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Plan Your Day and Stick to Your Plan
by Inez Ng
How many times have you remarked to someone that
there are not enough hours in the day? The sad truth is, not matter how much you
wish it, it is unlikely that you can get more than 24 hours in each day. So, the
trick to time management is really how you get the most out of the hours you
have. One way to do that is to become an exceptional planner of your day. It is
not very difficult – just takes some basic knowledge and a lot of discipline. As
a coach, I can help you with both, but the knowledge is what I’ll cover right
now.
Set aside time to plan
This is really the first step. You have to make planning a habit, and do the
task religiously. I set aside an hour on Sunday mornings to plan my week. In
order for me to make sure that the week goes according to plan, I have to have
“a plan” to start with. In the beginning, it may take you longer than an hour,
but once you’ve done the planning for a while, you’ll get more efficient at it.
You will also feel much more focused when you have identified what you want to
accomplish for the week.
Schedule at least one week at a time
Some people only plan one day at a time, but I think that you need to be
more forward looking than that. So, I suggest you focus on at least one week at
a time, but also review what may be coming up in the next month while you are
considering what to prioritize for the next week. The more proactive you are
about your life, the less often you will find yourself having to react to
unforeseen situations.
Identify your “big rocks” for your week
If you don’t know what I mean, you have to read Stephen Covey. He made a
masterful illustration using a bucket, some sand, and several rocks of various
sizes. He explained that the sand represents all the busy work that we have to
do, like answering the phone, reading email, filing away papers, etc. The rocks
represent all the important things that we have to do, such as setting goals for
the year, launching a new project, creating a vision for your team, etc. The
bucket represents all the time we have for all the demands of our lives.
What happens with most of us is that we fill up our buckets with the sand
first, and then we can only put a few rocks on top, and there’s no more room for
the rest. What he suggested is that we put all our rocks into the bucket first,
and then fill in all the available spaces with the sand. And miraculously,
everything fits in our container!
This is the philosophy you need to employ when you schedule your week.
Identify all your big rocks, and block out the time to handle these first. Then
worry about the sand afterwards. We have to make sure that we handle the
important stuff first, and not let the busy work consume our days.
Think 24/7
I am not suggesting that you plan to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But
I am suggesting that you account for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in your
schedule. If you neglect to consider Saturdays and Sundays because those are
your “days off”, you may find on Sunday night that you have not handled any of
the household chores that you needed to get done. Or if you are planning on
having a dinner party on Saturday night next week, you had better block off some
time Friday or Saturday to straighten out the house, or go to the market.
Plan personal and play time
Don’t think that a schedule is only for work, this is a plan for your life.
So, make sure that you block off time for exercise, or “date night” with your
spouse, or cheerleader time for your kids’ games in your schedule. Remember that
the goal is to have time to handle everything that’s important to us, not just
things that are important concerning work. If you want Friday to be a mental
health day, block that off. You don’t need to put in any more details than that.
But you know that if you don’t plan for it, it won’t happen.
Leave some contingency time in your schedule
You know better than to expect that your days all go exactly as planned.
Just when you are about to really focus on that important analysis you needed to
do, your boss calls you into a meeting where your expertise is desperately
needed, and your schedule is shot. So, don’t cram every hour of your day with
activities. Leave some contingency time for you to catch up when the unexpected
happens.
Discipline, discipline, discipline
Once you have your days scheduled, you need to exercise discipline and stick
to what you planned. Do everything you can to eliminate distractions and really
focus on what you have to do. You will be amazed how much more productive you
can be. So, close that email program, turn the phone ringer off and let
voicemail handle the calls, close your office door for an hour of so. Then when
it is time for you to handle email, and phone calls, and drop-in visitors, give
all your focus to those activities then.
Leadership coach Inez Ng helps busy professional and
entrepreneurs get better results quickly. Learn more about coaching with her at
http://www.RealizationsUnltd.com
Check out her ebook packed with tips and strategies on saving time on email
at
http://www.easyemailstrategies.com |
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