All I Want for Xmas is a Extra Month!
How many times have you caught yourself saying it, “I just don’t have the time?” This is often especially true around the holidays. Think for a moment about what you might be able to accomplish if you had a 13th month next year? Would that help you get more of the results you are looking for?
When I speak about time management in my workshops and seminars, I often say, as I learned from Stephen Covey, “There are only two things you work on every single day. These two things are either “priorities” and/or “urgencies”. Let me define them simply for you in my terms: Priorities are your goals. Urgencies are everybody else’s goals. If you don’t have your goals clearly written down, you will more than likely find yourself working towards other people’s goals and towards other people’s successes.
Get your goals in writing and then let these seven time management tips guide you to your success in 2012:
- Begin each day the night before. DO NOT go home until you have decided what you need to accomplish the next day AND you have written it down. Writing things down help keep you focused and focus precedes success! Learn to think on paper Learn to plan on paper. Be careful! If you put too much stuff on your list, you risk becoming overwhelmed—and then the list becomes a list of broken promises. Learn to say, “no” when something comes up throughout the course of the day, and something always comes up! When things do some up, write it down on your daily list. Rank it against everything else before you take action on it.
- Remember the 80/20 principle. The principle says that 80% of the results that you get every day come from 20% of the things that are on your list. That means there are 1 or 2 items that are on your list every day that severely affect the outcome of the results that you get every single day. Therefore, be careful what you are working on. Often we tend come into the office and focus on getting the “little stuff” out of the way first. Resist this temptation and attack the most high-payoff activities first.
- Rank it continually. Here is a simple way to rank your list every day. Let’s call it: The A, B, C, D, E list:
- Any “A” items that are on your list are “MUST DO” tasks. These are the non-negotiable items that often have serious consequences if you don’t get them done. A word of caution here; Be careful how many “must do” items are on your list.
- “B” ranked items are “SHOULD DO” tasks. These are the things that should get done but if they don’t there are only mild consequences. Never start a “B” task until all of the “A” tasks are done.
- “C” items on your list are the “NICE TO DO” tasks. It might be lunch with a colleague or perhaps running an errand. These “nice to do’s” never ever get started until both the “A” and “B” items have been checked off.
- “D” items on your list are meant to be DELEGATED to someone else.
- The “E’s” on your list are those items you need to ELIMINATE.
- Define your key result areas. You need to define the activities in which you need to be engaged every day and the skill sets necessary to continually perform these at a high level. The list can be considerable if you take your profession seriously. Define the areas in which your performance is the weakest and immediately seek to improve in these areas. Most people avoid those things at which they are weak. Do the opposite and IMPROVE your weaknesses to get something done faster and more efficiently the 1st time!
5. Take one bite at a time.
Q: How do you eat an elephant? A: One bite at a time.
Many of us have large projects in front of us with big things we must accomplish. It could be a huge “to-do” list or one overwhelming task. The feeling might be, “I will NEVER get that done!” You might procrastinate or talk about it. You may just moan and complain until you are behind the gun in time. Try focusing on each task and THAT alone. Start it; finish it. Get it done and get it off the list. In this way you will slowly start to move your way through. Even the largest houses are built one brick at a time. The most successful sales people built their book of business ONE account at a time.
- “Eat the big frog first.” There is an old saying that says if you’ve got to sit down and eat a bunch of frogs, don’t stare at them for too long and if you are going to get started, eat the biggest frog first. Every day, what do we do? We come in to the office and we say “let me just clear this up, check these emails”, let me do this, let me do that, and the next thing you know, it is 4:00 and we have these big tasks, and big jobs overwhelming us! We’ve got all these things going on and not only are we not productive with our time; we are not getting the things done that we need to get done! This is the time to take you’re A, B, C, D, E list out. The first thing that you work on is the biggest frog. You’re A-1 task is your biggest frog! Sit down and tackle it. Start it; work your way through it and finish it.
- Develop and maintain a sense or urgency. Put an exclamation above your head, put an asterisk on either side on it and that’s what you want to be your logo for life as a sales professional. (*!*) You are in a world where everyone needs something done and they need it done now! The people who are the most successful in the profession of sales are those who get it done better and get it done faster! Nike has built an empire around 3 words, “Just Do It”. My 3 words are “Get It Done”. Get it done and move on to the next thing. That’s the hallmark of time management professionals.
I want to wish you the absolute best success in 2012 and remember, there is no such thing as the management of time. Practicing self-discipline along with these 7 strategies above will set you on your way to effectively manage the time that you have been given and ensure that you are working on YOUR priorities.
