How To Better Control Your Time.

Time is the one thing you can never get back. So you need to be careful with it, don't waste it, don't hurry through it, and use it effectively. You need to CONTROL your time.

How do you do that? It's easy and it's hard — here are some tips:

Clear Your Desk.

I know . . . it's hard. But once it's done, it is so easy to focus without any distractions to instantly pull you away from the task at hand. Also there is the visual aspect of a clean desk. You FEEL better about yourself and your surroundings. It's easier to find things and important papers don't get lost.

So here's my strategy — Pile, View, Attack/File/Toss/LCB:

1. Pile - Take everything off your desk and make a single pile of paper.
2. View - Pick up and look at each piece of paper. You must make four piles:
3. Attack - work on it immediately - something you can complete within a short amount of time.
4. File - File it away for future access.
5. Toss - Throw it away. I know it's hard - but most of your pile can go this route.
6. LCB: Last Chance Bin - get a box and place it under your desk. If you are unsure of tossing something, put it into this bin. If you need it later, it's there. If not (after 3-6 months), toss it out. This bin works wonders.

Plan Your Day.

This is the hardest and surprisingly the easiest way to get a better handle on your time. Why?

If you go somewhere or if you're on a trip, you have a destination and a route to get there. That's called a plan.

Why is it when you get to work you don't architect the same thinking for your activities, meetings, and tasks? What needs to be done — what is it's priority — and when will you complete it?

Randy Pausch developed a very simple, yet effective template to help anyone plan their day. It's made up of four quadrants:

• Due Soon and Not Due Soon
• Important and Not Important

When you look at your "Attack" pile of work for the day, you usually work through it based on time in and time out. But importance flies out the window — most people aren't working on the most important and critical tasks. This tool helps them do it.

Which ones to work on first? Upper left! Which ones to work on last? Lower right! Here's a PDF template you can use.

Work On One Thing At A Time.

This is where we all fall down. We think we can 'multi-task' our work and guess what? We never get anything done or even worse, we do things in a haphazard fashion.

Take your Attack pile and your Activity List and make your way down each item. Once it's complete, check it off. Set aside time to work on your attack pile — don't answer the phone — don't let anyone bother you — don't let anything take your focus away from the task at hand until you are DONE. You can always return that phone call 15-30 minutes later or go see the person who wanted to see you.

Also — turn your email reminders OFF. You can get back to checking email when you're DONE.

At first it will be difficult. But when you start to see a clean desk, a planned out day, and REAL progress on your work. These basic behaviors will begin to kick in. Try it!

How To Become Unfireable – Part Five: Focus.

Everyone makes this mistake. Everyone. So don't feel bad.   We get caught up with all of our work.

Our regular tasks and duties. Old projects. Favors for your friends.

And then a new project comes along. You panic — how are you going to fit this in?

A client of mine once wrote me: “Rich — I don’t know what to do! Every time my phone rings, or when I open my email, or when I go to a meeting, my workload grows exponentially. I am currently huddled in my office with a list of to-do’s that will choke a horse!”

He then emailed me a week later (after our session): “OMG — it’s like night and day. I now have a solid list of actionable tasks which are prioritized and with stated deadlines. I’ve tossed or re-scheduled all of the lower-tier tasks — I feel amazing! Thank you RICH!” 

A smart executive regularly reviews their workload and eliminates, retires, and puts on hold those tasks, activities and projects deemed low tier.

Here's the rub — most people don't do this. They try to do everything and they don't do it very well. They hoard (I love that word) — hoard their projects like Scrooge McDuck and are afraid to let any of them get away.

You need to look at your workload like a lifeboat. It only fits 10 people. If another person wants to come aboard, someone has to go. You don't pick the most healthy, important, and vital person — you pick someone who is sickly and causing the most strife.

Frequently assess which ones are:

• Exposure - how many people will this affect? How will you benefit when it's done?
• Impact - how many people really use this? Is it just your pipe-dream or something you like to do?
• Importance - how critical is it to the inner workings or success of the company?

Candidly, when your boss is taking a look at their team, they view the IMPORTANT deliverables first. They account for all the high-exposure projects — the mover and shaker initiatives first.

So start throwing some projects overboard. Today.

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P.S. If you're having problems with timing at work, let's talk. This is one of the main areas I tackle first with all of my clients. If you’re not a client . . . grab your spot now before all the spots for October are taken. Time is getting short.