Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Roy Alexander (New York, NY) heads his own consulting firm in New York City and is particularly noted for his sales and communications consultations in energy-related fields.

Michael S. Dobson (New York, NY) is a consultant and popular seminar leader in project management, communications and personal success. He is the president of his own consulting firm whose clients include Calvin Klein Cosmetics and the Department of Health and Human Services. He is the author of several books including Managing Up (978-0-8144-7042-8).

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REAL-WORLD TIME MANAGEMENT

AMACOM

Contents

Preface to the First Edition...............................................................viiAcknowledgments............................................................................ixChapter 1 How to Think About Time.........................................................1Chapter 2 In the Field: How Time Managers Make It Work....................................7Chapter 3 The Daily To-Do List: Your Basic Tool...........................................15Chapter 4 Planning: The Little Parachute That Opens the Big Parachute.....................21Chapter 5 Sensible Project Management for Small to Medium Projects........................27Chapter 6 Effective, Yes! Efficient, No! Key to Priority Time.............................41Chapter 7 Save Priority Time by Reducing Stress...........................................46Chapter 8 How to Avoid Self-Inflicted Delay...............................................53Chapter 9 The Meeting: Opportunity or Time Waster?........................................59Chapter 10 Starving Out the Time Gobblers..................................................64Chapter 11 Delegation: Giving It to George and Georgina to Do..............................68Chapter 12 Communications: Time-Saving Plus or Boring Minus?...............................74Chapter 13 Why Do We Procrastinate—And What Can We Do About It?......................81Chapter 14 The Telephone: Tool or Time Thief?..............................................86Chapter 15 Operate Your Workstation or It'll Operate You...................................91Chapter 16 Taking Control of Technology....................................................99Chapter 17 The On-the-Go Manager Prioritizes Travel Time...................................104Chapter 18 March of Time in the Global Village.............................................108Index......................................................................................111

Chapter One

* * *

"For tyme ylost may nought recovered be." —CHAUCER

More than 600 years ago, Geoffrey Chaucer—en route to Canterbury—marveled that time (once lost) could never be recovered. Through the centuries, men and women have continued the quest for that "ineffable ineluctable essence" of time control. Consultant Peter Drucker, a modern tour guide whose destination was not Canterbury but the industrial park called Good Management, said grimly: "Time is the scarcest resource. Unless it is managed, nothing can be managed."

WHAT THE TEST SAYS ABOUT YOU

Give yourself 4 points for every "often" you checked. Give yourself 2 points for every "sometimes." Give yourself 0 points for every "rarely."

Add your points and place yourself with the proper group:

49–60 You manage your time well. You are in control of most days and most situations.

37–48 You manage your time well some of the time. However, you need to be more consistent with time-saving strategies. Adding new techniques is allowed!

25–36 You are all too often a victim of time. Don't let each day manage you. Apply the techniques you learn here right away.

13–24 You are close to losing control. Probably too disorganized to enjoy quality time. A new priority-powered time plan is needed now!

0–12 You are overwhelmed, scattered, frustrated, and probably under a lot of stress. Put the techniques in this book into practice. Flag chapters— for special study—that treat your problem areas.

THE CONTRADICTIONS OF TIME

Yes, time can be managed, but not the way you manage other resources. In fact, "time management" may be a misconception. In many cases, time manages you.

Business is concerned with wise management of resources: capital, physical, human, information, and time. The first four can be manipulated. You can increase your workforce, decrease it, or change its composition. With capital, you can increase it, save it, spend it, or hold steady. You can invest it in a new plant or use it to fund a branch office. If you need more, you can issue public stock, get a loan, or increase your product prices.

But time, the "ineffable resource," is unique. It is finite. There is only so much time, and no matter what you do, you can't get more. It's the only resource that must be spent (invested or wasted) the instant you get it. And you must spend at one never-varying rate: 60 seconds per minute, 60 minutes per hour. No discounts, no inflation.

Thus, the very notion of time control is a paradox. For you can only manage yourself in relation to time. You cannot choose whether to spend it, but only how. Once you waste time, it's gone—and it cannot be replaced.

In fact, time was created by humankind as a convenience—an expensive convenience when you buy it from someone else. In Maryland a man pays his doctor $100 for keeping him waiting. In New York a woman pays someone $300 an hour to do her shopping—out of a catalogue. For under $200 you can have a fax machine put in your care, alongside your cellular phone.

What has all this gained us? Not more time. We already know there isn't any more. Not more freedom. If you pay someone to pick up your laundry while you stay late at the office, you're only trading one chore for another.

But do not despair. Time management techniques can save you at least an hour a day, probably two. But the real question is, Will you use those two extra hours to good advantage?

Time is the basic stuff of the universe. Most people feel they're wasting barrels of this irreplaceable commodity. They're right. Good management of time is probably the single most important factor in managing yourself, your work, and indeed the work of others. Once you stop trying to wrestle time to the ground, its grip on you eases. Don't try to "conquer" time. Work with it. Make it your friend.

