HOW TO

MMAANNAAGGEE YYOOUURR TTIIMMEE

Written by

Geoff Rutter

Former Youth For Christ International Training Director

February 2006

CONTENTS

PAGE 1 Introduction 3

2 Our responsibility 4

3 A suggested time allocation 6

4 Your time problems 10

5 Some observations 11

6 A parable 12

7 Key Result Areas 13

8 Know where your time is going 16

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9 Consolidating your discretionary time 18

10 Four questions 18

11 When peers/subordinates ask for your time 19

12 How to deal with timewasters 20

13 The telephone 20

14 Meetings 21

15 Delegation 22

16 The desk & paperwork 23

17 Priorities 26

18 Taking time to think 28

19 Goals 29

20 Purpose in life 31

21 Other helps 32

22 Time Management in 4-D 32

23 Life Management 33

24 Moving towards the future 34

25 Action Plan form 35

26 Daily “Do” sheet 36

INTRODUCTION Most of what I have learned in the area of “Time Management” has been through hearing & reading

Dr Ted Engstrom, former Chairman of the Board of Youth For Christ International. If you can ever

find any of his books (most of which are out of print by now), grab them – they’re like gold. In

presenting this offering to the noble men & women of YFC in Africa, it’s with a deep sense of

gratitude to Dr Ted that I do so.

The first few pages here are conceptual & are taken from my 1995 “book” ‘Leadership &

Management: What the Bible Says’ (if you would like a copy, I will e-mail it to you with pleasure).

Beginning on page 10, we get more practical. Treat these pages as a “buffet” – take what you want

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& can make work for you, but don’t disdain the rest, which others might find useful.

My only plea is that you use this stuff, including the forms provided (eg at the end). GEOFF RUTTER Johannesburg, February 2006

"Make the best use of your time" (Ephesians 5:16, Phillips)

OUR RESPONSIBILITY Managing our time, which really resolves to managing ourselves, is a very serious responsibility.

Peter Drucker (probably the world’s most effective management consultant, who died in November

2005 aged 95) has said: "Unless he manages himself effectively, no amount of ability, skill,

experience or knowledge will make an effective executive"1. This is not only accepted in business but

it is a Biblical emphasis too (while we must be very careful not to regard the Bible as a management

textbook, its clear challenge to us is to be wise & effective stewards of our time). The verse prior to

the one under our chapter heading - "Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise"

- clearly implies that it is a wise person who "makes the most of every opportunity" (Ephesians 5:15 &

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16, NIV). The KJV of Ephesians 5:16 has "redeem the time", reflecting the term for "buying out of the

slave market" in the Greek. In a sense time becomes ours by purchase, and there is a price to be

paid for its highest employment. The link between time management and wisdom is also found in

Psalm 90:12, where Moses prays: "Teach us to number our days aright" (i.e. to appreciate how little

time we really have in this life) "that we may gain a heart of wisdom". "Certainly wise people know

that time is a precious commodity. All of us have the same amount of time at our disposal, with sixty

minutes in every hour and twenty-four hours in every day. None of us can stretch time. But wise

people use it to the fullest advantage"2.

There are other places in Scripture where we are encouraged to make the most of the resources God

has given us - the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) and the Parable of the Minas (Luke

19:12-27) are some.

SOME OT EXAMPLES 1. It is a well-accepted business principle that time is money, not only because a person is paid per

unit of time given to a company, but also because the skills, experience and knowledge he or she has

gained have a certain value in the market-place. However, the principle was in use long before

business discovered it! In Exodus 21 God gives Moses laws dealing with interpersonal quarrels and

injuries. In verse 19, the assailant is commanded to "pay the injured man for the loss of his time", i.e.

his loss of income resulting from enforced idleness. Here is the original "Workmens Compensation"!

2. There is a graphic example of fulfilment of the do it now principle in Numbers 1. God commands

Moses to take a military census of the Israelites. That command is received "on the first day of the

second month" (v 1) and is obeyed the same day (v 18)! Moses was busy and under pressure, yet

did not procrastinate the important tasks. Oswald Sanders' advice is: "A most helpful method of

overcoming a built-in tendency to procrastinate is to set deadlines for oneself for reading a book,

writing a difficult letter or article, doing a task, and then steadfastly refusing to overrun them"3.

