Time management itself is nonsense. Important is: WITH WHAT do I spend my time? To-do and priority lists have failed. The daily challenges such as the flood of emails, the internet and social media cannot be managed with traditional approaches.
There is a technique to really get things done and achieve the desired result. Have a look at how it works:
The first step is: To EMPTY your brain and start working CLEARLY again.
Many people fail doing this. Maybe because it is so easy?
What does this mean exactly? Stop the overload of your brain and write down everything you can think of and that you want and have to do. Every single task that has to be done should turn up on a piece of paper. Best would be one page for every single task.
Alternatively, but not as effective for all of my coaching clients, (the tool should always be at hand, very clearly written and still contain a huge amount of information), you could use a software tool. There are a lot of them on the market – from Outlook to smartphone apps. Examples are: Wunderlist (my personal favourite), Asana, Anydo and many more.
Walk with open eyes through your office, home and everyday life and note EVERYTHING that you ever thought about doing, repairing, replacing, throwing away, resolving, reading, etc.
At first, you will naturally need several hours for this. You should therefore persevere and not give up after just an hour. Organise your piles of documents, notes, letters, newspapers and everything else on your desk or elsewhere and note what you have to do. All to do lists will go on the pile INBOX.
Step 2: FOCUS on the INBOX pile and classify all tasks in different categories:
-
- FOCUS AND DO: These are tasks that get you closer to your real goals and therefore have to be done. Make a note in your calendar for them and then they have to be DONE.
- FOCUS PROJECTS: Read my blog entry „5 things that help you focus“ ! Project plans: These are there to review and you should make sure that everything you need to do is planned and that YOU are really going to do it!
- DELEGATE: These tasks are tasks that someone else can do for you.
- WAIT FOR: Tasks that you have delegated to someone else or where you are waiting for a response
- PLAN IN THE CALENDAR: Everything you really want to do and cannot start right away should be assigned a budget and blocked in your calendar.
- AT SOME POINT: Ideas that could become a priority one day e.g. get a motorcycle license.
- DOCUMENTS that you will need again.
- DETAILS OF EVENTS: Documents for events you are attending or are planning to attend – including programme flyers, hotel bookings, flight bookings etc.
- RECYCLE BIN: Make peace and get rid of things!
- LESS THAN 2 MINUTES? Tasks that take less than 1-2 Minutes should be done IMMEDIATELY!
Some more ideas for this and especially the attitude it takes to consequently DO THE RIGHT THING AND WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO YOU can be found in my presentations “Can you tell me how you do it?” and “Mindset”.