Bagging an Elephant and Other Important Time Management Adventures

 

To find out where your elephants are, start by looking over your list of goals and priorities organized by week, month or year. Can you identify which 20% of your goals are the most important? Remember, these are the goals that – if only you could achieve them – are likely to deliver as much as 80% of the value you would like to create or capture during this time period. Once you do that, the next question is, how much time are you devoting to hunting those elephants, as opposed to working on other things that don’t produce the same valuable results? By using a simple time audit chart that helps you track the way you use your time during the day or the week or the month, you can easily figure out whether you are spending your time hunting elephants or chasing warthogs. Keep your eye on the prize; don’t get lost chasing low value activities. It doesn’t EVER make sense to invest large amounts of time on activities that will not deliver the value you and your organization require to remain healthy and successful. Remember this important rule of time management etiquette: elephants first!

But what about those URGENT projects? I’m referring to those little "emergencies" that often arise at any given moment. One very important time management leveraging skill is the ability to differentiate what is really important from that which is merely urgent. I promise you, there is a big difference. Urgent requests are always time-sensitive. Someone is asking you to respond or react immediately. And the request may reflect a priority ? for them. However, it may not necessarily be a priority for you. Something only becomes truly important to you if it conforms to and supports the goals that you have set for yourself. (This is just another way of saying it should only be a priority for you if it helps you bag one of your elephants.) You must be careful not to get spooked by every urgent request you receive. It may only be a distraction that will deter you from completing your high-value activities.

Before rerouting your time and attention away from your important tasks to handle an urgent request, ask yourself this question: "Will ignoring this urgent request create a crisis in an area that applies to one of my high-value goals?" If the answer is no, delay it, delegate it, or dump it.

David Allen, a veteran coach and time management consultant, was asked, "What is the one thing that gets in the way of being productive?" His response was: "It’s not one thing but five things all wrapped together: People keep stuff in their head. They don’t decide what they need to do about stuff they know they need to do something about. They don’t organize action reminders and support materials in functional categories. They don’t maintain and review a complete and objective inventory of their commitments. Then they waste energy allowing their busyness to be driven by what’s the latest and loudest, hoping it’s the right thing to do, but never feeling the relief that it is."

Managing your time takes discipline. But discipline can begin with something as simple as getting in the habit of setting up your to-do list everyday and then following it to the letter. Use it much like you would an appointment calendar, and don’t allow other activities to gain a foothold without an "appointment." Most importantly, never lose sight of those elephants, because being able to consistently identify them and bag them is what leads to long, successful and satisfying careers.

 

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September Time Management Quick Tip of the Month – Dealing With Paperwork

When it comes to paperwork, make it your policy to handle a piece of paper one time and be done with it. You know how it easy it is to say, "I don’t have time to think about this right now. I will just set this over here and look at it later." This generally starts a cycle of paper shuffling that leaves a large pile of unrelated papers stacked on every corner of your desk and under file folders until your work flow is completely bogged down. Instead, when a piece of paper comes to you, look at it, evaluate it, and route it appropriately. File it if it should be filed, put it in your in box if it needs future action, forward it on to another person if you can delegate it, and – if it doesn’t require immediate action on your part and doesn’t appear to have any future value to you, throw it away. When it comes to paperwork, "one and done" is always the way to handle it.