The big trick is to refuse to let most of your time get used up by things that are not so important. Take control of your time back.
1. Primetime
When are you brilliant?
Primetime is that time of the day when you are most brilliant.
It is when you are most creative, focused, energetic – when you can think really clearly and make things happen.
Figure out when your prime time is, and then don’t waste it doing email or going to bad meetings! Schedule it for yourself, protect it, and get real work done.
You get important stuff done more quickly when you do it in prime time. So you make even more time than if you try do important work with less horsepower, when you are not at your best.
2. Hide
Just take it.
If you are over-booked you just need to take some time back. Schedule it. And HIDE. The hiding is the crucial part. It doesn’t work if you don’t hide. The activity knows where to find you.
Stay home, sit in your car, go to a different building. Do your important thinking and planning work in peace. You’ll get more done and you’ll probably think of ways to save even more time.
3. Fail More
If you have 100 things to do, you are only going to do 70 of them, so instead of failing at 30, why not fail at 40? Is there a big difference? Since you are not going to get everything done anyway, set the bar a little lower! And give yourself more breathing room to do the most important stuff.
4. In-between Time
In-between time is those times where you might have a meeting or phone call scheduled every hour on the hour, but they don’t all last an hour. So you end up with 9, or 12, minutes before your next meeting.
Most people fall into the trap of thinking that the work they need to do is bigger than will fit into that small amount of time, so it’s not worth it to get started.
Oops. I really did have more time.
Many times, after you have browsed the internet or doodled for 12 minutes waiting for a phone call, the other person is late or cancels. Damn! you actually could have had 30 minutes, but now you’ve wasted the first 12!
This didn’t take as long as I thought
You’ll be surprised at what you can finish in 7 minutes if you just get started. Recently I started what I thought was a 15-20 minute task when I had 4 minutes before a phone call just to prove the point to myself that it’s worth getting started. I actually finished it.
What were those quick things I needed to do?
There are worthwhile things you can do that only take a few minutes. Keep your task list handy for when you get some in-between time, highlight the quickies, and address one each time you get a few minutes.
Or get started on a bigger task. Even small amounts of time are well used if you work on something important.
5. Quick Networking
People often tell me that they wish they did more networking but they just don’t have time. Here is a challenge to that.
How many emails can you send in 5 minutes?
When you have a 5 minute block of time before a meeting, send as many emails as you can to people on your list. It might be one, it might be 5. It helps to keep your networking contact list handy.
It’s been a long time. I was thinking about you and wanted to say Hi. Things are good here. I am in the same job. My daughter just starting school at NYU, and I’m taking surfing lessons. How are you?
How long does that take? Don’t you smile when you get one of these?
None vs. 500
If you did this twice a day with two five minute “in between time” windows, and sent two emails each time, that would be 20 emails per week where you could be reaching out, saying hello, and generally connecting with your network.
That’s about 80 emails per month. Even if you cut that in half, how much better is 40 emails per month – almost 500 per year — than “not having any time for networking”?
Membership Update
There’s less than one week left to get 3 months FREE Membership to Azzarello Group.
Click here to learn more and check out your options.
or Join Now.
