As I mentioned in yesterday’s post , I thought I’d share some of the notes I took during the awesome Extreme Business Makeovers (XBM) event. I can’t cover it all, but I think what I’ll cover is most relevant to largest number of people who read this blog. With that said, today’s topic is about time management.
Stephanie Frank shared with us the following “Time wasting, money sucking, energy draining critical factors that stunt your business growth“:
- Don’t know what you want
- Overwhelmed and stuck– listening to those little voices
- Energy drains — too much on your plate!
- Your “To Do” list is never “To Done”
- Thinking it has to be done right (perfectly)
- Thinking no one can do it like you — need systems!
- Thinking you can do it all yourself
- You’re afraid to step up
She had us do a mindmapping exercise. I threw together this quick graphic to show you how its structured. Basically on each line you write all the things that are currently on your plate in these various areas.
After you’ve written everything out you:
- Circle the items you want to change, but keep on your plate
- X out the things that drain your energy — these are the things you need to get rid of
This exercise helps you really get a sense of everything you’re doing and helps identify issues you may be having in terms of being overextended/over committed. Once you’ve identified what you want to change and what you need to get rid of, you put together an action plan. Stephanie suggests using “focus time” — so for example, let’s say that you have 2 hours of focus time each day. What you’ll do is break all of your tasks down into 15 minute segments so no more than 4 tasks within an hour and then tackle them with a kitchen timer nearby!
Even more great tips came from top real estate investor and trainer Robert Shemin. Robert suggested using a time tracker (see image below). It’s rather self-explanatory but the idea is that you’d literally track all of your activities every day and then spend 15 minutes on Friday reviewing the week. For those things that are identified as items someone else could/should do, you work on getting that done. It takes discipline to do this on a daily basis, but I suspect its very much worth it in the end.
Robert also suggests that entrepreneurs structure their work/life with 3 types of days:
(1) Focus Days (1 or 2 days/week) — the only things you do on focus days are activities that will make you the most money
(2) Buffer Days (2 or 3 days/week) — these are clean up from the focus days.
(3) Free Day (1 or 2 days/week) — these are days off! No connectivity allowed. No cell phones or computers (at least not for business).
Good stuff! Thanks to my pal Julie, I have already implemented the kitchen timer, but I know that I should use it more often for my focus time on specific tasks.
Hopefully you’ve found a tip or two that was useful!
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Scott Costello
750 days ago
Very good post Shae, I constantly struggle with getting rid of non productive tasks and wasting time.
The breaking down of the 2 hours into 15 minute task sounds like what I tried with my slotting system. I found it anti-productive to limit a task to such a short time limit. Every time you start on a task there is “rev up” time where you prepare and get focused. For example, lets say you check your email everyday from 6:00pm to 6:15pm. To check your email you have to turn on the computer, open up the browser/email app, log in and start looking through your emails. That may take 3 minutes. Over a week that is 21 minutes wasted. If you waited till Friday to check your email and spent 1.5 hrs on email you’d only waste the 3 minutes to “rev-up” once.
Not the best example but illustrates my point pretty good.
.-= Scott Costello´s last blog ..Probate Monday: Are they ready to sell yet? =-.
Shae
750 days ago
Scotty, I always keep my machine on hibernate
I can’t stand the 5 minute boot up process! As far as tasks are concerned…I think its ok for a task to be given more than one slot if its of maximum priority. That’s how I’d do it.
Also, one of the things she said is that a lot of times people mistake projects for tasks…and to remember its important to break down those projects into bite sized tasks. I can think of a LOT of things this could work with.
Ron
750 days ago
Hi Shae, I really like the what robert suggest about entrepreneurs structuring their work week with 3 types of days. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by all the emails and online information I get on a daily basis. I’m definitely looking for ways to have more structure in my businesses. eventually I’m going to need an assistant ( i was thinking about hiring a virtual assistant) but at least right now, if I can implement a few good strategies myself, I’m confident it will help keep me more organized and less overwhelmed. thanks for sharing:)
Shae
750 days ago
Hey Ron, yes that was actually my favorite tip as well! We have a virtual assistant and its very helpful. We actually need a second assistant with a different skillset, but we’ll get there.
In her presentation, Stephanie was talking about the fact that sometimes she’d think she couldn’t afford an assistant but she changed her mindset to “Ok, I NEED this assistant and if its going to cost me $10 for her to do this for an hour then I am going to focus on something that will make me at LEAST $20.” That’s how she started of and it made a huge difference for her. Now of course she has numerous employees and assistants, but this is the thinking that got her started.