10 Minutes At A Time

We often say we don't have time and there's always plenty that we don't get round to.  Even when we have a task to do, we often get distracted and end up wasting time.

So how would you like to do something different?  Set an alarm or timer for just 10 minutes.  Stay focused, you know the clock is ticking, so there's no time to waste and you'll be less inclined to waste time.

In just 10 minutes a day you could:

• Create your action list.
• Plan your day.
  
• Tidy a room.
• Do the laundry.
  
• Clear things away.
• Do some filing.
  
• Tidy the garden.
• Start a report.
• Skim read a magazine.
• Enjoy a cup of coffee.
• Do some paperwork.
  
• Go for a brisk walk.
• Meditate.
• Make a phone call.
• ...
  

The first two will make your whole day more productive, so definitely worth spending time on them if you don't already.  See how much you can do in 10 minutes.  You might not finish the task in 10 minutes but you'll be 10 minutes closer.

Set a goal you'd like to achieve and allocate just 10 minutes a day to it.  See what a difference you can make. You could even have more than one goal - two or three sets of 10 minutes throughout the day.

Let me know how you get on.

How To Be Idle

This is the title of a book I picked up over the weekend - it's written in a very tongue in cheek way but while it might be the sort of book you think I'd be recommending you read, there's a lot to be said for the lost art of idleness.

In today's busy, busy world, we're constantly on the go from morning until night. We get bombarded with information from all directions and never seem to get a moment to ourselves. We cram so much into our day that we rarely have time to stand and think. We're often so physically and mentally drained that we don't get the opportunity to take a step back and re-evaluate where we're going and look at ways of changing.

Part of 'managing' your time more efficiently and productively is also about having more time to do nothing. Instead of thinking about how to do more, think about how to do less.

What Distracts You?

Distractions and interruptions can take up a large part of our day and come from many different directions.

• Email interrupts us constantly from the moment we open our computers to the moment we shut them down.

• Phones can interrupt us throughout the day and they're hard to ignore when they do.

• People interrupt us who have their own agendas, deadlines and priorities and don't think about the affect of their interruption.

• The internet can be a great source of distraction. It's too easy to go off at a tangent with so much information available at the click of a mouse.

• Meetings distract us from our work, especially when they're not run efficiently.

• Distractions around you cause you to lose focus - sounds, sights, boredom, stress, too much on your plate.
  

Even though an interruption may only last a few seconds or minutes it still takes a few minutes to get back to the task in hand. That's if you haven't been dragged off onto something new or end up with even more to do

If you get interrupted several times a day even for just a few minutes each time, you could be losing 1-2 hours each day.

Make a note of all the interruptions you receive in the next week. Where do they come from? Does one person or thing interrupt you more than others?

Take steps to reduce those interruptions and take back control of your time.

Keep It Simple

In this age of technology and information overload, we can sometimes forget the simple things in life - thinking that more is better. If we have more, we can do more. If we do more, we can achieve more.

This doesn't just apply to material things but applies to the way we use our time. Is it better to be constantly busy, making the most of every waking hour in the race for success or is it better to do spend a few hours each day working in a really focused way?

Do two or three things well, rather than try to do too much and end up either doing none of them particularly well, having to drop things at the last minute or end up suffering from complete overwhelm as you try to cram them all in.

It's not necessary to have every technical gadget, in the hope that it will make your life easier. Look what happened to email - the end to all that paper ... instead we still have the paper but now we have 'all that email'. Gadgets are great and I'll be the first to admit that I'm a bit of a techie really but sometimes the simplest scheduling and information gathering tool is a pen and paper.

Don't make your life more complicated than it needs to be, keep things simple.

What Are You Worth?

I was running a seminar last week - looking at how you can make more money by using your time better. In one form or another you charge for your time. Whether you work for a company, who pays you a weekly or monthly salary or your work for yourself, you're paid for the time you spend at work and the services or product you provide.

