7 Time Management Bandits You Must Defeat

OK, OK, OK! For you impatient time travelers, here are the 7 Time Bandits plus how to deal with Aggressive High New Worth Andy, Calamity Client and Disruption Don & Donna, let’s go over the 7 Time Management Basics that are easily forgotten in today’s overstimulated world;

1. Eliminate Busy Work

People are often too busy with busy work and this creates a huge distraction from paying attention and focusing on goal achieving actions.

Instead of taking action on their specific goal at a specified time they fill their time with what they justify as things that are routine versus what is important.

What they are saying is “I haven’t created the discipline of stopping myself periodically throughout the day and asking if this is the most effective way to spend my time.”

This is the time to get one of those alarms on your watch or computer to keep you on track when you have made a decision to work on a specific goal at a certain time.

If you get distracted;

Stop doing it

Find someone else to do it

Record it on a list to schedule for future action

Forget it

2. Schedule Time In Advance and Ask What Is Going To Distract Me?

It is that time of the week again and it is coming time to write my newsletter.  In fact the time is scheduled.  Well in advance I ask myself, “Is there anything that I need to do that is going to distract me from writing the e-newsletter?”

A variation of the above is;

Record it on a list to schedule for future action

Find someone else to do it

Stop doing it

Forget it

You will find that as you get more and more into the habit of focusing on action steps towards your goals, the minor things will not be that important anymore.  I think that it was Tony Robbins that said, “People major in minor things”.

3. Form Time Boundaries

Get Your Associates, Employees, Family, Friends & Partners Time Management – Part 1

As a business owner, I am fortunate enough to be in charge of my own time and it is not that often that I must accommodate the schedule of others.

There are many of us that are not totally in charge of our own time and we are accountable to; partners, associates, employers, family members and friends.

We are often interrupted by other people’s priorities.

The next time that you are interrupted by someone making a request for you to do something;

Ask yourself (not them), is this life and death?  If the answer is Yes then take action.  If the answer is No then I suggest the following.

Person Requesting You To Do Something:  I want your help to do _____________.

Your Reply:  I am happy to help you, right now I’m in the middle of a project and need 100% concentration to complete it.  I am unable to stop what I am doing as I have an unavoidable time commitment. What is the deadline that you need your task done by? 

(You may find that by forming a boundary on your time the person that is making a request may realize that you are busy with something that is more important than what it is they are asking you to do.  If the person replies with the deadline, then let’s assume that they still want your help.)

Person Requesting You To Do Something:  I need it by 10 am tomorrow.

Your Reply:  Great I’ll schedule it in for tomorrow morning and I’ll have it ready for you.

(This simple system leaves you with time boundaries and gives you the feeling that you are in charge of your own time versus being a victim. )

Get Your Associates, Employees, Family, Friends & Partners Time Management – Part 2

Some of you are business owners and less accountable to; partners, associates, employees, family members and friends.

At the same time, we would like our partners, associates, employees, family members and friends, to join us in accomplishing our success.

Complete your vision for the next three to five years and create you business plan.

Next, share and explain your three to five year vision and your business plan with your partners, associates, employees, family members and friends along with your Free, Buffer & Focus Days Plan.

Ask them, would they be willing to help you.

Of course they will say yes.

Let them know that while you have been more available in the past, you are really committed to your three to five year vision and your business plan, so you are looking for their help and understanding in the event that they ask you for help and you say; I am happy to help you, right now I’m in the middle of a project and need 100% concentration to complete it.  I am unable to stop what I am doing as I have an unavoidable time commitment. You know the rest.

What is the deadline that you need your task done by? 

4. Block Time For High Net Worth Clients

You can take this one more step by sharing and explaining your three to five year vision and your business plan along with your Free, Buffer & Focus Days Plan, especially with team members / employees.

Start off this conversation and complement each team member on what they are doing exceptionally well.

Ask them for their help which will enable you to create more time to make the center of influence calls that you need to make to make the practice more prosperous.

Explain to them that your best time for making calls to center of influence prospects is in the morning, so what you are wanting to do is figure out a way to gain their help to create some block time so that you can make center of influence prospect calls in the morning.

Ask them to start planning their next day at 3 PM in the afternoon and have them think about both the A & B priority questions that they are going to need to ask you first thing in the morning to enable them to proceed with their work day.

Let them know that you are going to have an open door policy between 8 and 8:30 AM in the morning to be able to answer only A priority questions that will only take a few minutes to answer.

Explain that the B priority questions, the questions that will take more than a few minutes to answer, can wait until your 11 AM time slot when you have more time available.

Explain this process will give you a block time slot between 9 and 11 AM to be able to make center of influence prospect calls and work on high net worth files and A priority projects while your morning energy is still strong.

Tune back in next week for more time management tips!!