Save Time

By: Dr. Donald E. Wetmore

In my Time Management seminars, which I have conducted for more than100,000 people from around the globe, I show people how to get more donein less time, with less stress; to help them have more time for thethings they want to do in their work and personal lives.If you can recapture a wasted hour here and there and redirect it to amore productive use, you can make great increases in your dailyproductivity and the quality of your life.Here are five of the many techniques I share in our Time Managementseminars, each one of which will help you to get at least one more hourout of your day for additional productive time.

1. Run an Interruptions Log The average person gets 50 interruptions aday. The average interruption takes five minutes. Some five hours eachday are spent dealing with interruptions. Many are crucial and importantand are what we are paid to do but many have little or no value. Run anInterruptions Log to identify and eliminate the wasteful interruptions.Just use a pad of paper and label it “Interruptions Log” Create sixcolumns: Date, Time, Who, What, Length, Rating. After each interruptionis dealt with, log in the date and time it occurred, who brought it toyou, a word or two about what it related to, the length of time it took,and finally the rating of its importance: A=crucial, B=important,C=little value, and D=no value. Run it for a week or more to get a goodmeasure of what is happening in your life. Then evaluate the results andtake action to eliminate some of the C and D interruptions that havelittle or no value.

2. Delegate It We all have 168 hours each week and when you subtract 56hours for sleep and another 10 hours for personal care, that doesn’tleave a whole lot of time to get done what needs to be done. Delegationpermits you to leverage your time through others and thereby increaseyour own results. The hardest part of delegation though, is simplyletting go. We take great pride in doing things ourselves. “If you wanta job done well, you better do it yourself”. Every night in DailyPlanning, look at all that you have to do and want to do the next dayand with each item ask yourself, “Is this the best use of my time?” Ifit is, do it. If it isn’t, try to arrange a way to delegate it tosomeone else. There is a lot of difference between “I do it” and “Itgets done”.

3. Manage Meetings A meeting is when two or more people get together toexchange common information. What could be simpler? Yet, it can one ofthe biggest time wasters we must endure. Before a meeting ask, “Is itnecessary?” and “Am I necessary?” If the answers to either are “no”,consider not having the meeting or excusing yourself from attending.Then prepare a written agenda for the meeting with times assigned foreach item along with a starting time and ending time. Circulate thewritten agenda among those who will be attending. There is no sense inholding a meeting by ambush. Let people know in advance what is to bediscussed.

4. Handle Paper It’s easy to get buried today in the blizzard ofpaperwork around us. The average person receives around 150communications each day via email, telephone, hard mail, memos,circulars, faxes, etc. A lot of time is wasted going through the samepile of paper day after day and correcting mistakes when things slipthrough the cracks. Try to handle the paper once and be done with it. Ifit is something that can be done in a minute or two, do it and be done.If it is not the best use of your time, delegate it. If it is going totake some time to complete, schedule ahead in your day calendar on theday you think you might get to it and then put it away.

5. Run a Time Log If you want to manage it, you have to measure it. ATime Log is a simple yet powerful tool to create a photo album sort ofoverview of how your time is actually being spent during the day. Simplymake an ongoing record of your time as you spend it. Record theactivity, the time spent on it, and then the rating using A, B, C, and Das described in #1 above. Some examples of how your time might be spent:Made telephone calls, 35 minutes, A; Answered emails, 48 minutes, B;Attended staff meeting, 55 minutes, C. Run this for a few days to get agood picture of how your time is being spent. Then analyze theinformation. Add up all the A, B, C, and D time. Most discover a lot oftheir time is being spent on C and D items that have little or no value.Finally, take action steps to reduce the C and D items to give you moretime for the really important things in your life.

VACATION LOST?

31% of working Americans do not use all their vacation time that theyhave earned. On average three out of twelve vacation days go unused.What an unproductive waste.Taking vacation time is good time management. It gets your batteries andattitude charged up for greater productivity.Don’t waste earned vacation time. It’s poor time management. Spend it.You deserve it.

5 BEST TIME MANAGEMENT HABITS EXECUTIVES SHOULD PRACTICE

By: Dr. Donald E. Wetmore

For the last eighteen years, I have traveled all around sharing my Time Management and Personal Productivity principles in seminars, keynotes, and through executive coaching. There are dozens of things we all ought to do to enhance our daily success and I have included what I think are five of the more important habits. I find that most people know what it is they should be doing. A reminder list such as this may help us to better accomplish those good intentions.

