THE ONLY TIME MANAGEMENT SYSTEM YOU’LL EVER NEED (PART 3)
There’s 15 golden nuggets in time management listed here, focus on 3 and you are already ahead of the pack
There are 15 golden nuggets that I listed in this series. I don’t usually do all of them at once, but I focused on three that I like, like the the Pomodoro technique listed on #15.
The first part of the series is linked here. You can read the second part here. Again, you don’t need to do the 15 nuggets everyday, but follow some.
Following these time management skills is like having a dictionary. You don’t read a dictionary word for word, but you refer to it sometimes if you need help.
Same thing with this article: scan/read and apply. A month or two, refer to it again and apply.
The idea is you have to apply the techniques and the golden nuggets listed here. I’m always reminded of the saying that says:
If more information was the answer, everybody will be millionaires with perfect abs.
The point is implementation, implementation, implementation. Don’t be lazy but do the work.
So here we go….
Golden Nugget. Number 11 focus on your unique strengths and passion.
We really need to remember the power of delegation. I’m a perfectionist so nobody can do anything as good as I can. I’ve got to do everything to do it right and the reality is that might be true, but we have to realize again, think about that 80–20 rule. This feeds into this that yes, if I delegate it to someone on my team, maybe it’s not going to be perfect, but if it’s 80% perfect, I need to be okay with that and let it go because now that just freed up all of my time.
Golden Nugget number 12, batch your work with recurring themes.
If you read the books of innovative entrepreneurs, the advice is to assign different themes of work to their employees so a worker can really concentrate on one specific type of work.
Well known sort of consultant to consultants, Dan Sullivan, talks about entrepreneurs should have focus days, buffer days and free days.
In the focus days, these are your game days. These are the days where you are doing your most important activities. Usually it’s sales or revenue related, but whatever your strengths are,
A buffer day, that’s the day to catch up on phone calls and emails, sign paperwork and you know, all the other administrative stuff we have to do.
The free days are the days where you do not work. And what you’re doing is you’re resting and recharging, which all the Olympic athletes really talk about.
Golden Nugget Number 13, if you can do a task in less than five minutes, do it immediately.
So this really comes down to the touch at once principle.
I go to an extreme on this one.
For example, I walked to get the mail out of the mailbox every day. Well, most people you come inside and there’s the two piles. There’s the junk pile and then the bills and then later we go through the junk again. And then we go through the bills again.
On my walk back up to the garage from the mailbox, I am sorting that junk and I’m dropping it right in the recycle bin before I even get into my house.
Those bills, they go into the bill pile, which again, I process on Friday afternoons.
I don’t even open the envelopes until I’m them ready to tackle them. You know, I don’t, I don’t care about what my electric bill or cable bill is. I’m just gonna leave it, sit there until I’mready to process it.
For email, you open an email when you’re ready to process it in that moment. Just learn to touch everything once.
Golden nugget number 14, routinely use early mornings to strengthen your mind, your body and your spirit.
I usually ask people to give me their number one productivity tip. So I’m expecting to hear about task lists and calendars and priorities. So many people said, my number one productivity tip is what I do in the first hour of my day.
And they’re not talking about getting work done. They’re talking about their mind and body. Most of the people that I talked to, these high performers, they weren’t waking up feeling stressed, rushing to the office and dive in and emails that first hour, that first 30 minutes, they were investing in themselves for the long game.
My routine is gratitude journal, coffee, meditate and exercise (jump rope and lift weights).
Last but certainly not least,
golden nugget number 15 productivity is about energy and focus, not time.
You know, we all have the same one, 440 minutes a day. We can’t get more of that. It’s not about managing the time.
So the idea is, first of all, take care of our bodies. Light Cardio, lots of water. Get good, deep sleep. In addition to that, the most productive people, they actually take more breaks.
So we’re designed to kind of like sprint and rest, sprint and rest, and so on. Again, to each their own ability. A lot of people like this pomodoro technique, (including me). I use a website (free) and have a timer and just sprint for 25 minutes, then pop up and walk around, get some air, get some water. The idea is to spend more time on a single task, all out focused attention.
These are working jam sessions. Then a little break and then get back to it.
I remember when Facebook as a company was slowly getting traction, their programmers have what they call ‘lock down’ moments.
Programmers will focus for an hour on the problem at hand and focus on programming works to solve the problem.
I call it Pomodoro technique, but I lock down myself during work and just focus for 25 minutes.
