During my training sessions, I often repeat that time management is a big illusion, because it’s impossible to “manage” time. You cannot decide that your day will be only 20 hours in order to benefit from a 28-hour day the following day… just like you cannot accelerate time or go back to the past. That being said, we can “organize” our time by using a few concrete tools and some simple strategies whose effectiveness has been demonstrated with regard to the definition of our priorities.
What is your plan?
What is your favourite work organization method? Using an agenda? Working with a list of tasks (the famous to-do list) or using nothing at all. The last option can have some annoying impacts on you: stress, a constant feeling of being rushed, an impression of being “harassed” by our colleagues who seem to be always increasing your task list, etc. Why not try the “planned management” of your schedule?
I often hear about the game plan of some people who are able to set up the next activities for the coming day, week, year or the next five years. Generally speaking, it’s great to be able to make a plan for one’s career or personal life. I believe that if you don’t have a plan, you’ll end up sooner or later falling into someone else’s plan. Even an unclear plan is better than no plan, and rest assured, it’s normal to sometimes feel off course from your initial plan.
Planned management of the agenda
Where to start? Identify the four or five elements that will be your priorities in your schedule for the week and plan these activities immediately. For example, an evening with your spouse must absolutely be on your schedule? Put it on the agenda immediately, since that evening is one of the moments you can predict. Every day, from 13:00 to 14:00, you answer your emails? Do the same thing and “block off” your schedule right now. You can plan the dates of your next family trip today? Why not add these activities to your schedule right away? In this way, you will lay the groundwork of what you consider to be YOUR priorities and YOUR plan for the coming week, month and coming years. All the elements that will then fill your schedule, like sand in a bowl, will not have the effect of disrupting your game plan, because your major priorities will always be left intact in your schedule. It’s interesting to note that we can always plan ahead, but with varying degrees of precision.
Your emails: the supreme time consumer
You should not take the time to read your emails when you arrive at the office in the morning. You have a set schedule, you made sure to choose your priorities, but your emails will always bring you unforeseen “emergencies” that will disrupt your day. The ideal would be to be able to read your emails only twice during the day. Otherwise, you will constantly feel solicited for other projects and it will be very difficult for you to stick to your planned schedule.
These time consumers can be found almost everywhere, and one has to know how to identify them in order to avoid them… insofar as possible. Emails where you are cc’ed for no good reason, meetings without agendas, and each interruption by a colleague who comes into your office to ask you “whether you have two minutes to give them” risk making you forget all the energy invested in planning your day.
Conclusion
As researcher Stephen Covey said, why not prioritize your priorities? This task organization approach can be very useful to you. You just have to start thinking about what in your schedule is a priority for you. The rest of your commitments will then fall into place more easily. So, are you in control of your plan?
More :
Time Management: Defining Your Priorities While Remaining Flexible