1. USE THE 20/80 RULE. 20% of an effort generally accomplishes 80% of the result. To achieve an additional 20% of the result, it will take an additional 80% of the effort. We cannot create any more time, but we can leverage our time by focusing on those things that give us “the biggest bang for the buck”. Avoid getting bogged down in “majoring in minors”. Direct your attention to 20% of your customers/clients who will give you 80% of your success. Give special attention to that group of 20% of the people you deal with who have the potential for delivering 80% of what you need.

2. NETWORK YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS. Identify and target those who you need
to get to know. This is not an exploitive technique of “bleeding them for all they are worth”. In fact, it works just the opposite. Help these people with what they need first. “To have a friend, be a friend.” “What goes around, comes around”. If you give generously to them first, they will give to you what you need and want.

3. GET A GOPHER. We all have 10-20 hours per week of minutia, like getting the car gassed up, running errands, mowing the lawn, etc. It’s all stuff that makes our lives work. There’s nothing wrong with doing it ourselves, but if you are saying, “I don’t have enough time to do the things that really count”, and you are spending 10-20 hours per week on the routine items, you have a choice. Hire a high school or college kid, a “Gopher”, who will “go for this and go for that”, then re-allocate
those hours to tasks that will enhance your career success.

4. WORK WITH A CLEAN WORK ENVIRONMENT. “Out of sight, out of mind.” The reverse of that is true, too, “When it’s in sight, it’s in mind” and we cannot help but be distracted and drawn to the “quick” and “fun” things while the important career enhancing tasks are left undone. By working with a clean desk and work environment, not only do you allow yourself to be more focused, but you also model an important work skill that others around you will tend to follow, helping them to get more focused.

5. RADIATE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE. “Fish rots from the head on down.” If you display a negative attitude, if you are angry, frustrated, anxious, overwhelmed, etc., you will send out that message and negatively infect those around you. If those who support you in your quest for career success do not have a positive attitude, your progress will be impeded.

STRESSED OR DESSERTS?

Stress is caused when your reality falls short of your expectations.

You expect to get that project done but you don’t. You expect to wash your car this weekend, but you don’t. You expect to clean up your desk but you don’t.

If you only had a few failed expectations each day, life would be almost stress free. However, the average person has dozens, and in some cases, hundreds of failed expectations every day and so their stress level soars.

With daily planning, you can add these undone items to your To Do list and increase the likelihood that you will get them done, thereby lowering your stress and giving you your just desserts. Desserts are what you get when you turn stressed around (and spell it backwards!).

The most offbeat Time Management tips for you to get twice as much done. I know you’ll get a chuckle or two from them.

• Don’t buy an address book and fill it out. Instead, get a copy of the white pages from your local telephone company and cross out the names you don’t need.
• Support cloning.
• Watch the television program “60 Minutes” in half an hour.
• Always use twice as much grass seed as the directions call for and
grow twice the grass.
• Use a large scrub brush to brush your teeth.
• Shower for twice as much time on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and
you can skip Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
• Catch two colds at a time and take only half the sick days.
• Go to bed dressed, ready to start your next day.
• Keep one eye closed during the day and you’ll only have to sleep half as much time.
• Have twins.
• Ski downhill twice as fast as you are used to and get it over with in half the time.
• Buy Double-Mint gum.
• Only go out on a double date.
• Listen to your politicians and learn how to be better at double talk.
• At the beach, roll across the sand and tan your front and back at the same time.
• When angry, slam the door twice so you won’t have to do it the next time you get angry.
• Only look at every other word and read twice as fast.
• I know cookies should be baked at 350 degrees, but try cooking them at
700 degrees in half the time.
• Pack twice as much as you need when traveling.
• Play your CD’s and DVD’s in the Fast Forward mode.
• Eat your dessert while eating your main course.
• When writing, always use both hands at the same time.
• Have a double set of speakers for your sound system and you will listen to twice as much.
• On rainy days, leave the umbrella home and then you can skip your shower the next day.
• If you are a golfer, hit two balls at the same time.
• When you make a big mistake, be sure to have two excuses why you goofed, to get you out of trouble twice as fast.
• At a birthday party, leave off singing the second half of the “Happy Birthday” song.
• Fish with two poles.
• Cut off half the buttons on your shirts and blouses and you will be able to button what’s left in half the time.
• Bet on the Daily Double.
• Dig a hole with two shovels.
• Use two bars of soap when you wash and get it done in half the time.
• Always wear a sweater so you don’t have to spend time looking for one when you really need one.
• Tip 30% rather than 15% at the restaurant and enjoy twice the service.