Sometimes it can be quite surprising to work out what your hourly rate is - especially when you take into account, preparation, travel time, follow-up, admin and marketing.

Think about how much time you waste in a day. Every hour you waste is money lost - to you or your employer. On average, people are only 60% productive. That means they're losing two days a week - through distractions, interruptions, inefficiency, lack of focus and poor planning.

Make an effort this week to reduce all those distractions that waste your time - email, phone calls, people and see if you can increase your productivity and your earning power.

What's Your Plan B?

You may think you have things under control, that plans are perfectly in place - but what happens if things don't quite work out as planned - do you have a backup or contingency plan? While you don't want to waste time and effort planning for every eventuality, it can save those moments when either life gets in the way or your original plan doesn't quite work out, if you have a Plan B.

"The best laid plans of mice and men ..." or so says Robert Burns and as the motto for the Boy Scouts says - 'be prepared'.

What if the technology goes wrong?

What if that payment from Client X doesn't come through in time?

Now technology is always good for needing a Plan B - you just never know when it's going to blue screen on you or your broadband goes down just at the critical moment, the phone line goes down, you're out of network coverage or the battery goes dead. How would you carry on?

Can you still give your speech or presentation without technology? Do you have prompt cards in case the Powerpoint presentation suffers from technical gremlins or you can't get connected? Have an alternate way of getting connected. Fully charged batteries, spare one's just in case.

Build a little flexibility into your week. Try to avoid planning everything right down to the line or putting all your 'eggs in one basket', so when things don't work out, you're either thrown into chaos, because you have no time left or you feel as if things have fallen apart because Plan A didn't work out.

It's another good reason NOT to leave things until the last minute, when you're likely to find you need more than the 'last minute'.

Learn to go with the flow and try not to get too tied in to the outcome. Even if things fall apart there's usually a solution if you step back and take a fresh look to find your Plan B.

Ready, Set, Focus

Super charge your day and power-up your productivity. Set aside one day and make a list of all the things you need to get done. Whether you just want to clear the decks, finish off a project or just clear a few things off your action list, get rid of the distractions and get really focused. It's also a good way to get through those tasks you've been putting off for a while.

Set a date and time - it doesn't have to be a whole day. Team up with a friend, colleague, mentor or coach and check-in with each other, on the hour every hour (works well by phone). Spend a few minutes checking in with each other and agree what you're going to do in the following hour.

You'll be much less likely to get distracted when you know the clock is ticking and you'll be more motivated knowing that you're being held to account next time you check-in.

Take Time To Make Time

"The greatest saving of all is better utilisation of our time. This directly affects practically every phase of the business in terms of expense and profits" Leo Burnett

Two of the things that people always want more of is time and money, so if you save one you could get more of the other, if you use that saved time wisely.

When people are busy, rushed off their feet, too much to do - is exactly the time when they need to stop what they're doing and actually take stock but is often when they feel they can't afford to stop what they're doing. It will save time if

So, if you are really busy and it's become the 'norm', think about what it is that your doing. Are you focusing on the right things that are going to make a difference? Are you busy being busy with no real plan or purpose, wasting time on lower priority activities that won't give you the results you need or are you simply just doing too much?

If you want more time - take time to make time.


How good is your time management - compare your results with the quick and easy Time Management Audit.

Get A Life Offline Not Online

More and more of us are getting online and developing a network of contacts around the world, whether it’s on Facebook, Linked In or on Twitter. While these are a great way of keeping in touch or getting your message out to the wider world, they can’t replace face-to-face contact.

Get out in the real world – develop your real-life relationships and don’t let your online world take precedence over the real world. The touch of a keyboard and the exchange of online messages can’t replace the touch of another human being and a real conversation, even if it's meeting new people at a networking or business event. While it might be useful to spend a couple of hours on Twitter what else could you be doing with your time?

