Stop wasting time, get things done

"I don't have enough time to get everything done."

That's what business owners I have come in contact with are saying during this slow economy.

Time is a limited resource. However, time cannot be managed.

What you can manage are the activities that take place over time by defining outcomes and actions required -- it is the conscious management of the decisions that leads to better use of time.

It is important to recognize that you have the ability to prioritize and to control your own activities.

As the New York architect and teacher Michael Altshuler said, "The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot."

There are a number of tools that can be utilized for controlling activities related to time, such as, calendars, personal digital assistants (PDA's) and daily planning sheets.

However, it is critical to understand that effective time management comes from oneself and not from the outside world, from the economy or from your competition.

Avoid time wasters

It's necessary to be honest to recognize that every one of us will be doing some activities that in reality are time wasters relative to the critical activities that need clarity and focus to generate the maximum business returns.

As a business owner, the process of determining which activities you should focus on begins with goal setting, to document your personal and business road map in levels of detail that represent periods of time.

The bigger picture will be visionary with broad strategies to achieve the vision over a three- to five-year period.

The next level of goal setting will be for the upcoming 12 months. This will require documenting specific goals.

The next level of control is to break the 12-month goals down to the activities that need to be achieved over the first quarter to be on track for the 12-month goals.

And the final level to provide the foundation for effective control of activities is to break the 90-day goals down to the first week of this period.

Then measure the results from the first week and set the activities for the next week. Repeat this process diligently each week.

At the end of the first quarter, reestablish specific goals for the second quarter and repeat the disciplined setting of weekly activities and weekly reviews.

Each weekly review and planning session should take about one hour each Monday (or Friday) and should include the business owner and each direct management report to the owner.

Important versus urgent

The discipline of this process will allow the differentiation of urgent versus important activities. Important activities are those that lead to the achievement of defined goals and provide the most likely chance of achieving the desired outcomes for the business.

However, many of these activities are not urgent. Many activities that are important are not urgent.

Pareto's 80/20 rule applies here as 80 percent of the outcomes will be generated by 20 percent of the activities. Unfortunately, urgent activities tend to be part of the 80 percent of the activities only producing 20 percent of the outcomes. The process discussed in the previous paragraphs is designed to help differentiate between important versus urgent activities on a weekly basis.

It will help on a routine basis to identify potential conflicts and crises and to facilitate minimizing the number of urgent activities.

The benefits of this disciplined approach of managing activities will be the measureable control of goal focused activities and the actual completion of targeted goals.

It will be easier to delegate activities to appropriately skilled staff, it will reduce personal stress on everyone in the company from the owner down, and there will be increased productivity and profitability no matter what the external business or economic conditions.

The business owner in particular will have the feeling of being in control of his life and destiny. And the feeling of achievement through personal discipline is very powerful.

Seven suggestions

The following are seven suggestions to apply personal discipline within the context of achieving better management of the business performance and the more effective utilization of your personal time:

• Delegate activities to achieve the 12-month goals to staff with the appropriate skills to execute the defined activities. And manage this approach through an organizational structure and individual Positional Agreements appropriate to the size of the organization.
• Prioritize your daily work by reviewing tomorrow's important activities in a 'to-do-list' at the end of each prior day to be focused immediately each day on maximizing personal productivity. And don't do what's not on the list -- resist the urge to be distracted and to do things that you enjoy more.
• Handle each piece of paper only once and never more than twice. Don't set aside anything without taking action.
• Clean up your desk and office shelves once a month. Categorize everything into four groups: Do it, delegate it, defer it and dump it.

Before getting rid of anything, just ask the question, "What is the worst that can happen if the item was gone?" If the answer is "nothing," then dump it.

• Put your calls and personal interruptions on hold for one hour, two hours or whatever is appropriate to your task at hand. It is amazing how much work that can be achieved by using this simple technique and not being distracted by a phone call or personal interruption -- and most of these potential interruptions will not meet the definition of "important."
• Learn to say "no." This may be the most effective way to maximize your personal utilization of time and is often the hardest word to use in business. Make sure that if you don't say "no," it is because the activity is important in the context of your own role in the business.
• Make sure you set aside personal relaxation time during every workday. Don't work during lunch. It is neither nutritional nor noble to skip important stress-relieving time or important energy input. Take vacations, particularly mini-vacations. The harder you work, the more you need to balance your leisure and exercise time.

As a business owner, the key to time management is to build your personal and business life around your individual needs and desired outcomes through planned and measured activities. Time management is, in fact, the ultimate in self-improvement because it is the foundation to be able to achieve your goals in every aspect of your life.

Iain Macfarlane is the president and founder of BizCOACHING & Associates in Madison, a franchise of ActionCOACH Business Coaching. He was named "Coach of the Year 2005."