Time Management Tips

Time Management Tips

If I had 10 extra hours per week, I would.....

For me, this would involve more time with family and investing in myself.

Time management is a balance between Focus and Chaos.  Some are expert in focus and some are experts in chaos. Most of us are somewhere in the middle.

These notes came from watching Time Management Fundamentals with Dave Crenshaw on LinkedIn Learning.

Productivity is about Principles not Technology.

The biggest obstacle to productivity is Multitasking.  Multitasking is comprised of back-tasking and switch-tasking.  Back-tasking involves doing something in the background while we do something else.  However, most of us are actually switch-tasking which involves switching between two tasks at once, which is very inefficient.

• The average worker switches apps over 500 times per day.
• Switch-tasking increases stress.
• Switch-tasking increases mistakes.
• Switch-tasking dramatically reduces productivity.

Three aspects of improving productivity includes:

• Space
• Mind
• Time - consciously using our time for what's most important to us. MVA - most valuable activities

Space - Gathering Points

Gathering points are places where incomplete tasks can accumulate.  The more gathering points that you have the more switch-tasking you'll need to do and the less productive you'll be.

• The goal should be to have 6 or less gathering points.
• Ideally, the following gathering points work well:
• a physical gathering box
• a portable inbox like a pocket in your briefcase or backpack
• a notepad
• a single email inbox
• your primary messaging app
• a wild card option that you can choose based on your way of working

Inbox

This inbox should be a box or something else that's smaller or larger.  This is the place to let things accumulate in one place rather than all over the place.

Portable Inbox

Should be carried with you.  It's a holder for items that you can later dump in your physical inbox.

Notepad

Can be physical or digital.  Can have both, but the less the better.

Single Email Inbox

Sometimes it's not possible to consolidate personal and work.  The goal is to get to the minimum.

Messaging App

Whatever your work generally prefers or requires.

Mind - Clearing Mind Events

When new tasks come into your mind, clear the task by moving it to an approved gathering point.

Mind Clearing Exercise

Move through a list of topics or triggers, for each trigger think of associated tasks and move those tasks to an approved gathering point.  Ideally this exercise should be repeated every couple of months.  This exercise will keep your mind clear and focused.

Time - Scheduling

Use a calendar, either digital or physical.  Digital is preferred

Tips

• Think of the calendar as a bank account with only so much time to allocate
• Don't book back to back meetings or overlapping meetings.
• Schedule buffer time so that you can be prepped for your meetings.
• Don't think short term, schedule in the future
• Protect your time
• Get good at saying No to others AND to yourself
• Use a Perhaps list that captures all potential ideas/tasks without committing.  Review the list every several months.
• Saying No to some tasks means you have more time to work on those things you say Yes to.
• Don't accept all invites immediately; if asked to meet, ask for the request via email in order to know whether the time will work and if the other person is committed to scheduling the time.

Processing

• Processed items have a clearly defined what, when, and where.  Unprocessed items are missing a what, when, and where.
• Your workspace should have homes for particular things like pens or devices or anything else.  Anything that Doesn't belong in a particular home MUST get moved to a gathering point.
• Unprocessed items don't need to get processed, they just need to go into an approved gathering point.  To process an item, figure out the what, when, and where.

Processing System

The processing system is a systematic way of working with unprocessed items.

1. First figure out what is the next step.  Don't just skip this if it's hard.
1. delegate
2. disengage from the obligation
2. Next figure out the when you will do it.
1. If it takes 5 minutes or less, just do it now.
2. Calendar anything that will take more than 15 minutes
1. Anything that has a deadline MUST be scheduled.
3. Anything b/w 5 and 15 minutes can use task reminders so they can get done at flexible times.
4. The more valuable something is, the sooner it should get done.
3. Last figure out where the task's home is.
1. When in doubt with digital items, keep it.
2. When in doubt with physical items, throw them out.
3. Separate personal and work items
4. Separate files into categories
1. Then create subfolders under each category
5. In each subfolder create an OLD folder for older non-current files
6. Save files with the date in the name.
7. Find a way to do offline backups so they can be retrieved if lost
4. Schedule processing time each week
1. Processing should get each gathering point to zero at least once a week
2. Start with 5 hours of processing time per week, then adjust after a few weeks
5. Email processing
1. Emails should be archived into a special folder for emails that have been processed.
2. If the email isn't wanted, unsubscribe if possible then delete.
3. Setup FILTERs that automatically move emails to archived folders.

Finding a Boundary

It's critical to find a boundary between work and personal time.

1. First, figure out how many hours you want / need to work each week.  Then subtract this time from 168 hours, which is the number of hours in a week.
2. Then figure out what the MOST important tasks that you perform.  The top 2 are the Most Valuable Activities (MVA).  Most people spend their time on less valuable activities (LVA)s.
3. To get paid more and be more productive, spend your time on your MVAs rather than your LVAs.