As the days are longer and warmer, it’s a great opportunity to spend time outside not in front of the computer. Don’t cut yourself off from real life and while you’re at it, take the kids with you. Show them that there’s more to life than the latest computer game, MSN Messenger, MySpace and Facebook friends. Real life friends are important. They can’t give you a hug when you’re feeling down, they can’t share your excitement when something goes well – emoticons just aren’t quite the same.

When you work for yourself or work from home, it’s easy to find yourself working every day of the week, because you can and it’s too easy just to check your emails or check-in with your online network. Set aside at least one day a week to totally switch off from work.


How good is your time management - compare your results with the quick and easy Time Management Audit.

Time Flies ...

"The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot." [Michael Altshuler]

There's another saying, "time flies when you're having fun" and that's something else we tend to notice. When we're absorbed in the moment, we're not so aware of the passage of time. However, when we're waiting for something to happen, or the kettle to boil - it seems to take ages.

You're in control of where your time goes, what you do with it and how you spend it. Use it wisely. Once it's gone you can't get it back and unlike money, you can't make get more of it. We're all likely to waste time in the day, either intentionally or unintentionally. Saying you never have enough time is an indication that maybe you need to look at where you're currently spending your time and where you'd rather be spending it.

How much time do you need to make a difference? Look at small ways in which you can save time and little things you can do that will make a big difference. Rather than waiting for the kettle to boil or a file to download use those few minutes to do something productive.

When time flies - make sure that you're going in the right direction.

Take Time To Make Time

A lot of people think that when you’re busy you don’t have time to stop and start doing things differently. But when you are busy and rushed off your feet with too much to do is often the best time to stop and take a step back and look at what you’re doing.

Have you been doing the same thing, the way you’ve always done it and not surprisingly getting the same results i.e. working long hours, reacting to the demands of your clients or customers, always playing catch-up?

If you’re like most people, you probably are. You’re just happy to get through each day and hope that at some point things will slow down long enough for you to catch up. Well, it doesn’t have to be that way. While it might seem hard, take time to make time. Find time to refocus and get motivated.

You’re probably busy right now getting things finished off in the last week before Christmas. Don’t wait until you’re no longer busy when you likely to forget how hectic things were and then fall into the same pattern when it happens again, do something about it now.

A problem shared is a problem halved – talk to someone and see if they can provide some insight and give you a different perspective so that you can find a solution quicker and actually save yourself time.

Invest Your Time In Others

Something that’s come up a few times in conversations over the last week, is how you can free up your time by delegating. Many people don't like to delegate tasks, as they think it's quicker to do it themselves but if they actually invest the time to hand over the task, spend a little time on training it will pay off in the end.
Think about how much an hour of your time is worth. Delegate the jobs that someone else could do cheaper, quicker and more efficiently than you.

At home: Pay a cleaner to clean and tidy your house for a couple of hours will be worth more than what you pay them. You’ll not only have a tidy house but more time with your family. Get a gardener to come in weekly or monthly to give you more time to enjoy your garden. Share the housework with your partner and children.

At work: If you work for yourself - pay someone to do your book keeping or accounts. What you'll pay them for a few hours of their time is probably less than you charge your clients. It gives you more time to spend earning money for your business and working with clients or just to work less. Use an admin assistant - they work for themselves and will work for as many hours as you need - often not even needing to be in the office - filing, emails, newsletters, sending out and chasing invoices can all be handled by someone else.

Don't expect perfection and just because they don't do it exactly the way you do, doesn't mean it's wrong. You might need to show them more than once but be patient - it's worth investing the time to get it right. Be specific, give them the information they need and a timeframe to work to. Don't delegate tasks that are confidential or sensitive in nature or core to your business.

Make sure you stay in control but don’t micro-manage.

P.S. There's a whole chapter in the book on delegating if you want more detail.