Time management, like other management disciplines, responds to analysis and planning. To place yourself on good terms with time, you must know what problems you encounter in applying it wisely, and what causes those problems. From this base you can improve your effectiveness in and around time.

Time management, a personal process, must fit your style and circumstances. Changing old habits requires strong commitment; however, if you choose to apply the principles, you can obtain the rewards.

Where is the best place to begin digging into priority-oriented time management? Check the ways you control time available to you now. No one has total control over a daily schedule. Someone or something always makes demands. However, you have as much control as anyone else—and probably more than you realize. Even within structured time you have opportunities to select which tasks to handle at what priorities. In exercising your discretionary choices, you begin to control your time.

TIME: AN ENIGMA WRAPPED IN A RIDDLE

Probably everyone has said at one time or another: "I would if I had the time," or, "There just isn't enough time," or, "Someday, I'll do that when I have time." The idea that people are about to run out of time is widespread. But that just isn't true. It's a paradox. Although time is not in short supply, it must be rationed.

Consider the supply question. Your basic truth about supply is this: You have as much time as Methuselah had—24 hours each day. Moreover, no one since Methuselah has been richer in time than you. Further, time's distribution would delight the most zealous egalitarian. It never discriminates regardless of sex, sect, station, or degree. So worrying about the supply of time is pointless. The supply has never been better.

Then why this need to ration a commodity every person has in full measure? For one reason—different rules apply to two classes of time: (1) time that's under your personal control, and (2) time you've contracted to another for pay.

ON YOUR OWN TIME

Your own time is not nearly as scarce as widespread wailing indicates. Say you work 40 hours a week for nearly 49 weeks per year (52 weeks less 2 weeks of vacation and six holidays). In a year your work time comes to 1,952 hours. Deduct that from your total inventory of time—8,760 (365 x 24) hours a year. Then deduct 488 hours for traveling to and from your job, 1,095 hours for meals (3 hours a day every day of the year), another 365 hours for dressing and undressing (1 hour a day), and 8 hours' sleep a night—count 2,920 hours for that. Your total deduction: 6,820 hours. Subtract 6,820 from 8,760 and you get 1,940 hours to do as you please. That's nearly 81 days of 24 hours apiece, 22 percent of the entire year!

TIME LAB: Q&A ON EFFECTIVENESS

Q. Isn't good time management at bottom what you'd expect from any efficient person?

A. To be efficient is to use the fewest resources for a given task. Effectiveness is a function of goal accomplishment (either you reach your objective or you don't). Many people become quite efficient doing things that don't need to be done in the first place. Determine first what you should be doing. Then ask how it can be done most efficiently. Do the right things right.

Q. Sure, I see using time management for important tasks. Isn't that enough without all the small stuff, too?

A. Day-to-day activities need the most planning. Keep a daily time record. Identify the patterns. Use this information in scheduling. Emphasize early actions. As the morning goes, so does the day. Recall the old pol's axiom: "As Maine goes, so goes the nation."

Q. You tell me to work on priorities. But they won't let me!

A. You must control not only priorities but them (whomever they are). When tempted to deviate from your plan, ask, "Is what I am about to do more important than what I planned to do?" If more important, go right ahead. If not (usually the case), look for ways to postpone, reschedule, or delegate.

Q. Can't most competent managers identify their biggest time wasters?

A. Without a system, it's hard. Try reconstructing last week—you'll see. Habits are automatic. Your time patterns often become inconsistent with what you're trying to accomplish. Most managers waste at least two hours every day but don't know where. Keep a time log. Determine where time is being wasted. You'll be surprised!

Q. I'd like to get time organized, I really would. But won't I then miss out on spontaneous opportunities?

A. Priority-powered managers believe in planned spontaneity. Once you're on top of things, take Wednesday morning off. Do whatever strikes your fancy. Schedule fun in your life. Manage activities better so you gain more time to do other things you enjoy. Good time management means decreasing marginal commitments and increasing true priorities.

Q. Isn't writing out objectives a waste of time? I could be doing—not scribbling.

A. Writing out your plan is always a good investment. ("If you don't know where you're going, you'll get there in a hurry!") Too often mental notes are vague and ill defined. You won't forget written goals. Writing increases commitment. The greater your commitment, the more likely you will accomplish your goals.

Q. Can't most managers find many ways to save time on their own?

A. Yes, to some extent. But your need is to invest time. There is no way to save time. It cannot be banked for the future. All time is real time. It must all be utilized now. Waste it, or invest it. The choice is yours.

Q. My astrological sign is inconsistent with being organized. Doesn't that mean I'm hopeless with time control?

A. To priority-activate time is to take action on purpose instead of settling for random selection. We're sure you're kidding about your horoscope. Your own free will is the critical element.

Is this so niggardly you'd file a formal complaint? "Maybe not," you demur. "Still, it's not enough. Look at all the things I can't get done because there isn't time!"

"Far from being overwhelmed with things to do, you're simply indecisive about selecting ways to fill those hours," the skeptic might say. But who better than you to say whether your own time problem is (1) too many demands, or (2) too many options? Either way, the solution is better management of time.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

In this book you'll learn to set long-range goals in both personal and professional arenas. Then, working backward, you'll plan successively shorter-range objectives. Each is a specific target with a deadline; taken one at a time, each will lead you toward one of your long-range goals.

