151 Quick Ideas to Manage Your Time

by Robert E. Dittmer

Overview

Time management: We’re doing it wrong. Now discover real-world, tried-and-tested solutions to free yourself from the frenzy!

Too many of us live our lives trying to shoehorn our many activities and responsibilities into too few time slots available. Managing our calendars and keeping a close eye on the clock becomes an all-consuming chore in itself—and the stress can cause our job performance and relationships to suffer.

This book presents 151 quick and easy ways to more effectively meet these challenges in our daily lives. Take a breath, and benefit from the ideas and hard-earned wisdom of people just like you—among them:

• Start Your Day the Night Before

• Undercommit and Overdeliver

• Organize Your Workspace

• Block Contingency Time Every Day

• Discourage “War Stories”

• Use Copy and Paste

• Fight Spam with an E-mail Blocker

• Don’t Check Your Portfolio Constantly, and many more

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781601639134
Publisher:	Red Wheel/Weiser
Publication date:	06/23/2023
Series:	151 Quick Ideas
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	186
File size:	721 KB

About the Author

Robert E. Dittmer, APR, has spent 30 years in business and government service where he has seen almost every kind of time waster you can imagine. He has served as a Director of Media Relations for NATO and the U.S. Army and has owned and operated public relations agencies for more than 15 years, and has special expertise in emergency and crisis communication planning and execution. He currently is an accredited public relations consultant and faculty member with the Indiana University School of Journalism. He and his wife Sue live in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

Getting Started Is the Toughest Step

Just as people become addicted to drugs, food, cigarettes, and other such pastimes, people get addicted to the go-go lifestyles we all seem to live these days. My neighbor with three teenagers is constantly speaking proudly about her ability to manage multiple schedules and tasks and get it all done. Unfortunately, in the next breath, she also complains about never having enough time, about her day being totally fragmented to the point she can never concentrate on anything fully, and about never being able to spend "quality time" with her family.

It wasn't until recently that she came to understand, unfortunately the hard way, that she needed to better control her time schedule instead of allowing it to control her. You see, the stress finally got to her and she became severely ill — the result, according to the doctor, of being on the go too much. Of course, not only did she suffer the illness (she has recovered nicely, thank you), but so too did her family suffer.

Assignment

Decide to get started evaluating YOUR lifestyle before you too have to go through an event the way my neighbor did. Take a look at your daily schedule and you'll discover not only how hectic it is, but also places where you can save time and trouble.

And it did not need to happen!

She used this "event" to analyze her lifestyle and daily routine and decided she needed to get a better handle on it. She now confesses to being a "reformed" time-a-holic (her words). But it was too dramatic of an event in her life to bring her to this realization. Many of us cannot afford such a dramatic event. So just as an alcoholic does, it's time to assess — or reassess — our priorities.

Epilogue

My neighbor used this illness as a warning and as a new beginning. She evaluated her lifestyle and time management and began anew managing her time better. She reports that her health is better and her time with her family has increased, and yet she still accomplishes everything that is important to her every day.

CHAPTER 2

Consider a Time Study

Assignment

Consider this simple time study technique. It's not fancy and doesn't require you to have any assets you don't already have. But you will learn a great deal from it.

The first thing my neighbor did to change her life was conduct a time study. No, she did not call it that, but that is what she did. Once she was able, she started a logbook of all of her daily activities. She recorded everything she did every day for two weeks. All the details. Everything she did, including when she went to the rest room, and who stopped by when, and the gory details of every meeting and appointment.

She kept times on all of these so she could go back later and find out what took what amount of time and, in many cases, because she kept excellent details, why it took that much time.

After two weeks, she had enough data. She spent a few hours making notes on what she learned as she reviewed her logbook. This was her analysis. Not scientific, no, but very useful. She learned a lot about how she spent her time.

Epilogue

There are companies who require their employees to keep time study records so the company as a whole can examine time usage and make adjustments to its systems and procedures. If it works for them, this simple mechanism can work for you. CH2

CHAPTER 3

Assess Your Problem Areas

Now that you've conducted the time study, and are armed with pages of information and notes, let's see what you have learned. Group your activities into logical groupings: administrative duties, meetings, appointments, routine tasks, non-routine tasks, and so forth.

