CHAPTER 1: HOW SUCCESSFUL ARE YOU AS A TIME MANAGER?

One thing that is immutable in this world is the number of hours we have in a day. The challenge for the business professional is to make the best use of the time that they spend at work, so that they are both efficient (doing things right) and effective (doing the right things).

I am sure we all go to work with good intentions, but many of us fail to achieve the key tasks of the day. Distractions, competing priorities and the sheer volume of work can all mean that projects slip, objectives and KPIs are not met and stress levels rise within the workplace.

So how do you ensure that you achieve your workload? How do you put in place a system to ensure better organisation and achievement of tasks?

Recognise where you are now

The first step in any improvement action is to recognise how effective you currently are as a time manager. How well organised are you?

Here is a simple self-assessment checklist that can help you do this. Score a ‘Yes’ if you generally do the following and a ‘No’ if you generally do not. Be honest with yourself!

Your score

To see how good you are at time management and organisation, look back at your answers.

For questions 1 to 5, award yourself 10 points for each ‘Yes’ and 1 point for each ‘No’.

For questions 6 to 10, award yourself 10 points for each ‘No’ and 1 point for each ‘Yes’.

Then total your scores.

Score 75–100: You are a good time manager.

You are an extremely well-organised professional who knows that good working habits save time and reduce stress.

Score 40–74: Your time management could be improved.

The way you organise your work may sometimes create problems for yourself and others. Greater time management and self-discipline would help you achieve more at work.

Score 39 or less: You are a poor time manager.

You are wasting an awful lot of time by failing to organise yourself and your work. As a result, you are probably not achieving your objectives and may feel that you are working under undue pressure and stress.

Improving your time management and organisation

The following diagram outlines the process that you can adopt to make improvements in how effective and efficient you are at work:

Effective time management involves three key steps:

1. Establishing responsibilities, priorities and objectives.
2. Eliminating unnecessary and inappropriate activities.
3. Planning and scheduling the use of your time on a daily and monthly basis.

The chapters in this book will provide you with handy tips and advice to improve your time management and organisation, based on these three principles.

Your motivation to improve your time management

If you really want to improve the way you manage your time, you must be willing to change the way you work. Poor time management is invariably the result of bad habits. You won’t get anywhere unless you admit this to yourself. The reality is that habits are easier to make than they are to break. If you repeat a behaviour often enough, it becomes a habit. There is an old saying: ‘Bad habits are like a comfortable bed – easy to get into, but hard to get out of’.

If you are a poor time manager, you need to replace poor habits with better ones. Select an aspect of your time management that you feel motivated to change, and focus on this. It is reckoned that it takes at least a month to form new habits, so, in applying the techniques in this book, you will need to be determined and persevere.

Visualise the new, organised you. See it, hear it, feel it. Hear the compliments you will receive when you get things done. Feel how great it is to make this change.

You may find it useful to discuss with someone the changes you are going to make in the way you manage your time. This could be with a colleague, coach or close friend. Use them to help you review progress, to celebrate success and to keep you focused on your time management improvement goal.