Manage Your Mailbox

Emails can be a great time waster and provide a constant source of distraction throughout the day. It’s a constant theme when I’m talking to clients and often one of the first habits that they need to change.

How often have you found that you start checking your emails and as you work your way through them, you find yourself taken off in any number of different directions as you respond to an email, follow a link to read a report, check some information on the internet, pick the phone to make a call, get reminded of something and go off to do that before coming back to your email.

If you're going to make the most of your day then one way to increase your productivity is to manage the amount of time you spend on emails. Keep this to a minimum. At least minimise the time you spend ‘checking’. Only check two or three times a day and this is just to review what’s come in and decide what action you need to take. Read, Action, Dump, File - much the same as with paperwork. A quick scan will tell you what’s important and what’s not, what needs a response now and what can be dealt with (read or responded to) later. Set aside time specifically to deal with emails. Set a time limit and stick to it.

And if you haven’t already switched off those automatic alerts, do it NOW.

Bit By Bit, Chapter By Chapter

Last week I officially launched my first book.

Looking back there was a point when the goal of actually writing my book seemed like a distant dream, something almost too big to possibly contemplate. Deciding what to put in the book, finding a publisher, finding the time(!) to write, getting the chapters together and going through the process of getting it into print. One of those many things that you say to yourself - “One day …” as a delaying tactic because it just seems too much to think about or you’re just too busy.

I was lucky enough to be approached and actually asked to write the book by a publisher. However, there were still times when my resolve was wavering and I wondered if I’d actually complete it. There was a certain element of not looking at the end result, which seemed like a huge task and just focusing on getting the next chapter written and sometimes even that seemed almost overwhelming, as I starred at a blank computer screen waiting for the words to come. Again, just spending a few minutes writing down bullet points and random thoughts meant that slowly but surely they developed into something coherent that took shape on the page and four months later ended up in a printed, yellow and black book with my name on it. :)

If you’re not the sort of person that plunges into new projects with enormous determination, motivation and energy, set your goal and just focus on taking one step at a time.

Slowly but surely you’ll make progress towards your goal.

Write It Down

I’m reasonably good with dates and generally have a good idea of what’s happening when but it's a lot easier if I write everything down. Usually it’s the personal stuff that needs to get done during the day that I’m more likely to forget, if I don’t have it written down on my list of actions for the day.

I might think I’ll remember something but if I've written it down I don’t have to worry about forgetting it. I’ve often thought "Oh, I’ll remember that" until I can get back home or get back to my computer but invariably there’s so much going on or I get distracted and before I know it – I can’t for the life of me remember what that important piece of information was that I needed to remember. So, now I write things down – phone numbers, people I meet, appointments, things I need to do.

Unless you’ve got a photographic memory or a finally honed brain that can remember ten decks of playing cards at a time or recall the entire contents of your phone book, it makes sense to write every thing down. Carry a notebook with you – write down ideas, thoughts, things to-do when you think of them rather than missing the moment, or use your mobile's text msg or notes function. There’s nothing more frustrating than having a blinding idea or remembering something important when you’re busy doing something else, only to have it disappear from your mind when you’re back in the office or back at home.

Tips on improving you memory later ...

Information Overload

With so much information bombarding us from all directions we can’t possibly give our attention to everything that goes on around us but we feel that we may be missing out if we don’t, therefore we join every new group, we sign up to every social networking site going and we register for every newsletter, magazine and free piece of information that’s out there in case we miss out on some golden nugget of information that’s going to make a huge difference to our life.

I don’t know how many newsletters I’ve subscribed to over time but it’s a lot – now I know which one’s I like, which one’s I find useful and which one’s suit my style of working. There’s nothing wrong in unsubscribing from those you don’t either have time to read, or no longer find useful. We also have blogs, in fact there are hundreds, thousands out there – all of which you could end up subscribing to.

