Time Management

Agenda Introduction. Setting Goals. Planning in advance. 80/20 Rule. Tackling procrastinations. Slice and dice tasks. Develop a sense of urgency. The art of delegation.

“Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend”. “Time is money”.

Discussion Are you managing your time. Do you have a short and a long term plan. What are your biggest time waster!!!

Setting Goals “There is one quality that one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants and a burning desire to achieve it.” ( Napoleon Hill ) Specifying clear, written goals can increase your productivity as much as five times. Setting goals merely is not enough, they need to be SMART. Specific. Measurable. Achievable. Relevant. Timed.

Setting goals Seven golden steps of setting goals: Step one: Decide exactly of what you want. -set with yourself, your manager or your partner to determine exactly what needs to be done. “One of the very worst uses of time is to do something very well that need not be done at all.”

Setting goals Step two: Write it down Visualize your goals will help you create a desire to materialize it into your life. Unwritten goals lead to confusion, vagueness, misdirection and numerous mistakes. Step three: set a deadline on your goal A goal without a deadline has no urgency.

Setting goals Step four: make a list of everything needed to achieve your goals Build your mind map. Step five: Organize the list into a plan Organize your list by priority and sequence. Decide what needs to be done first. Use the latest planning tools (MS projects, Primavera, Calendars,….).

Setting goals Step six: take actions on your plans immediately Turn your plan into accomplishments. Step seven: Resolve to do something every single day that moves you toward your major goal. -turn this into habit. -read a specific number of papers on a key subject. -Call on a certain number of potential customers.

Home Work Take a clean sheet of paper right now and make out a list of ten goals you want to accomplish in the next year. Write your goals as though a year has already passed and they are now a reality. Use the present tense, positive and personal case so that they are immediately accepted by your subconscious mind.

Home Work Then, go back over your list of ten goals and select the one goal that, if you achieved it, would have the greatest positive impact on your life. Whatever that goal is, write it on a separate sheet of paper, set a deadline, make a plan, take action on your plan and then do something every single day that moves you toward that goal.

Planning in Advance every minute spent in planning saves as many as ten minutes in execution. The six "P" formula: "Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance." Develop the habit of listing your next day tasks a night before. Then, sleep on it (subconscious mind). Maintain your lists on daily, monthly and yearly basis. Working from lists gives you the feeling of progress which will have a huge impact on your motivation and gives you more energy. (it can actually be a source of your happiness).

Planning in Advance Planning in advance can save you money!!! Examples??

Apply the 80/20 Rule Also called the Pareto Principle after its founder, the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. Pareto noticed that people in his society seemed to divide naturally into what he called the "vital few,” the top 20% in terms of money and influence, and the “trivial many,” the bottom 80%.

Apply the 80/20 Rule It applies to everything…. For example, this rule says that 20% of your activities will account for 80% of your results. 20% of your customers will account for 80% of your sales. 20% of your products or services will account for 80% of your profits. This means that if you have a list of ten items to do, two of those items will turn out to be worth as much or more than the other eight items put together. Here is an interesting discovery. Each of these tasks may take the same amount of time to accomplish.

Apply the 80/20 Rule The Urgent/Important Matrix: -Urgent: needs to be done now. -Important: your top 20 (have the greatest impact on your life). Can you think of examples!!!

Apply the 80/20 Rule Urgent and Important Important but not Urgent Urgent but not Important Not urgent and not important

Apply the 80/20 Rule Prioritize your tasks (ABCE). Focus on the important ones. How to avoid the not urgent not important tasks? The art of delegation. Positive “NO”. “I’d love to it, but…..”. “I can suggest someone else to do this,…”. “……..

Tackling Procrastination Procrastination is the habit of delaying tasks that should be a priority. Examples from our daily life!! Reasons for procrastination: -No clear deadlines. -Don’t know where to begin. -Tasks feel overwhelming. -No passion for doing the work.

Tackling Procrastination Overcoming procrastination needs strong commitment and determination towards your top important goals.

Slice and Dice tasks A major reason for procrastinating on big, important tasks is that they appear so large and formidable when you first approach them. Slice it…. When you start and finish a small piece of a task, you feel motivated to start and finish another part, and then another, and so on.

Develop a sense of urgency Be “Action-oriented”. Develop the habit of “DO IT NOW”. “Do not wait; the time will never be just right”.

Art of Delegation “getting things done through others”. By delegating efficiently, you can quickly build a strong and successful team of people. Tips: -Choose the right tasks to delegate. -Delegate to the right people. -Delegate in the right way.

Art of Delegation Delegation allows you to make the best use of your time and it helps other people in your team/company to develop their skills (win-win relationship). On the other hand, delegation of certain critical tasks may jeopardise the success of your project/tenure.

Art of Delegation

References “7 habits of the highly effective people” by Stephen Covey. “Eat that frog” by Brain Tracy.

Tutorial Summarise the first two chapters of “Getting Things Done” by David Allen.