Building A Time Management System From Scratch.
I was recently asked an interesting question about how I would create a time management and productivity system if I were starting out today.
My initial reaction was; to set up a task manager and calendar, then build a structure in a notes app. But then, I thought, no, that would be the worst thing to do. That would be like adding a sticking plaster to a gaping wound. It might slow down the deluge of tasks, but it would not help me better manage my time.
Going straight to the tools would mean I was prioritising current issues and likely other people’s urgencies. It would mean I was neglecting what matters to me and what I want to accomplish, both in the short and long term.
Areas of Focus.
So, if I were to begin with a blank canvas, knowing what I know now, my first approach would be to sit down and carefully think about what matters to me. I would use the eight areas of focus we all share:
Family and relationships
Health and fitness
Career/business
Self-development
Lifestyle/life experiences
Spirituality
Finances
Life’s purpose
These eight areas would be my starting point. I would not need any specialised tools for this exercise. A piece of paper and a pen would be sufficient to get started.
I would begin by defining what these areas mean to me and identifying what activities I would need to do to maintain them at a level I want them to be. For example, what does my financial well-being mean to me? How important is it? And what do I need to do weekly or monthly to maintain my financial health? I could then pull out any tasks I would need to do and how frequently.
Going through all eight of these would give me a list of between ten and fifteen tasks I must consistently perform daily, weekly and monthly.
This would be my starting point because that would put my needs and those of the people that matter to me first.
Your career/business area will inevitably be significant, and many of your daily activities will come from your work. But that does not mean it should be prioritised over everything else — a mistake most people make.
During the week, we have five days and around forty hours to dedicate to work. That should be sufficient time for most people to complete their work. But forty hours is only about 25% of your week. You will spend around 30% of the week sleeping, but the question is, what are you doing with the remaining 45% of your time?
We have time management and by connection productivity, the wrong way around. This is not the exclusive domain of your work life, good time management is about building in everything you want to spend time on each week. For example, I like to spend an hour a day exercising. That could be going to the gym or out for a run. It could also be hiking with my wife and little dog in the hills. The important thing to me is I get out and exercise in some form each day. That takes care of my health and fitness area.
I also like to read and learn more about history, which requires time each week. This means I want to allocate thirty to sixty minutes daily for the simple pleasure of education.
Starting with what you want rather than just your work tasks assists you in building a time management system that is built around your needs and wants rather than just your company’s needs and wants.
The “perfect week”.
Once I know what I want to spend time on each week, I would open up my calendar and create a new one. This new calendar would be called my “perfect week”, and I would plot out how I would like to spend my week.
It’s here where work would enter the fray. However, the question is: How would you like to spend your work time? Most people’s difficulty at work is not the work itself; it’s the distractions and interruptions. We allow too many of these.
You were employed to do a specific job. That could be sales or managing a team of people. Or it could be to treat patients, teach students or run a business. Within these roles, a set of core tasks will ensure you do your work to the standards expected of you. These core tasks need to be scheduled on your calendar.
Dentists and doctors, for example, will spend most of their workdays consulting patients or performing medical procedures. These will already be on your calendar. However, you will likely need time each day to write up your patient notes and respond to emails. You must ask yourself how much time you require to stay on top of your emails, messages, and patient notes.
Let’s say you require around thirty minutes to manage your email and an hour for maintaining your patient notes and basic admin. This should be on your calendar. This means your available time to see patients would not be the full eight hours of a typical workday but around six and a half hours. You would need to set aside ninety minutes for your other work.
Now, you could take the economic argument and claim you cannot afford to spend ninety minutes dealing with administrative tasks. After all, these administrative tasks do not earn you any money. That’s true. However, what are you willing to sacrifice instead? Your email and admin still need to be done; it requires ninety minutes, so where will you get those ninety minutes from? If not your work time, it must come from your personal time.
Remember, the productivity equation has two sides, and only one side do you have any control over — activity. Time is fixed. We cannot change that. The only part you can change is your activity. So you must choose what activities you will do each day and when.
Your focus time.
What about all those distractions? This is where you need to learn to “disappear” and focus on your work. The problem for most people is they are too “available”. We have conditioned ourselves to believe we must always be available for our customers, clients, colleagues, and bosses. That’s a very noble sentiment but a very unrealistic one. If you spend your time at work being “available” to everyone, you will not be doing the job you were employed to do.
I’ve never heard of anyone being fired because they were “difficult” to get hold of, but I have heard of countless people being fired because they were not doing their job.
Now, I am not suggesting you spend all day hiding from people. Instead, I recommend that for two to three hours a day, you shut down all your communication channels and focus on the work you were employed to do. It’s surprising how fast people you work with learn your work habits.
For instance, I am almost impossible to reach between 9:30 am and 11:30 am. Those two hours are essential for completing my most important work each day. If I spent that time inside my email or responding to the countless instant messages I receive, none of my work would get done.
Once I know where to spend my time each day, I would only begin looking for “tools” to assist me. I’ve mentioned the calendar already; on top of that, I would use a task manager to organise the tasks I need to get done. I would also use a notes app to manage my projects — a place to keep information and checklists so I know what needs to happen next on a project.
But the number one tool would be my calendar. Of all the productivity tools available to you, your calendar will never lie. It gives you the twenty-four hours you have each day and nothing more. It’s up to you to decide how you will use these hours.
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