Whoever coined the phrase, “time is money” is right. That is why we need to become masters of time management, if we want to achieve success.
To become a master of your time, you need to understand and practice the Four Time Management Disciplines:
- Clear and abundant thinking
- Clear goals and initiatives
- Clear job description
- Clear understanding of your time personality
Clear and abundant thinking
Today’s economic climate has caused us to either work harder or smarter to get where we want to go. Most of us are working with fewer resources so to work smarter, rather than harder, we need to have a mantra that takes us into abundant thinking, such as: “How might I reach my goals within the circumstances and resources available to me?”
Focusing on the possibilities at hand, versus focusing on the negativity of your circumstances, is the only way to create a positive outcome. According to psychologists, when we focus on what we CAN do we increase our locus of control and therefore our ability to think about possibilities that can make things happen in the direction of our goals. Clear and abundant thinking is a habit of people with good time management skills, who would not consider wasting time on discussing what is not right or what will not work, because they know negative thinking is a waste of time.
Clear goals and initiatives
In order to consider the best possibilities to increase our success, we must be clear about the goals we want to attain. Mapping out your path to success is important so your moment-to-moment choices can follow in alignment to what you say you want to do.
Without a clear roadmap, you will find yourself traveling down the “Busy-ness Road” without reaching your preferred destination. The clearer your goals and important initiatives are laid out by you, the less often you will take a detour and the faster you will reach your destination.
Clear job descriptions
It surprises me how often people do not have clear job descriptions. When that is the case, the first exercise I have a client do is what I call a “time audit.” To begin, I have my client record their activities for 21 days, giving the amount of time actually spent for each action. Next, I have them categorize their activities into responsibilities and create a job description in bullet form.
Looking at each responsibility listed and the time they spent, I have them honestly ask themselves, “Did I spend my time well?” If the answer is “no,” I have them mark down the amount of time they believe would be best dedicated towards that task. Finally, I ask them to highlight any activities that are draining to them so they can consider having someone else take those tasks, or eliminate them altogether if possible.
Clear understanding of your time personality
Knowing your “time personality” will help you to see how you might be sabotaging your success. There are six time management personalities below. You can have more than one time management personality. See which ones describe you:
- Hopper-You tend to jump from one activity to the next, rarely completing your tasks, because you like the thrill of busy-ness.
- Perfectionist plus-You focus on getting things done perfectly but sometimes spend too much time on a given activity such that it causes other important initiatives to not get done.
- Allergic to detail-You love to be creative but often do not finish up the details that need to be done to get your projects to the finish line.
- Cliff hanger-You often wait until the last minute to get that burst of adrenaline that makes you feel motivated, but it does not allow you the time to collaborate with others.
- People pleaser-You tend to focus on what others want and expect from you, versus how you can spend your time in a way that will help you to meet your goals.
- M.I.N. Master-you choose your time wisely and have mastered your ability to focus on your Most Important Now tasks and have come to terms with saying “no” or “not right now” to others.
Challenge: Do you choose your time wisely? If not, which of the Four Time Management Disciplines do you need to focus on improving?
Susan K. Wehrley has been a business coach and consultant for 25 years, as president of Susan K. Wehrley & Associates Inc. (www.Solutionsbysusan.com ) She has also created a business development community called BIZremedies (www.BIZremedies.com ) and is the author of five empowerment books. She can be reached at 414-581-0449 or susan@solutionsbysusan.com.