THE PRIORITIES OF JESUS While the above isolated examples are instructive, the overwhelming thrust of Scripture in the area of

Time Management/stewardship of our time is towards allocating our time correctly. The Bible does

not tell us to "make a list of things to do today", or "use a diary", or "filter out interruptions", or "find

your optimum attention span". Rather, it gives us several helps in determining our PRIORITIES, and

no better model can be found than Jesus Himself. "He divided His energy among the many and the

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few, in line with His strategy of saving the sheep (the crowds) and building-up the under-shepherds

(the disciples). In Matthew's Gospel we see the pattern. He mentions Jesus' contacts with His

disciples roughly twice as often as contacts with any other group. At a quick count there are fifty-four

to fifty-five references to contacts and relations with His disciples, compared to twenty-seven

mentions of encounters with His opponents, while instances describing His mingling with crowds or

dealing with individuals occur an equal number of times - twenty-one or so each"4.

Someone has counted that the Gospels record only 52 days out of the life of Jesus. Yet at the end of

His life He could confidently say to His Father, "I have finished the work you gave me to do" (John

17:4). Three years of 24-hour days, though short, were sufficient for Him to accomplish His mission.

"Our Lord sets the perfect example of the strategic use of time. He moved through life with measured

tread, never in a hurry, though always thronged and often harassed by demanding crowds"5. (I have

often wondered how He would have handled the crazy city traffic of today!). The Gospels are replete

with stories of people interrupting Him, yet He never allowed them to disturb His serenity nor to

distract Him from His Father's plan for Him. And He maintained a sense of urgency throughout - "As

long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work"

(John 9:4).

A SUGGESTED TIME ALLOCATION FOR CHRISTIANS In moving towards a practical set of priorities for busy Christian leaders, it is necessary first to

distinguish between demand time and discretionary time. If you are employed or studying, then

your company or college requires time from you that cannot be negotiated. You are not in a position

to say "no" to your boss when he asks for a meeting with you; if you do not give your best in your

studies you are possibly going to fail. Such "demand" time can occupy up to 75% of your day, i.e. the

pressure on you to manage your time effectively is intensified, as it's pressure on that 25% of your

day over which you have "discretion". How then should we allocate our discretionary or available

time? Here's a suggested order:

1. TIME FOR GOD For the many Christian business people and leaders who get hyped up by and

hooked on all their activity, the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42 is instructive. Mary "sat at

the Lord's feet listening to what He said", while her sister Martha "was distracted by all the

preparations that had to be made". In response to Martha's angry demand for Jesus to intervene, He

reminded her that

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1) Only one thing is really necessary, i.e. to sit at His feet; and

2) It is something we can choose to do.

We are talking here about the leader's Quiet Time and private Bible Study and prayer life. These are

absolutely essential in maintaining our cutting edge in Christian work. Beware "the tyranny of the

urgent"6 - "the time for receiving marching orders is so important that Satan will do everything he can

to squeeze it out". Listen to John Stott - "It is often said that Jesus was always available to people.

This is not true. He was not. There were times when He sent the crowds away. He refused to allow

the urgent to displace the important. Regularly He withdrew from the pressures and the glare of his

public ministry, in order to seek his Father in solitude and replenish his reserves of strength"7. You

and I should follow his example.

As one Pastor put it: "Tuesday is my day with God. I have to spend some time with my boss to keep

this job and he calls me into conference each Tuesday. He takes a dim view of me answering the

phones and appearing at social functions on conference day. Your boss wouldn't like it if you ran out

of the room while he was trying to talk to you. Mine doesn't either".

We are talking too about prioritising our Christian service - I strongly recommend that you involve

yourself in the life of your local church and a maximum of one other organisation. Someone has said

that the expression "too many irons in the fire" has lost its meaning for many of us, because the fire

has turned into ashes - we are so busy in so many spheres of service that we are busy starving our

spiritual lives to death.

