Time Management Revisited

I recently posted something on time management that I know will save you hours every day -- check it out:  http://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/time-management-rules-take-8-minutes.html

Time management simply means facing the reality there is only so much time in a day and that you have only so much energy, attention, and resources to fully maximize the use of  your time.  What it all comes down to is to see things differently than how you see them thus far.  Time can’t be made up or repeated. 

We each have 168 hours per week.  In a life span, we have on average, 80 years for a woman, 74 for men.  How we allocate each and every minute is up to us.  Essentially, it’s how we manage the time of others that will lead us to expand our amount of time.  If you could buy time by hiring others and then manage their time efficiently so that you get the most for your money, you will have stolen some time for your cause.

We all think we have more time, just a little more time left to accomplish all that we need to, but the truth is, time is a set commodity.  You only have so much of it and no one for sure knows how much that is.  The only thing we know is how long a day is, a week, a year.  In these short increments, we can set goals and priorities and measure our status.  Unless we have a plan to succeed, we have a plan to fail.

What steps could you skip – are there any shortcuts you could take?

Is it something you can delegate to another, where the person is available, capable and properly incentivized?  What can you afford to pay for the services of another?  Always identify your resources – who can do what for you?

Go into the football two-minute drill on a regular basis – act out of a sense of urgency, need and circumstance.

Begin to account for your time.  Keep a log for a chance to reflect on where you succeeded and where you came up short.  How can you become even just 10% more efficient?  What stands in your way from doubling your productivity?

Begin today by planning your every day, week, month, and year.  Each day, whether the morning of or night before, write down what needs to be accomplished every 24 hours.  List all of the ongoing projects, broken down into size of reward and of what needs to be done to achieve them. 

Break each project down into individual tasks, each with a deadline and a rating of its merits for completing.  Think about what you are really doing and trying to accomplish.  Never strive to just be busy – be productive.  Stay focused.  Lay out your major goals and projects by task and priority. 

Know what is most important, and what must be done first.  Start with an end in mind and then find the means.  Let the objective dictate the how.  Consult your mission statement and your list of goals for the year and your lifetime.  Take your professional pulse – are you where you need to be, want o be, expect to be, are capable of being?

Don't lose track of time!

BOOK EXCERPT: HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE  by Dale Carnegie

BE A LEADER

A leader’s job often includes changing your people’s attitudes and behavior.  Some suggestions to accomplish this:

Principle 1: Begin with praise and honest appreciation.

Principle 2: Call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly.

Principle 3: Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.

Principle 4: Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.

Principle 5: Let the other person save face.

Principle 6: Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be “hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.”

Principle 7: Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.

Principle 8: Use encouragement.  Make the fault seem easy to correct.

Principle 9: Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2014