activity you can determine if the task at hand is worth that amount of resources to the business – your time and physical resources. You might be surprised.

Raise Your Value…

Don’t think your time is worth that much? Don’t base it purely on what others have valued it at – raise your value and you will reap the rewards. Work like you are paid more and you will surely stand out from the crowd. You will be more productive and waste less time.

What if you cost your business $5/minute instead of $5/hour. Or $10/minute instead of $10/hour. How much would time be worth now? Would you hang around an office waiting room or stay on hold on the telephone? Or would you confirm appointments and leave messages. Raising your value will improve how you view your time and will help you spend your time productively.

What Does an Hour Cost YOU?

Are you self-employed or on contract? This makes it more imperative that you spend your time wisely in that it can have an immediate impact on your income.

How much is your time worth (billing hour)? Now create a list of activities that are not directly related to creating income such as bookkeeping, website maintenance, cleaning etc. Based on the previous month, how many hours were spent doing each task?

If you bill $30/hour for your service and you spend 15 hours per month maintaining your website it has cost you $450 that month. It may also have cost you 15 more hours away from your family and friends or impeded on actual production time. If having an up-to-date website is crucial to your business (but is not the actual business) then perhaps you would do better to pay someone to maintain it for you. It will give you more time for important tasks and may be accomplished in less time if the person is more skilled than yourself.

The Value of Your Time - Beyond Money

Time management goes beyond knowing the monetary value of your time – your personal time also has value.

Unlike money, each hour of your day does not have the same value. You cannot always use money or profits as a factor when determining how much your time is worth. Your life is made up of people, interests and caring for yourself and others. Basing your time merely on the amount of money you will make or save is missing the big picture.

Have you ever heard someone answer the question “if you had 6 months to live, what would you do” with the answer “make more money”? Unless they had nagging financial concerns about their family most people would acknowledge that time spent bettering oneself, spent with family and showing interest in others has greater value.

When your child has a school event he wants you to attend or you haven’t spent one evening all week to rest up and relax you need to determine the value of your time in the context of living a productive life – not just making money.

Working For Yourself – Drawing the Line

If you are self-employed or tend to take a lot of work home with you it is important to ask yourself if the time you spend on certain tasks is worth the sacrifice of time doing other things.

While it can be difficult to make decisions for how you use your time when you feel the pressure to perform many tasks, it’s not impossible. Take the time to assess your goals and make decisions that reflect them.

While being reliable is important you may find new strategies that make better use of your time. You can identify areas where you should be delegating instead of doing things yourself. You might try reorganizing your day so your schedule includes the most important tasks you need to accomplish while fitting less important tasks around it.

Taking the time to understand the value of your time now is going to save you frustration in the future. The following chapters will help you identify goals, set a schedule and identify habits that may be costing you more than just time.

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Keeping Track: Where Does the Time Go ?

You’ve tried this before – creating a To-Do list, scheduling some appointments and booking projects. You have started the day on the right foot, determined to get on top of things.

The kid’s lunches were packed and ready. You had plenty of time to get to work in the morning without any stress. When you arrived at work your projects were in order, your day timer up-to-date and you knew exactly where you need to be and when.

Because you used a schedule you figured that you’d have no problem getting everything done on time. You start out alright, but as you carry on through the day you notice the time and are shocked that you only accomplished half of what you planned before you have to switch activities. Several interruptions by coworkers and clients and before you realize it the schedule has been abandoned and you are again rushing through your activities and feeling overwhelmed. Why does this happen?

You Have More Time Than You Think…

Before you blame the scheduling process you need see what other factors affect your day.

You can do this by logging your normal routine for a few days.

It is difficult to appreciate the time you spend on activities that do not contribute to your productivity until you’ve logged them over a few days.

Creating a Log

For the next few days keep a pen and paper handy to write down what you’re doing and the time when you change activities. Quickly assess and write down how you feel – energetic, tired, hungry or anything else you can identify. This record does not have to be detailed but should include every activity change in your work day.

There is a sample log at the end of the book you can print out and use.

Identifying Patterns

After you’ve kept a log for a couple of days you will be able to analyze certain patterns. Do you often feel tired in the middle of the afternoon? Are you refreshed after taking a small lunch? Did you spend longer on menial tasks or talking to others than you thought? How many people used up your time with little benefit (phone calls, drop-ins and emails)?

Finding these patterns can help you plan your activities so they fit better with your natural rhythms. Perhaps you find getting through the afternoon (or getting started in the morning) to be the most draining. Is it possible to schedule your most challenging projects or meetings when you are most alert and energetic? Block off this time in your schedule – no calls, no meetings – so that you can accomplish the most work.

Give Yourself Rewards

You can also try implementing a self-reward program when needed. If pushing through a tedious project causes you to dawdle or get easily distracted you might find that giving yourself small rewards as you complete small chunks of work will keep you motivated.