But when are we going to find time to take in all this additional information, read all these newsletters, blogs, contribute to all the discussion groups, attend all the network meetings? Don’t even attempt to. Fit what you can into the time you have available without pushing more important tasks to one side. Choose the ones that matter, one’s that are interesting and useful and don’t worry about the rest.

Remember Pareto’s principle … 80% of the information you need is contained in only 20% of what’s in your inbox!

Keep It Simple

One of the things I find happening more and more, is doing less and less. Not necessarily for myself but for many of the clients I work with.

Although we’d all like to be more efficient and do more with our day, because of course we always have so much to do, what we actually need to do is less, so rather than increase someone’s efficiency so that you can actually fit in all the hundred and one things

The trouble with living a busy, hectic lifestyle and either running your own business or working in a busy organisation is that we often take on too much. We say yes to everything. We try to not only have it all but do it all. No wonder there are so many people stressed out, overwhelmed, worked out and running round trying to catch up with themselves, with never a minute to spare.

Try doing less. Stop doing things that you really don’t have time for. If you have a tendency to take on too much and then underestimate how long it’s going to take, halve the amount of things you say yes to. Apply this to both your business and personal life and start to really enjoy more time.

Getting Accountable

Having goals is all very well and good but if you don’t do anything with them then they’re nothing more than an idea until you put them into action. Many people’s dreams and ideas stay as just that. One way to increase the likelihood that you’ll actually do something about your goals, achieve your targets and reach your aims is to make yourself accountable.

You can do this by actually writing them down. Getting those thoughts and ideas out onto paper makes them more real but your not answerable to anyone but yourself and you don’t have the added incentive of someone else holding you accountable and it becomes too easy to let yourself off the hook.

The next thing to do is to actually tell someone about it. Whether it’s a friend, colleague, mentor or coach. Tell them what you’re going to do and when and agree that you’ll report on your progress or meet up for a review on a regular basis.

Now if you really want to give yourself an incentive and additional impetus to take action, give yourself a compelling reason to achieve a task or complete your goal, especially if you have a tendency to put things off. If you DON’T complete the task – agree that you will do something that would give you a certain amount of pain. Not so much a reward or ‘carrot’ but a stick.

This usually involves money or a prized possession. For instance if you didn’t achieve the goal you’d set yourself, you’d agree to give away your car – lock, stock and barrel, no quibbling, no changing your mind later. It needs to be something pretty significant like that or you wouldn’t do it. The impact of losing something that means a lot to you, is far more likely to keep you accountable and focused on the task in hand.

As Samuel Johnson said "Nothing focuses the mind like a hanging." A slight extreme but you get the picture.

Early Bird Or Night Owl?

We all have different times of the day when we have more energy than at others. Some people are at their best first thing in the morning - a good time for creativity and others do their best work late at night, when it’s quieter.

Getting up an hour or so earlier may give you an extra hour at the beginning of the day but not if you’re a night owl. Don’t burn the candle at both ends and go to bed late or force yourself into an unnatural routine by constantly working late if you’re naturally an early bird.

Try not to fight your natural tendency for when you work at your best. If you’re an early bird, use the morning to do tasks which require you to be at your best or need your concentration. Don’t set aside time to work on a complex report or jobs which require your concentration in the afternoon when you’re more likely to hit the post lunch slump or in the evening when you’re tired. If you’re a night owl and need quiet time for your creativity, leave it until later in the day.

If you’re tied to traditional office hours then when you start and finish work may not have the level of flexibility to accommodate early or late working. However many employers now offer more flexible working patterns. If you work for yourself you have more flexibility around when you work but still need to be able to deal with other people’s normal working day both in business and at home.

There may be certain days of the week when it makes sense to schedule in particular tasks. For instance - you might hit the ground running on a Monday morning but be ready to go home by Thursday. You might find you have a peak of activity on a Friday when you’re keen to clear things out at the end of the week and go home with a clean slate.

Know when you’re most productive time of day is, when you prefer doing certain types of tasks and plan around those times.