Time: A critical issue to everyone, especially the entrepreneur.
If your bank credited your account with $480 every morning, and then every evening cancelled whatever part of the amount that you had failed to use, what would you do? Well, time works a little like a bank. Every morning we are all credited with 480 minutes in an eight-hour work day and 1,440 minutes every 24 hours. Every night it writes off as "lost" whatever we have failed to invest in a good purpose.
If I had a nickel for every time someone told me that they needed a time management program, I would be rich. We have all heard the phrase: Work smarter; not harder. Unfortunately we live in times where most people do manage time relatively well. There is just too much to do each day. Some people resort to sleeping less, only to find themselves with a little more time and more exhaustion. Here is one critical exercise to see help you determine how effective you are.
Create a simple matrix with two scales
(like a box with the following x and y axis):
1. Importance
(the extent to which the activity is more important or less important).
2. Urgency
(the extent to which the activity needs to be done immediately or can be deferred
until a later time). Once constructed, this matrix creates four categories /
boxes into which your activities can be listed. These are as follows:
1. Low urgency and low importance.
This box is full of your activities that are not particularly important to your
work or your goals and that can be done almost any time. These include activities
such as daydreaming, gossiping, reading junk mail, and other "busy" activities.
All of these things could be eliminated in one fell swoop (theoretically) and
statistics say they often end up taking more than 40% of our valuable time.
You should aim to get this figure in half.
2. Low importance and high
urgency.
Items in this box look like they need dealing with immediately, so they "assume"
an importance that may not be deserved. Many phone calls and a lot of email
fall into this category, as well as memos, reports, and visitors who just drop
by for a chat. Half of these activities can usually be minimized but it is unlikely
that they will be completely eliminated.
3. Low urgency and high importance.
Activities in this box tend to confuse people. Most people spend the least amount
of time here when they should be spending the most. This box should contain
activities that deserve more of our time-time to plan or prepare and prevent
further unnecessary work in the future. Time saved from item 1 above should
be dedicated here.
4. High importance and high
urgency.
This box contains activities that are generally seen to be the most difficult
to manage. Significant crises or legitimate emergencies fall into this category.
All of these activities need to be carefully managed, but the real question
is whether they could have been avoided with more planning (item 3 above). Statistically
they will take up 15% of your time no matter how well you plan.
Once you have identified how your time could be better utilized, you need strategies to help make this a reality. As a reader of Rick Gordon's newsletter, I am offering a complimentary online Time Management Effectiveness to the first 100 who are interested.
Click on the link below to complete your Time Management Effectiveness Profile (a $14.95 retail value for free): http://wghill.com/wordpress/?p=57 If you enjoy this profile, contact me for a special half price offer on the popular and powerful valuables Platinum Rule Communications Style Assessment.