Now see what you can learn. Are you surprised at some of the time? Does it seem excessive? Take a look at your notes for those areas. What can you learn about what causes the use of time? Are there things you can control? Are there areas you can make changes that might reduce the amount of time you spend on that area?

Assignment

For every area you define as a problem, start looking for ways to fix the problem. Sections of this book will help.

What you will find are places where some simple changes, many outlined in this book, will make major differences in total time spent on tasks. You cannot fix anything until you know where to look. Now you do.

Epilogue

Everyone has places and activities that use more time than they should. We just don't know where they are or what they are. This process leads to solutions.

CHAPTER 4

Establish Clear Goals for Your Job

As you look at your job, one of the things you need to figure out is what you expect of that job in light of your career. As we all now know, we will not spend our lives in any one job. Probably not even in one company. Perhaps not even in one career field! At least, that's what the Department of Labor statistics are currently telling us.

So what is it that you expect from this job? Set some goals for your own personal and professional growth. These goals should be made in light of your long-range aspirations. These goals should logically help lead to the accomplishment of those long-range aspirations.

If your long-range goal is to be a senior officer of public relations and communications in a major company, then what do you need to accomplish to get there?

* You need a degree in public relations.

* You need professional association membership.

* You need professional certification.

* You need a graduate degree.

* You will need progressive jobs in public relations in a number of sectors over a 20-year period with increasing responsibilities.

* You may need an industry specialization.

With these goals in mind, what objectives should you set for your current job? Look at that "progressive jobs" and "increasing responsibilities" stuff. Can you get that from this job? Then establish those as objectives. Do you need to start preparing for professional certification? Then set an objective and set aside time.

Assignment

Set career and job goals. Your own goals and objectives, not your boss's or your company's. Then work to achieve those goals and objectives within the context of your current job.

You should establish clear objectives that you want to accomplish for every job you will ever hold. Then work to accomplish those objectives. Plan your job activities, and your time, accordingly.

Epilogue

If we don't have goals and objectives, we simply wander through life aimlessly. And aimless is likely to lead somewhere we don't want to end up.

CHAPTER 5

Write Down Your Goals and Objectives

It is not enough to just establish some career goals and job objectives. You need to write them down and refer to them routinely. I went through this process many years ago at the urging of my then-boss. I can't thank him enough now for putting me through that exercise.

Assignment

Write down your career and life goals and the objectives you have for your current job. Keep them somewhere you can refer to on a routine, perhaps monthly, basis. Keep updating them as you move from job to job.

But I wrote down those goals and objectives in clear language and have referred to them routinely ever since. No, they have not stayed exactly the same. Some of the goals have been modified, and, of course, I created new objectives for every job I ever held.

But because I wrote them down, I have a clear record 25 years later of how I came to be on the road I am on today. Writing them down also gave me a life document to refer to when faced with major career and life decisions, such as when to change jobs, or when to consider certain activities at certain times.

These written records I still have in the original notebook I first used to create them. They are valuable life tools.

Epilogue

Written records allow you to do some decision-making about your jobs and your career — sometimes even your life. And they help you know what you want from every job and what kind of time you should spend on those personal objectives in each job.

CHAPTER 6

Set Clear Goals for Time Use

Armed with your life and career goals, and your job objectives, you can now begin to create some expectation of the time you should spend on them. Look over your job objectives and allocate time every week or month for achieving these objectives.

This also helps you make decisions about which additional duties you might take on and which activities you take on after work, or in addition to your work.

For example, one of my goals was to become involved in a professional association of my peers. A couple of jobs ago, I set a job objective to do just that. And I established time every month to be involved in that association. It helped me orient my time both on the job and after the job to my long-range career goals.

Assignment

Using your job objectives for your current job, establish some time for achieving those objectives. It might be time during the workday, or time after work, or time from both areas. But establish how you plan to use your time to get these objectives accomplished.

A very useful device.

Epilogue

Not only will this process help you achieve your life and career goals, but it will also help you orient yourself to the job and plan for the time you use on the job.

