Being busy isn’t the same as being effective. While you may be doing tons of things at the same time, why is it that you may feel that you achieved nothing? You may be working a lot, but not finishing the tasks or spending more time in the wrong activities. The same happens to your team. The difference lies in how you prioritize and how long you spend on each activity. 96% of the issues, errors, or successes in our life are due to the system, the routine, we create through time.
Time management refers to the way that you create your routine. Your “system” to prioritize and allocate tasks into your daily schedule. The following set of behaviors, the 5F, will help you manage your time more effectively.
1) Fly high: visualize and plan all the tasks that need to be done
Having a bird’ s-eye, a holistic view of the projects you have to accomplish will help you define the main tasks. You have to cultivate the habit of imagining, as precisely as possible, what you expect to see, and what problems may arise, so you consider as many tasks as possible from the very beginning. Let’s start with: What is my mission for next week? Please write it down. Then apply the 80-20 Pareto law: 20% of your activities will account for 80% of your results. Therefore, if you have a list of 10 items, only by doing the two most important items, you will be accomplishing 80% of your results. Define first of all which tasks are essential, which ones are urgent, and define a routine to achieve these tasks first.
2) Focus. Perform one task at a time.
Focus on one task at a time and keep your priorities. Stephen Covey used to say “Unless something more important – not something more urgent – comes along, we must discipline ourselves to do as we planned”. Divide projects into smaller parts, that is, tasks no longer than one to three hours. That way, you don’t get lost in a big project, and you are able to make adjustments more quickly. Eliminate what you don’t need to accomplish the task (calls and messages, social media, food and especially clutter) and focus all in. Don’t worry about what comes next.
Recommended Tool: Use Sunsama to help you manage your time more effectively
3) Flow: enjoy each task as if it were the only one to get done
Have you ever lost track of time while doing something you loved? That is the state of flow. It is a special state of mind, which moves people to do their best work, no matter what work they do. The challenge absorbs you so much, you are so concentrated that you lose track of time. This step’s end goal is to flow in your designed routine and follow it without even thinking. Tony Robbins sticks to a morning routine designed to boost his energy and productivity levels for the day. Mark Zuckerberg’s “work uniform” consists of jeans, sneakers, and a gray T-shirt, so that he doesn’t have to stop and think about it. That’s the key! Not even think about changing the most important tasks until you get to achieve them.
If you have a remote team, you want to do a daily meeting at the same time every day. Some unexpected issues may arise: you get caught in a phone call, your main report is not ready for the meeting. Plan in advance how to deal with these inflection points in order not to get stressed and continue with the routine. Then just enjoy: flow is a pleasure. Repeat, repeat and repeat the routines until you do them naturally, and they become a quick win for you and your team.
4) Finish: get the task done completely before going to the next one
The whole point of getting things done is knowing what to finish and what to leave undone. Sometimes it is hard to finish tasks: because you get distracted or you second guess yourself. You start emails that you never send or start an analysis that you never finish. What’s wrong? There are three ways to avoid in the future:
• Time-box or allot a specific time for each activity, book it in your calendar if possible
• Accept what you have done: Perfection is the enemy of action. James clear says “If I have to write an article every Tuesday, It doesn’t matter how good or how bad I feel about the article; I try to do my best but stick to the schedule anyway. Sometimes it is just that you are too hard on yourself.”
• Get to Done: Make sure you check it off your list. Avoid “almost finished” activities like an email written but not sent. They fill your calendar with no impact on results.
This happens to team members too, especially when leaders are micro-managing. Make sure you and your leaders are not micro-managing employees, and allow them to finish their own tasks.
5) Follow-up: compare against your initial plan and recycle
Peter Drucker would say “We can’t manage what we can’t measure.” You should have developed a to-do list or task board with all your pending tasks for the week on the first step. Review it at the end of the week. Evaluate results and take action to improve your priorities and task duration next time. If your schedule worked well, repeat the same routine: consistent practice produces mastery and makes for new habits.
Evaluate results by asking the following questions:
• Which tasks take longer than expected?
• Which tasks are unplanned?
• Which tasks could be reduced?
• Which tasks could be delegated?
• Were there any extra costs?
By the end of the day, be thankful for all the tasks accomplished. Don’t get frustrated focusing on what went wrong.
Failing to manage your time is not like a genetic trait, something that you cannot change. It is the result of strategy and discipline. The self-discipline to keep a routine is like a muscle; it has to be trained. Start today with these 5F and accomplish more with less!
