Being Efficient and Effective

In the Time Management game, here are a few more ideas for becoming more efficient and effective.

1. Find the freedom of a schedule. “Finding” time produces anxiety and guilt; making time results in success, relaxation and fulfillment. What is important is scheduled. What is scheduled gets done.

2. Keep a calendar. The faintest ink is better than the most retentive memory. Check your calendar each night before leaving the office and again first thing in the morning.

3. At the end of each day, schedule out tomorrow’s activities and six high priority items you need to accomplish. First thing in the AM, start with priority #1, proceed to 2, etc., stopping only for the scheduled activity such as an appointment. Proceed until all six items are checked off. If anything is left over, transfer to tomorrow’s list and begin again.

4. Write it down! And write it down on your calendar or in your planner, not on scraps of paper to be lost.

5. Record ideas immediately. Thoughts are fleeting. Everything that has ever been accomplished was first an idea. If not written down, it will be forgotten. If not written down, it will not be done.

6. Use "wait time" productively. Book, pad, pencil, calendar – don’t leave home without them.

7. Organize your work area and keep it neat. Have proper equipment and keep it within your reach. Keep things filed or in their place.

8. Handle it once. While it is in your hand, take care of it or place it in an appropriate place to be done as a “batch item” - i.e. mail, orders to fill, errands to run, phone calls to make.

9. Bunch tasks together. Pay bills twice a month. Use one day for correspondence. Go through publications once a month. Run errands once a week. Buy office supplies once a month. Do other shopping once a month.

10. Do one job at a time and give it your full attention. “This one thing I do.”

11. Learn to say “No” and feel good about it. Just because you are good at something, does not mean you have to do it. Never say, “Yes” just to be liked. People like you for your personality, not for your accomplishments.

12. Develop listening skills. Ask pertinent questions. Think about and picture the results.

13. Can you give it fifteen minutes? It is amazing how much stuff you can knock out in 15 minutes of concentrated work. You will not be able to organize the entire office in one fifteen-minute segment, but you can start with one drawer or one file.

14. Use “think” time effectively. Schedule in time for refreshment and reflection.. Genuinely think about your goals, values and decisions. Ask yourself these questions. “Is what I am doing helping or hurting? What can I do to improve the situation?”

15. Work on your dream every day. No exceptions. The longest journey is made one step at a time. What seems like not much today, adds up to the collective whole. “What did you do today to make your dreams come true?”

Begin working on these and let me know your results. mdunkin@flash.net