CHAPTER 7

Set Daily and Weekly Objectives

With these time allocations, establish some daily and weekly objectives that involve time working to achieve them. Your weekly objectives might be quite modest, but, taken over weeks and months, they will add up and lead to achieving those job objectives and lead to meeting career goals.

The key point here is planning to allocate time to spend on the key things in your life. This can, and often should, include personal goals and objectives that involve family. Don't forget your obligations to them.

Assignment

Establish some overall time objectives each day and week to spend on achieving your job objectives. This will make certain you will get to those goals you set for your life and career.

Epilogue

Planning for your future and for your success is the name of the game here. If you set aside time, you'll get there. If you only use time for these things as it comes available, you'll find yourself out of time every time and you'll never get there.

CHAPTER 8

Start Your Day the Night Before

The best way to get off to a good start in the morning is to do it the night before!

Yes. Prepare for your day the night before by doing some simple things that will help you begin your day efficiently and effectively. It's a simple thing to do.

First, at the end of each day prior to leaving for home, review your schedule for the next day. Determine the major activities and tasks you will be accomplishing the next day and do any preparation that might be appropriate: retrieve the necessary files, send any coordinating messages, read any materials you need to consume in preparation.

Assignment

Start your day the night before by making any preparations you need to then. You'll begin your day fresh and prepared, not behind the schedule already.

The idea is to make all your preparations for the next day the night before. Then, when you walk in you are ready to start, effectively, efficiently, and with no delays for preparation. Your preparation is already done.

Epilogue

This technique has the added advantage of preparing you psychologically for the day and giving your day a great start.

CHAPTER 9

Don't Procrastinate

I'll write more about this later in the book, but one of the most time-consuming and time-challenging problems many people face is procrastination.

Procrastination is putting things off instead of doing them right away. It's waiting until the last minute to complete a task or project because it isn't exciting or isn't interesting. Or perhaps it's just a project that you arenot prepared for, don't know enough about, or is threatening in some way.

Assignment

Do some self-analysis. Determine if you are a procrastinator. If so, stop. If you need help, pay particular attention to Ideas 115–123 of this book.

Though not terribly damaging in the big picture of things, some studies have shown procrastination to cost a person twice as much time as the task should take.

Start thinking about this now. Are you one of those people? Do you put things off until the last minute? If so, you are costing yourself lots of time, and managing your time badly.

Epilogue

Procrastination is terribly costly in time and efficiency. It's one of the most significant causes of lost time and overtime.

CHAPTER 10

Pareto's Principle: 80–20

Okay, so who's this Pareto guy and why do we care?

Vilfredo Pareto was an Italian economist. He observed that, in any give endeavor, 80 percent of the rewards we receive come from only 20 percent of the effort. He's telling us that only 20 percent of the work we do will lead us to most of the rewards in life.

Assignment

As you think about prioritizing your work, as you will in the next few ideas, remember Pareto's Principle.

That's pretty depressing! We will be rewarded for only 20 percent of the work we do? Well, not quite, but most of our reward does come from a very small percentage of our work. So what does it mean to us? How do we use this information?

Knowing this allows us to prioritize our work appropriately. We will want to put the things that we believe will bring us the proper rewards — personal, professional, organizational — high on our priority list and everything else lower.

Epilogue

Let's face it: though it all needs to get done, the stuff that we are rewarded for should be the most important stuff we do and should get priority for our attention.

CHAPTER 11

The ABCs of Prioritizing

The first step in getting control of your time management is to prioritize your work. If we put the stuff that brings us reward first, how do we organize this?

It's not brain surgery, but there is a simple system to help. The system just asks you to organize all your work into three categories, from high to low priority. We'll call them Category A, B, and C. A is high priority, B is medium priority, and C is low priority.

Now go ahead and set up your prioritization system and do this routinely. The next few ideas will walk you through what fits in each category.

Assignment

Regularly prioritize your tasks, especially when you make up your To Do List. Use this ABC system.

Epilogue

Not everything is high priority. Not everything is really important. And not everything has to be done today. This system allows you to organize effectively around the things that are important.