2. TIME FOR YOUR FAMILY Much has been written on the modern threat to the basic unit of

society and on the Christian's rightful response. And correctly so, for statistics show that the average

father spends a matter of a few seconds, not minutes, per day in quality interaction with his children.

A well-known story with a moral runs like this:

Question: "What's more important, my family or the Lord's work?"

Answer: "Your family is the Lord's work"

To meet this challenge, it is essential to plan and implement substantial time for doing things together

as a family, and not just fulfilling our interests but theirs as well.

3. TIME FOR YOURSELF This should include: a) PHYSICAL - time for leisure and recreation. We have only one body, which is the temple of the

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Holy Spirit, and no complete transplant is available -so it requires care! In Exodus 34, Moses has

gone back up the mountain to hear God speak again. In reiteration of the previously-given law about

the one in seven Sabbath, He commands "even during the ploughing season and harvest you must

rest" (v 21). If we don't come apart, we'll come apart! Here is an appropriate little poem8:

"My candle burns at both its ends,

It will not last the night;

But ah, my foes, and ah, my friends,

It gives a wondrous light"

b) MENTAL - time for reading and studying widely. John Wesley is reported to have told his

ministers, "Either read or get out of the ministry". David Livingstone utilised his time so well that, in

spite of working in a mill for fourteen hours a day, he mastered Latin and could read Horace and

Virgil with ease before he was sixteen. By the time he was 27, he had qualified in both medicine and

theology. Developing our minds should be a lifelong process, not least in the light of a current

"knowledge cycle" (the rate at which the world's store of knowledge is doubled) of between five and

eight years9. The type and size of a leader's library says something about his or her mental capacities

and discipline....

c) GOAL FOCUS - time to set and pursue some personal goals. All our busy activity needs to be

concentrated towards a few specific, measurable goals. And none of us can have fully learned the

lesson of saying "no" to things that lure us into yet another activity trap, that conflict with our priorities

and that hinder us from achieving our goals. Mark 1:32-38 records Jesus pursuing His priorities - He

had worked late into the night "healing many who had various diseases. He also drove out many

demons", but was up "very early in the morning" to pray. The disciples find Him after a long search

and exclaim, "Everyone is looking for you!" But Jesus was praying, in spite of the expectations of

needy people. John Alexander's advice is: "Busy people probably should say no automatically unless

they are certain the Holy Spirit wants them to say yes"10.

4. TIME FOR OTHERS Last, but by no means least, is the time we need to spend with friends, both

Christians and unbelievers. We are social beings and need such interaction with other people. Time

should also be allocated to encouraging and affirming new Christians in their faith - if I hear of a new

believer in my church or circle of contacts I should take the initiative in teaching him or her some

Christian life basics, not assuming that someone else will do it.

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ACTION TIME 1 Do you need to re-allocate the priorities of your life? Then take some immediate steps.

2 For you to think about:

a) Next time you offer the excuse "I didn't have time", what you are really saying is, "it

wasn't important enough to do it".

b) People who have half an hour to spend usually spend it with someone who hasn't.

c) Money lost can be replaced but time lost is gone forever.

d) We will never "find" time for anything; rather, we need to "make" time to do what is

important.

3 Some brief but potent Time Management tips:

a) Plan tomorrow before you leave office tonight

b) Catch yourself asking this question several times a day: "What is the best use of my

time right now?", then implement the answer

c) Calculate the cost per minute of your next staff meeting

NOTES: 1 Ted Engstrom and Alec Mackenzie, "Managing Your Time", Zondervan 1967, p 41

2 John Stott, "God's New Society", IVP 1979, p 202

3 J Oswald Sanders, "Spiritual Leadership", MMS 1967, p 93

4 Leighton Ford, "Transforming Leadership", IVP 1991, p 164

5 Sanders, op cit, p 88

6 Title of Charles Hummel's excellent booklet, published by IVCF 1967

7 John Stott, "Issues Facing Christians Today", Marshalls 1984, p 338

8 World Vision Intl., Christian Leadership Letter, August 1984

9 Institute for Futures Research, Stellenbosch University

10 John Alexander, "Managing Our Work", IVP 1975, p 28

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YOUR BIGGEST TIME PROBLEMS Before you proceed any further: Briefly define your biggest time management problem(s): When you have finished working through this book, record your response to this: I am going to take the following action(s) to resolve the above problem(s):

