Manage Your Time
Manage Your Time
A recent blog said that “Time is the enemy.” As I age it becomes even more appropriate. I can’t outrun time and I don’t have the luxury of being able to get more time. So, it becomes critical that I learn how to manage my time. I used to think I could outsmart people at work. I would arrive a couple of earlier than normal and I thought that would provide me with more time. Well, people were smarter than I was and they figured out when I arrived and either the phone started ringing or they showed up at my door. So that didn’t work. In a future blog I will address those “interruptions” and how to minimize them.
Well, my conclusion was that I had to apply personal discipline to my work. That was how I was going to manage my time. Recently I attended a presentation by Dirk Beveridge. For those of you who do not know this gentleman you have no idea what you are missing. Google him. Read his books, listen to his posts and watch his YouTube videos. They are filled with wonderful information.
Dirk gave me a series of formulae to manage my time. I am a simple man and I translated then into “Time Blocks.”
I split my day into 5 “Blocks.”
- Reviewing results, daily critical few, project status, etc.
- Working with people trying to help improve progress and results.
- General communications: phone, meetings, emails, text, etc.
- Intense process reviews, process flow charts, value chains, etc.
- Personal growth: reading, thinking, planning, etc.
Then it is up to me to have the discipline and the personal character to manage it.
The Time is Now.