CHAPTER 12

The A in ABC

The priority items are the must do's. These are things that meet some or all of the following criteria:

* Not doing them will get you fired.

* Doing them fit the 20-percent rule of Pareto's Principle.

* They are things that have a due date near today.

* They are things that match your personal and professional goals or objectives.

* They are assigned by the boss.

Your criteria might be different, but there will be criteria that will dictate that some things need to be done NOW. That is your A List. Things that take priority over everything else. Things that are important. Things that have consequences.

Assignment

Prioritize your tasks and duties. Decide which are A priority and put them at the top of your To Do List. Manage them closely and get them done. They are important.

Epilogue

Use your To Do List to manage these items. Remember, if it's on the A List, it's important to someone important. That might be you or it might be your boss. It doesn't matter. Just don't make everything an A List item. Then the system has no value.

CHAPTER 13

The B in ABC

The B priorities are things that need to be done but are not necessarily of major consequence or not due soon. Examine your tasks and organize the B List. It should be a group of tasks that need to get completed but either are not important enough to get done today or tomorrow, or simply don't need to get done soon. Perhaps they don't need to get done until a week from now.

Put your B List on your To Do List below the A List items. But don't think you can forget about these tasks. Many will simply move up into the A List over time as their due dates get closer.

Assignment

Look at your remaining tasks after the A List is determined. Cull out those things that simply aren't due yet or have lesser consequences. They may not provide the potential for reward or there's some other reason why they are not as important as A List items, but they still need to be accomplished. Get those B items on your To Do List.

So as you have time, work on some B List items along with the A List. That's why they go on your To Do List in the first place: to be managed and fit in when you can.

(Continues…)

---

Excerpted from "151 Quick Ideas to Manage Your Time"
by .
Copyright © 2006 Robert E. Dittmer, APR.
Excerpted by permission of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Table of Contents

