“In life we only get one chance with our time – we cannot go
back and use the last ten seconds” – Nigel
Risner
Shift to valuing your
time – this is an important change and you will never waste another
minute! In a pound sense, this should
mean that you are comfortable charging for knowledge and experience, after all
it has taken your time and energy, so don’t let clients or anyone take you for
granted. Remember, we cannot go back and
use the last ten seconds, we only get one chance.
Get the most out of
every day – ask yourself: am I
making the best use of my time? If not,
STOP whatever you are doing and then continue to work on a project that will
allow better use of your time. Get up
and for a walk if you are ‘bogged down’ with a specific situation and then
return to tackle it.
Goals – work with
goals in mind, it makes a difference. If
you don’t know what these are or don’t have any, spend some time working out
what they may be. Examples could be
professional (such as project deadlines, sales targets, career enhancements)
and personal goals (fitness, health, family and relationships, financial
goals).
Handle things once
only – you’ve heard it before never handle a piece of paper twice, if it is
paper use the ‘three d’ rule, i) do it, ii) dump it, iii) delegate (we all like
that one). The same rule can be applied
to emails (action, delete or forward).
What is your secret? Ask someone you believe is efficient, what
their secret is, how they developed their techniques, then establish how it
could work for you.
Stop allowing time to
be taken from you – if someone is late for their appointment and hasn’t
contacted you, allow 15 minutes from the agreed time and then move on. If you are stopped during the day by a
colleague, client or telephone caller, ask them to arrange a meeting wherever
appropriate. You can decide how you
allow other people to use your time.
Family and personal
time – you do not want to finish your career and then realise that you have
missed out on quality time with family and friends. We all need this support so make sure you
build time into your daily activities.
Health – it is
important to maintain health and fitness and whilst we have been talking about
time, knowledge and energy are also invaluable.
Being stressed/overworked will only hamper your health. Take that break, go for a walk, spend time
with family, have a massage and remember to have a yearly medical check up.
Remove clutter from
office and home - the more you simplify your office and home, the more
time you will create. Clutter saps energy,
creates more work thus allowing time to be wasted on non-valuable tasks. Clear the clutter today!
Peak Performance –
schedule those demanding tasks to the part of the day best for you and when
energy levels are at their highest. Some
of us are larks and some owls so establish when your peak time is and then see how
quickly you achieve results.
This is an interesting article. I would add the following observations from a slightly different perspective;
ReplyDelete1) Not all of our time has equal value. Don't get suckered into a one-size-fits-all approach to pricing your time. You could miss out on a whole range of money-can't-buy experiences otherwise.
2) Some days don't add up to much. Forcing yourself to make the most out of every can make you anxious and unsettled. Developing a sense of flow to your day can be very helpful though.
3) Goals are for footballers. Many successful people don't have goals as such but they don't stop being successful. How about having aspirations, objectives or targets? Goals are about outcomes; ticking things off a list. The others are about enjoying the journey, and being a little more flexible about the destination.
4) Handle things as often as they need to be handled. In the real world things need crafting before they are the best they can be. There's no shame in that. And people, in and out of work, need to be handled personally, thoughtfully, and often.
5) There is no secret. What works for other people may not work for you. Best practice is a myth; it's a "me too" escalation of practices designed to make consultants rich. Don't fall for it. Follow good practice and common sense instead.
6) Let people take their time. People who don't will develop a reputation as uncooperative, and will probably measure quite highly on the psychopath scale. It's not about time, it's about energy. If you're running out of time get up earlier or work later. But whatever you do, make sure you balance the activities that give you energy with the ones that take energy from you.
7) Family is paramount. Support networks of family and friends are a critical element of personal resilience. This has been amply demonstrated in the US Army Master Resilience training programme - 1 million participants and climbing.
8) Health is of course critical. And an easy way to make a big impact is to download a free App that counts the number of steps you take each day. If you monitor it you end up managing it. Sleep is essential too, especially in the winter.
9) Clutter only saps energy if you aren't comfortable with it. Being compulsively tidy doesn't get you any friends. Getting out more will.
10) Peak performance varies from person to person and day to day; it is notoriously unpredictable, that's why the Olympics was so much fun. Noticing how you feel when you perform well helps you train your self-awareness to find those feelings, and therefore that performance, when you need it rather than being a slave to it.
I hope that helps.
Merry Christmas!