Next, you'll learn about setting priorities and you'll practice a technique for rank ordering your activities. These two building blocks serve as a foundation for planning your time. The third part of the system concerns block time allocated to key task categories. Other steps are built on these three. But first, in Chapter 2, you're scheduled to take a field trip—to watch time managers at work.

Chapter Two

* * *

"Time, gentlemen, time! Time, gentlemen, time!" —British pub owners' traditional closing cry

Following an in-company seminar, a time consultant walks through the office to discover one of his attendees breaking a cardinal rule—answering his own telephone! "I hope you're following the other advisories better than that," the consultant says, half seriously, half banteringly. "Story of my life, Dr. Stevenson. Made an A on the lecture, an F on the fieldwork."

Before you get into the science of time management, take a trip to the field. Watch inventive time managers wrestle with what Shakespeare called "the clock-setter, that bald sexton, time." Then, as you dig into the science of time walloping, you'll see the principles these deft managers are drawing on.

WHY AYED SAYS NOTHING'S IMPOSSIBLE

Ayed came to the United States from the Middle East. He knew no one. Against all odds, he took a job selling insurance for a major company. In a few years, he had become a millionaire and outsold everyone on the 20,000-person sales force. One of his secrets: priority-oriented time management.

Ayed—an enormously successful insurance salesman—is also an astute investor of time. He carefully orchestrates his primary selling time days and weeks in advance.

"Each person is created equal to every other person in the matter of time," he says. "We each get 24 hours per day. What we each do with that 24 hours makes a vast difference in what we accomplish."

If you manage your time so you save 1 hour per day, Ayed says, you've created 365 new hours for yourself in one year alone. That's equivalent to nine 40-hour workweeks. Imagine the value of nine extra weeks. More effective work, more enjoyable leisure!

"We live an average of 600,000 hours," he says. "We sleep 200,000 hours and work 200,000 hours. We spend about 25,000 hours educating ourselves, 75,000 in recreation, and 100,000 in various other personal affairs."

In short, only one-third of our time on earth provides for ourselves and our families. Each work hour, then, must provide for two other nonwork hours.

Effective use of time is crucial for Ayed because he collects only when the prospective buyer signs the agreement.

"Selling is like chopping wood," Ayed says. "You must do many things to get ready to chop wood. But only the actual chopping really counts. You must prepare the workplace, walk to the woodpile, select a log, return to the workplace, position the log, raise the axe, split the wood, pick up the pieces, then return to the woodpile to repeat the cycle. Which action is truly significant? Splitting the wood, of course.

"If you don't split the wood, there's no point in the rest. If you can figure a way to split the wood without the other activities, you still have the achievement. Actual time the blade is spent splitting the log is less than 2 percent of the total job time. Most of your time is spent getting ready or following through."

Ayed's time management philosophy sounds almost too simple until you realize how many people overlook the obvious: "I decide what I want to do," he says. "I lay out plans for doing it. And I do it quickly."

Scientific Scheduling

The key to successful time management is making a conscious decision to achieve a specific goal. Ayed begins the day early. He is out of bed by 5:30 A.M. and exercises to keep physically fit and maintain energy. After cooking his own breakfast ("Never omit breakfast. It's not healthy!"), he leaves for his midtown Manhattan office. He starts work between 7:00 and 7:30 A.M.

Before traditional hours begin at 9:00 A.M., Ayed has completed his paperwork for the day. When coworkers start coming into the office, he's ready for the meetings and telephone calls. He controls these events to his liking: Only those who deserve priority selling time get it.

Ayed keeps 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. free for prospect meetings—including lunch hour. After 5:00 P.M. he goes back on secondary time to wrap up loose ends. He leaves for home between 6:00 and 7:00 P.M.

As well organized as each day is, it all conforms to a larger plan built around his annual sales goal—established every January. In November Ayed evaluates his progress toward the goal. Usually it's in reach. But with year's end approaching, he'll drop everything to make sure he achieves his objective.

When the goal becomes all-consuming, priorities order themselves naturally. If Ayed reaches a goal earlier than planned, he sets a new goal—higher. He must have a goal.

Any activity that doesn't relate to a sale he delegates to Matt, his administrative assistant. (Ayed keeps his eye on the main chance.) When he ended up with a free half day prior to a speaking engagement, Ayed asked the program director, Jill: "Do you know a corporation president?" "Yes. Why?" Jill responded curiously. "I want to see him," Ayed said. "Well," Jill replied, "I wrote a $100,000 policy for Joe a few years ago. He owns a small electronics company. I haven't been able to sell him anything since. But I'll tell him you're a famous speaker in town for a special conference. He'd probably be interested in meeting you. But you'll never make a sale."

(Continues...)

Excerpted from REAL-WORLD TIME MANAGEMENTby Roy Alexander Michael S. Dobson Copyright © 2009 by American Management Association. Excerpted by permission of AMACOM. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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