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SOME OBSERVATIONS

1 Time is slower for the: patient than for the dentist congregation than for the preacher student than for the teacher convict than for the warder

- Dr Ted Engstrom 2 “Yesterday is a cancelled cheque; tomorrow is a promissory note”

3 “Time never takes time off” (Augustine) 4 “No hand can make the clock strike for me the hours that are passed” (Byron)

5 Time properly understood & managed is one of our best friends; poorly

appreciated & mismanaged, it is a formidable enemy

6 Everyone in the world has the same amount of time 7 Time is money (by virtue of the worth of a particular person’s time in financial

terms, eg the chief executive of a company is paid more than a clerk, thus his

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time should not be spent on minor things). Note that we speak of spending

time……

8 Time is inelastic (a finite quantity), irreplaceable (once it’s gone, it’s gone),

irreversible (it doesn’t go backwards, only forwards) & indispensable (you

can’t do anything without spending time)

9 The greatest thief of my time is me (I cannot blame anyone else for wasting

my time if I fail to manage it properly)

10 Parkinson’s first law (his writings are well known in business) is: “Work will

expand (or contract) to fill whatever time is made available for it” (if I think a

particular project will take me two hours, it will; if I think it will take me three

hours, it will)

11 The resources available to anyone in management are: a People b Finance c Information d Experience e Time

What is unique about the last one is that it is NOT VARIABLE – all the others

can vary

A PARABLE John Malepa woke up one day to discover that he had $ 86 400 in the bank. A brand new account had been opened for him, but the condition was that he could not keep the money beyond the end of the day – no balances could be carried forward, neither could the account go into overdraft.

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If you were John, how would you spend the money? (For an answer & a lesson, see top of next page) There are 86400 seconds in every day, but they cannot be stored, frozen or carried forward to tomorrow. They have to be spent TODAY.

KEY RESULT AREAS

Also known as (depending on which textbooks you read):

Performance Areas

Effectiveness Areas

Key Areas

Focus Areas 1 Definition Those areas of the organisation where I am responsible

to produce results 2 Performance & results in these areas will directly & vitally affect the health of

the organisation, & perhaps even its survival 3 Drucker: 8 KRA’s for any business:

Market share

Innovation

Productivity

Profitability

Physical & financial resources

Management performance & development

Worker performance & attitude

Social responsibility 4 Why is it important for me to have KRA’s?

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a They help me focus my energies & activities in the small % of my time

that is at my discretion (refer to page 4 for this concept) b They form the basis for setting goals or objectives (see later) c They are a means of communication within the organisation (i.e. who

does what around here) d They determine my priorities when choices arise

GUIDELINES TO HELP YOU ESTABLISH YOUR KRA’s 1 Refer the previous page for definitions 2 A list of your KRA’s gives a complete overview & perspective of your job. 3 A minimum of 3 & a maximum of 8 are suggested 4 Be brief – use a maximum of 3 or 4 words per KRA 5 Do not describe goals or objectives – KRA’s are deliberately not measurable.

They describe areas of results, not the results themselves 6 They are headings & nouns, not verbs 7 They must be clear & able to be understood by your colleagues & your

subordinates 8 Avoid overlapping between jobs 9 Avoid duplication within your KRA’s – eg “relationships with subordinates” &

“subordinate effectiveness” can be combined into one statement 10 Embrace all your responsibilities 11 Your KRA’s answer the question, “What exact contribution do I make to

my organisation?” 12 Information about the requirements of your position can be obtained from:

