21st Century Time Management for Busy Managers by Michael Erwin - HTML preview

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1.15. ......................................................Le sson 7 - Build Your Personal Time Management System

your 21st Century Time Management system.

Block out 2 hours this coming Friday. The time that has worked best for people doing this for the first time is at the start of the day on Friday. Usually this is as soon as your get to work. Make sure you will not be interrupted (get away from your desk). You can do this away from the office as long as you have all the materials you need with you.

I suggest you start by using a simple planner. One week to two pages. Ring bound so you can easily add pages for notes and tasks. Keep it simple -- appointments by week, notes and tasks – that’s all you need. Your planner now goes with you everywhere.

From now, ALL notes and ALL tasks get written in the ONE planner you now have for everything.

This is the point where many other time management courses go into fine detail about where to put notes, appointments, tasks and so on. I am NOT going to do that. Appointments go in to the calendar, tasks in the task area and notes in the notes area. Keep it simple. And make it work for you.

Setting up the system

Allow 2 hours to get the system set up the system and do your planning for next week.

Start by transferring all appointments, business and personal, into your new diary/planner. File your old notes and diaries somewhere out of sight, but available if you really need them.

OK – now you are ready to do your planning for next week – feels good hey :-)

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THE FIRST WEEKLY REVIEW AND PLANNING SESSION

The first review and planning session will take longer that the ongoing sessions as you are setting up the process. You should allow an hour to do the first weekly review and planning session. (this is part of the 2 hours I mentioned earlier, not additional)

In the first session you review the notes and tasks you have just written into your new planner to get clear about what are your urgent priorities for next week. Check that all your appointments are in your planner. Use your ideal week structure to plan the week

The weekly plan
Your weekly plan comes from your weekly review and your ideal week structure. This is where you take your current situation and merge it with your ideal week, so you have a plan that is based on your ideal week structure and is filled with tasks that are relevant for the coming week.

Fill in the specific content for this week based in the structure in your ideal week.

You probably still have too much planned into your week, but that is something you need to experience and work through as you do the ongoing weekly review and planning. Eventually you will find that there are a number of gaps in your weekly plan. This is good. You use these gaps to do the tasks that feel right at that time.

* = NOTE – often at this point people start to feel uncomfortable because they see their week is full, BUT they do not feel there is enough in the plan. This is normal and it shows you how you have been conditioned to try to fit in way too much each week. Trust yourself and let the weekly structure guide you. The most important things WILL get done.

Your top 5 outcomes for the week.
The 21st Century Time Management program is about connecting you to the things that are most important in your life. So it makes sense to makes sure you are doing this each week. The first part of this process is to identify the top 5 five outcomes you want to achieve for the week. Some (if not all) of these goals should be connected to your goals for the year. In simple terms your top 5 goals for the week are the tasks that, if you only got those five things done, it would be a great week. Your top five goals for the week are written on your weekly plan.

ONGOING WEEKLY REVIEW AND PLANNING SESSION

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Each week – I suggest on Friday – you will do your weekly planning session. This becomes easier and more fluent each time you do it. As you have now started the process there is less to do in the session.

Review the past week and see what you achieved and you feel. Make adjustments based on your review.

* = remember the most important outcome is how you feel. When you feel fantastic, happy, content, satisfied, at peace … about each week, then you know your 21st Century Time Management system is working ill for you.

Tips
• Schedule less rather than more
• Communicate to other people what you are able to and NOT able

to complete that week
• Use short, succinct specific outcome focused language in the plan
– e.g. finish & email management report rather than just report.
Complete sales presentation for ACME rather than just
presentation.

Daily Check-in
Your daily check-in is to keep you on track each day. Some people have several short check-ins each day. Most people tend to have a morning or late afternoon check-in. During the daily check-in you review what has happened during the and make adjustments to your plan and your priorities as needed.

Your daily review is short and sharp. It should only take 10-15 minutes and each of these review points only a minute or two each. The daily check-in is about making sure things are still relevant. It is NOT for in depth planning or reflection.

“Anything worth doing ill is worth doing poorly at first!”

Brian Tracy, self made millionaire and author of Maximum Achievement and many other books on success.

When you do something for the first time you don’t get it right. When you first learnt to ride a bike you nearly fell off (or you did fall over). When you first learnt to drive a car it’s hard and you think, “how am I ever going to learn to do all these things – but you do.”

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Yet, you seem to forget that learning takes time. You get an expectation that you should be able to do really well almost immediately – like say, time management planning. Lots of people give up if they don’t get it right in the first week or two.

Time management is like riding a bike. It takes time before can get the momentum and balance just right – but when you do you are off and riding fast and confidently.

You may get your planning just right in 3 or 4 weeks. Or is may take 8 to 12 weeks. Either way it is worth it. You will feel like you have an extra 7-8 hours a week. That’s 4 work days a month. More importantly you will feel