Perhaps you will only get a cup of coffee when you’ve finished filing half of the pile. Or maybe you’ll take a stretch or call a friend (briefly) when you’ve dealt with 20 emails. Keep the rewards small but frequent enough to keep your momentum and prevent you from resorting to distractions which will only prolong the process.

Should You Stop Wasting Time?

This process may also highlight to you that after evaluating how much your time is worth you should really consider delegating some of your work to other people or eliminating some tasks.

While it is commendable to keep on top of things you may be wasting resources by trying to do everything yourself. Smaller businesses frequently call on the owner or employees to wear several hats during the day or week. While it appears to cut costs this may actually be wasting resources. Perhaps hiring someone part-time to help with the filing, cleaning and mail outs would permit key employees to spend their time at more profitable occupations.

If you identify this problem and you are an employee you need to discuss your findings with your manager or employer. If approached properly they may see that your time is better spent focused on aspects of your job that are more profitable. Important duties are being compromised by menial tasks that need to be performed.

Whatever you discover to be a time waster you must take steps to deal with. Here are some ideas for four common time wasters…

Top Five Time Wasters

MEETINGS: people in meetings all day are not getting things done.

Meetings have their place. They are an important way to deal with group issues, create plans and get feedback. What is a problem is when meetings are called on the spur of the moment with little preparation and no plan. When these meetings start each person has a separate agenda. If the purpose is unclear and the participants unprepared are you going to come to a clear decision?

To avoid wasting time with meetings try the following:

1) Create an agenda giving each item a time allotment – Prioritize the agenda so the most important issues are dealt with first.

2) Send the agenda to each participant so they can come prepared.

3) Focus on getting a solution – scheduling another meeting should not be the solution although it may be a part of completing the plan.

4) Avoid last minute meetings

5) Schedule meetings for the end of the day or week so that all involved can arrange their work flow and jump right into their tasks the next morning.

6) If the issue can be dealt with on the phone or through email don’t plan a meeting.

PHONE CALLS : You don’t have to answer every time it rings.

If you have blocked a certain time for working on a task do not let phone calls interrupt your momentum. While you may feel that you need always be ‘on-call’ the truth is that you are loosing productivity by permitting continual interruptions to your work flow.

If you must answer the call and the person can wait ask them for a time when you can call back and discuss the issue. Not only will you set boundaries with your time but you can be prepared to deal with the call without other distractions.

To avoid wasting time with phone calls try the following:

1) Turn off your phone for two hours while you complete your task. If that is too much then do it for one hour or 30 minutes.

2) Ask that your calls be held for the allotted time (making exceptions for those who need it – like your boss).

3) If you answer tell the person you are in the middle of a task so you need to schedule a return call later that day. Decide who will make the return call and when.

DROP-IN VISITORS : “Do You Have a Minute” will always take longer.

If you cannot finish a task without a co-worker stopping in to ask you for a minute of your time you may find your whole day is occupied with ‘one minute’ issues. Often the individual will get comfortable and discuss many more items than the one they initially came to you with.

While some positions do require an open door policy, or you may not have an office you can close the door to, it is important to have uninterrupted time in your day to complete the tasks on your list.

To avoid wasting time with ‘drop-ins’ try the following:

1) Schedule the time you are not available so YOU stand by your decision

2) Close the door or use a ‘do-not-disturb’ sign to discourage idle visitors.

3) If you must deal with a situation or individual ask for the details and suggest you find a time to sit down and discuss it. Schedule it in so they know you view it as important and want to give them your time.

Working at the WRONG TIME: Wasting Your Resources

Are you always planning activities that clash with other people’s schedules? Do you find the time you allotted to make calls (such as lunch time) means you are not able to get a hold of anyone? Do you ask for help when everyone else is too busy?

Rearranging your schedule to make the most of your time will prevent you from ‘getting in your own way’. Find the most opportune times for tasks and your day will be much more productive.

To avoid wasting time with bad scheduling try the following:

1) Do you find more people available to talk later in the day? Make all your return calls then.

2) Do you often need to ask for assistance with big projects? Plan ahead so that your project does not conflict with other people’s schedules.

3) Give yourself extra lead time. Things don’t always work out like you plan, give yourself some extra time so you can make your deadlines even if you have setbacks. Check up on delegated tasks to make sure they’re on schedule and give them early deadlines as well.

Disorganized WORK SPACE:

To use your time well it is a MUST that you have an organized work space. Every moment looking for a pen, a file or a misplaced check not only means wasted time but it can add to your stress level and interfere with your ability to focus on your work.

To avoid wasting time with disorganized work space:

1) Give EVERYTHING a home. This includes your cell phone and keys.

2) Keep daily needs easily accessible. Whether you work from your car or an office, place phone lists, calendars and other daily needed items in an easy to see spot or in an easily accessible folder.

3) Put everything else away. Files and tools that are not in use need to be put away. The easiest way to do that is to give yourself at least 50% more storage space than you currently need. If you cram items into a small space you will not likely keep up with your organizing and you will have difficulty finding what you need.

Once you’ve identified and dealt with key time wasters you will be surprised how much more productive your day can be!

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