Your Job Description

Your organisation’s Performance Appraisal system

The organisation’s objectives

Budgets, plans, policies, etc

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Management/Board decisions

Your boss 13 Consult the following possible examples: Director of YFC in a city Secretary/Office assistant Fundraising! Word processing Staff supervision Office neatness Board relationships Boss’s diary Evangelism programmes Minutes of meetings Planning Communication with publics/PR Training Discipling programmes Administrator/Accountant National Director of YFC Office security Staff recruitment & effectiveness Equipment maintenance Board relationships Payroll execution & maintenance PR/Marketing Monthly management accounts Fundraising & financial stability Creditors/debtors Pioneering new cities Long term planning Communication with YFCI NOW LIST YOUR KRA’s 1 2 3 4 5 6

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TWELVE PRACTICAL AREAS FOR MANAGING YOUR TIME

1 KNOW WHERE YOUR TIME IS CURRENTLY BEING USED Efficient time managers have a handle on where & how their time is currently

being spent. They do this by the discipline of recording time, & most often the shock provided by the record is a wakeup call.

Some things that occupy too much of our time are:

Too many or unnecessary or over-long meetings

Unwelcome phone calls

Unsolicited e-mails

Drop-in visitors

Some staff require handholding & very close supervision

Writing (& reading) lengthy reports

Not enough time is spent in planning & preparation, resulting in panic & rush

On the next page is a form on which you can record where your time goes.

Do this every day for at least a week then look for the common factors/repeating robbers, & tackle them. This is hard work & takes discipline, but the results are worth it for the one who is serious about time management.

HOW TO IDENTIFY WHERE YOUR TIME GOES

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WHAT I PLAN TO DO TOMORROW WHAT I ACTUALLY DID

…………………………………………………………. 0800 ………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………. 0830 ………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………. 0900 ………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………. 0930 ………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………. 1000 …………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………. 1030 …………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………. 1100 …………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………. 1130 …………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………. 1200 …………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………. 1230 …………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………. 1300 …………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………. 1330 …………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………. 1400 …………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………. 1430 …………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………. 1500 …………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………. 1530

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…………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………. 1600 …………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………. 1630 …………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………. 1700 …………………………………………………………. HOW MUCH OF THE DAY WAS USED AS: SCHEDULED? …………………………………….. UNSCHEDULED? ……………………………… WHAT WERE THE TIME ROBBERS THAT GOT YOU OFF SCHEDULE? 2 CONSOLIDATE YOUR DISCRETIONARY TIME INTO BLOCKS On page 5 [check] we referred to the concept of “discretionary time”, i.e. time

left over after your boss (& others) have received their “demand time”. As no one works well or efficiently in short spasms or “bits” of time: a Find out your “optimum attention span” – that period of time for which

you can concentrate on a task with unwavering attention before you need to have a break. For some it’s as little as half an hour, for others it’s more than an hour.

b Arrange your discretionary time during a day into blocks of this length,

when you can be uninterrupted & focus on just one thing. It may be first thing in the morning; for me it was often in the late afternoon when everyone else had gone home that I could get quite a lot done.

c Obviously, there is no such thing as a perfect plan or a complete

absence of interruptions. This means you have to be flexible – when a “demand time” situation arises that you have not foreseen or planned for, shift your block to another time of the day. The point is: you will still get more done by working in “blocks” rather than “bits”, or by just waiting passively for things to happen & to which you can react.

d For further help, see Section 10 of these notes re “Priorities”. 3 ASK YOURSELF 4 QUESTIONS

ANSWERS

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1 Are there some things I do which need not Learn to say ‘NO’!

be done at all (& nothing would happen if they were not done)? Examples: meetings; reports to be written

2 Are there some things which could be done Delegate just as well by my staff? (See later for more) 3 Am I really the right person to be doing some Clarify roles of the things I do? 4 Am I guilty of allowing my mind to become Get your act together!

cluttered through eg an untidy desk, no diary, filing system not working, etc?

4 WHEN PEERS/SUBORDINATES ASK FOR YOUR TIME

Usually involves the question “Can you spare a minute?” (this is a joke – it’s never just one minute but several. Take care in announcing things like “I have an open door policy” – this usually invites all kinds of timewasting people to drop in, put their feet on your desk & spend your time). 1 Agree on how long the meeting will take; or…..

2 Define what you are going to talk about; or…..

3 Define whose problem it is – don’t accept upward delegation/let the monkey jump on your back (this is a business term for allowing someone else’s problem to land on your shoulders. Upward delegation should be refused every time).

