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100 Great
Time Management Ideas
Patrick Forsyth
ISBN: 978-0-462-09943-9
IDEA 1: See where
times goes now
Any improvement you may be able to make to your time utilisation
must surely presuppose that you know where time goes in the way that
you work now. Most people define this inaccurately unless they check
it out.
The idea
There are two ways to check current practice. The first
is to estimate it, guesstimate it might be a better
phrase. This is most easily
done in percentage terms on a simple pie chart. Decide on the main
categories of work that define your job and divide the pie chart
into segments. Such categories might include:
Writing
Telephoning
Meetings
Planning
And could be much more personal:
so in my case they would span specific activities such
as conducting training and writing
books.
The second is to use a time log to obtain a much more accurate
picture – literally
recording what you do through the day and doing so for at least
a week, longer if you can (the chore of noting things
down takes only
a few seconds, but must be done punctiliously).
Few, if any, people keep a log without surprising themselves, and
the surprises can be either that much more time is spent in some
areas than you think, or that certain things take up less time
than you think (or they deserve) – mainly the former. Some obvious
areas for review tend to come to mind as a result. In practice
Again using the simple pie chart, it can be useful
as a second stage of this review to list what you
would ideally like the time breakdown
to be. This puts a clear picture in your mind of what you are working
towards. Such a picture might even be worth setting out before
you read on here.
All this gives you something to aim towards and will tell you progressively – as
you take action – whether that action is having a positive
effect. If all the review points in this book are looked at alongside
this information then you can see more clearly whether you are able
to take action to improve things, and whether the points refer to
areas that are critical for you.
The 99 other great sales ideas
featured in this book:
2. Plan, work - work, plan
3. Setting clear objectives
4. Speculate to accumulate
5. Using Pareto’s Law
6. Tackling the tyranny of the urgent versus the important
7. Give clear instructions
8. Avoid “cherry picking”
9. Use a “document parking” system
10. Aim at influencing particular result areas
11. Make use of checklists
12. Use abstracts
13. The best assistant
14. Communicate with your secretary
15. Be brief
16.Have a clear diary system
17. What kind of system?
18. Good, better, best … acceptable
19. Trust the computer?
20.Don’t waste time
21. Thinking ahead
22. Good, better, best … acceptable
23.Plan ahead
24. Avoiding a common confusion
25. “Everbody’s gone surfing, surfing …”
26. And let’s send a copy to …
27. Telephone efficiency
28. A little help from some “special” friends
29. Beware favourites
30. Don’t write
31. Avoid purposeless meetings
32. Handling telephone interruptions
33. Keep papers safe and tidy
34. Do not put it in writing
35. A magic word
36. The productive breather
37. Write faster
38. A cosmic danger
39. M orning, noon or night
40. Telephone tactics
41. Time to stay put
42. When being regular is a problem
43. Time to get noticed
44. The most time saving object in your office
45. What I meant to say …
46. Avoiding meeting mayhem
47. In the beginning – or not?
48. The conflict/time equation
49. Too many head chefs
50. An idea that generates ideas
51.Maintain attention
52.Programme your appointments
53. But I know where everything is
54. One thing at a time – together
55. At the bottom of the pile
56. Resolve to “blitz the bits”
57. “If I had wanted it tomorrow I would have asked for it
tomorrow”
58.Save it!
59. Where you are may be as important as what you do
60.Swap some tasks
61. Food for thought
62. Less in touch, more time
63. In times of (travel) trouble
64. While you were away
65. While you were away
66. I was just passing
67. Encourage and help others
68. To meet or not to meet …
69. Categorise to maintain the balance
70. On occasion, let’s talk
71. Well spotted
72. Fighting the plague
73. Let the plant grow
74. Over to you
75. Know when to leave well alone
76. Is that the time?
77. Making it clear
78. Soldiering on
79. Driven to distractions
80. A clear agenda=a shorter meeting
81. The most time saving phrase in the English language
82. Work to rule!
83. A balancing act
84. Avoid duplicating information unnecessarily
85. The right methodology?
86. Make skills save time
87. Timing and meetings
88. Plan your journey
89. Working the plan
90. Allow for the unexpected
91. So cat’s can play
92. Coping with IT change
93. Time to tell a white lie?
94. On the move
95. Never compete with interruptions
96. Meetings: where to hold them.
97. A time aware team
98. More possibilities
99. Focus on what achieves results
100. Follow Sinatra
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