How to Use This Book,
Introduction: This Book Can Save You Time!,
1. Getting Started Is the Toughest Step,
2. Consider a Time Study,
3. Assess Your Problem Areas,
4. Establish Clear Goals for Your Job,
5. Write Down Your Goals and Objectives,
6. Set Clear Goals for Time Use,
7. Set Daily and Weekly Objectives,
8. Start Your Day the Night Before,
9. Don't Procrastinate,
10. Pareto's Principle: 80–20,
11. The ABCs of Prioritizing,
12. The A in ABC,
13. The B in ABC,
14. The C in ABC,
15. Write Down Tasks as You Receive Them,
16. Set Deadlines for Assignments,
17. Under-Commit and Over-Deliver,
18. Keep Score,
19. Make a To Do List,
20. Use the To Do List!,
21. Share the To Do List,
22. Update the To Do List,
23. Organize Your Workspace: General,
24. Organize Your Workspace: The Desktop,
25. Organize Your Workspace: Paper Files,
26. Organize Your Workspace: Folders,
27. Organize Your Workspace: Electronic Files,
28. Organize Your Workspace: Contacts,
29. Organize Your Workspace: Cull Your Files,
30. Handle Your Mail Efficiently,
31. Use a Suspense File,
32. Keep Only One Planner/Scheduler,
33. What to Keep — and What Not to Keep,
34. What to Do With Draft Documents,
35. Handle Business Cards,
36. Know Your Best Working Hours,
37. Make Critical Appointments at Your Best Times,
38. Group Similar Tasks,
39. Put Up a Fence,
40. Block Contingency Time Every Day,
41. Scheduling: A 5-Step Process,
42. Scheduling: Step 1,
43. Scheduling: Step 2,
44. Scheduling: Step 3,
45. Scheduling: Step 4,
46. Scheduling: Step 5,
47. Use an Electronic Calendar,
48. Make the Electronic Calendar Work,
49. Attend Outside Meetings,
50. Minimize Interruptions: Set Office Hours,
51. The Second-Greatest Time-Killer,
52. Handle Voice Mail,
53. Your Voice-Mail Message,
54. Use Voice Mail as a Call Screener,
55. Use Caller ID Effectively,
56. Handle Inbound Phone Calls,
57. Handle Outbound Phone Calls,
58. Keep Written Records of Phone Calls,
59. Speaking Is Faster Than Writing Memos,
60. Handle Your Paper Mail,
61. Handle Your E-mail: When,
62. Handle Your E-mail: Brevity,
63. Handle Your E-mail: Files,
64. Handle Your E-mail: Fight Spam,
65. E-mail: Discourage the Jokers,
66. E-mail: Organize Your Folders,
67. E-mail: Write Clear and Direct Subject Lines,
68. Copy and Paste Are Two of Your Best Friends,
69. Handle Office Visits,
70. Handle Paper Files,
71. Magazines: Cull and Kill,
72. Use a "Reading File",
73. Create a Contact List,
74. Use a PDA,
75. Make It Really Save Time — Not Use More Time,
76. Keep Software Current,
77. Keep Your E-Desktop Clean,
78. Establish a Clean Filing System,
79. Make Certain Your Computer Is Operating as Speed,
80. Make Certain Your Internet Connection Is at Speed,
81. Virus Protection: Not an Option,
82. More on PDAs,
83. That Cell Phone!,
84. Who Knows Your Cell Phone Number?,
85. Cell Phone: Set to Stun,
86. To BlueTooth or Not to BlueTooth,
87. Is Text Messaging for You?,
88. Get Your Own Printer!,
89. Get Computer Training to Get More Efficient,
90. The Third-Greatest Time-Killer,
91. They Can't be Avoided — But They CAN Be Efficient!,
92. Meeting Timing — When Is Best?,
93. Put a Time Limit on Meetings,
94. Have an Agenda for Meetings,
95. Use the Agenda — Time the Elements,
96. Distribute the Agenda in Advance,
97. Train Yourself on Conducting Meetings,
98. Train Participants and Staff on Efficient Meetings,
99. Attend Only the Meetings You Must,
100. The Greatest Time Killer,
101. Communicate Your Work Style,
102. Adjust to Your Boss,
103. Find a Mentor or Coach,
104. Control Interactions With Others,
105. The Geography of the Office,
106. Desk Placement,
107. Chair Placement,
108. Relationships to Windows,
109. Discourage "War Stories",
110. Stand and Be Counted,
111. Learn to Say No,
112. Learn to Delegate: Discover What Your Staff Can Handle,
113. Learn to Delegate: Learn Where Others Can Handle Better,
114. Learn to Delegate: Train Your Staff to Handle,
115. Recognize That Procrastination Is a Habit — Work to Break It,
116. Don't Put It Off, Wimpy!,
117. If It's on the To Do List, Do It,
118. Commit to the Job — or Delegate It,
119. "It's Not My Job, Man!",
120. Beat the Fear of the Unknown,
121. Overcome the Insecurity of a Lack of Knowledge,
122. If You are Not Interested, Get Interested,
123. If You Don't Like the Task, Do It and It Will Go Away,
124. Schedule Travel Trips in Batches,
125. Use Travel Time to Learn,
126. Use Travel Time to Communicate,
127. Use Travel Time to Unwind,
128. Use Travel Time to Prepare,
129. Use Airplane Time to Catch Up,
130. Use Travel Time to Read,
131. Set Personal and Family Goals,
132. Make Certain You Leave Time for Personal Goals,
133. Schedule Down Time During the Day,
134. Take Brief Breaks,
135. Don't Overwork Yourself,
136. Schedule Medical and Dental Visits Well in Advance,
137. Schedule Medical and Dental Visits for Early Morning,
138. Grocery Trips: Buy Bulk,
139. Organize the Closet,
140. Don't Make Special Trips — Combine Them,
141. Organize and Systematize Your Morning Procedure,
142. Train the Family,
143. Reward Yourself,
144. Don't Be a Perfectionist,
145. Home Communication: Are You Over-Connected?,
146. TV Time Sucks Away From People Time,
147. Control Children's Access to TV,
148. Control Children's Access to the Internet,
149. Don't Check Your Portfolio Every Day,
150. Schedule Vacations — and Take Them!,
151. Try to Live Close to Work,
Index,
About the Author,