5 QUESTIONS TO ASK SUBORDINATES WHO COME TO YOU WITH

“PROBLEMS”

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1 What is the problem? 2 What are its causes? 3 What are its possible solutions? 4 Which is the best possible solution? 5 By when are you going to solve the problem by implementing this

solution?

5 HOW TO DEAL WITH PEOPLE WHO WASTE YOUR TIME

1 Stand up at the end of the agreed/allocated time (or don’t even sit down in the first place)

2 Summarise the discussion

3 Use an eggtimer/hourglass (don’t laugh – there are managers who do this)

4 Use a pre-arranged interruption

5 Have no chairs opposite your desk 6 THE TELEPHONE INCOMING CALLS - It exists for your convenience, & customers, not

for timewasters [have you defined who YFC’s “customers” are?]

- Screen or delay calls (equipment suppliers offer

training for secretaries)

- Consider working off site for one or more mornings a week

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OUTGOING - Group your calls, i.e. make them in quick

succession

- Use memory numbers (“speed dial”) 7 MEETINGS (said to be a group of people who keep minutes but waste

hours)

Lonely? Work on your own? Hate having to make decisions?

Then call a meeting!!

You get to:

See other people…..sleep in peace…..offload decisions…..pass the buck…..feel

important…..impress your colleagues…..enjoy free refreshments

And all in work time!

MEETINGS – the practical alternative to work – don’t delay, have one today!

The usual problems with meetings include (note how many involve having a

poor Chair):

1 No direction/purpose/objective

2 Chair allows waffle, tangents

3 Repetition of issues previously discussed

4 No agenda, or agenda not made available beforehand

5 Not really necessary

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6 Resulting actions not clear. Every meeting should end with an ACTION PLAN that spells out WHO will do WHAT by WHEN (see the form on page 34) check

7 No time limit. Parkinson’s Law = “Work will expand [or contract] to fill the time made available for it”

8 They generate further meetings, lengthy reports 9 There is an absence of clear organisation policies, hence a meeting is

called to make a decision on an issue that should be the subject of a Policy (does YFC in your country/city have a Policy Manual?)

10 The wrong people are there, & it is evident by what they say that they

are out of their depth

Some business leaders compute the cost per minute of meetings by

means of a programme that is based on the pay of the individuals

attending

SOME TIPS 1 Start on time & penalise persistent latecomers 2 The Chair must control dominant members (those who have lots to say

about everything) 3 Some companies have no chairs in their Boardrooms……….(this

reminds me how, when I must read a newspaper, I should read standing up)

8 DELEGATION “Assigning work to others with commensurate authority & responsibility”

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ADVANTAGES - Frees you for more important & worthy-of-your-

value tasks

- Involves, motivates & develops others

DISADVANTAGE - There is only one – no one will ever do it as well as you can!!

PRINCIPLES

1 Make a list of the things only you can do, & delegate the rest (especially routine)

2 Choose the right person (this assumes you know their capabilities)

3 Require completed work (unfinished work = upward delegation =

should never be allowed)

4 Unfortunately you cannot delegate ultimate accountability

5 Secure understanding & acceptance (even in writing if necessary)

6 Observe the “Unity of Command” principle (each person has only one boss & you cannot delegate to someone else’s subordinate without their boss’s permission)

7 Hold the reins lightly (i.e. don’t maintain tight control or the horse will stop)

8 Give recognition for a job well done (“positive reinforcement”). The rule

is: commend in public; criticise in private 9 DESK & PAPERWORK Mess on the desk causes:

1 Stress

2 Brain overload (by having to think of more than one thing at a time)

3 Loss of sight of goals

4 Loss of sense of being in control

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5 Battle to set priorities

THE DESK CAN & MUST BE CONTROLLED Some answers:

1 The IN tray is the only “public” receptacle on your desk. Establish & assert a rule – no one is allowed to put papers on your desk, only in the IN tray

2 When returning from being away, focus on:

a Clear your desk

b Return calls (tells people they’re important)

c Gain control

3 Schedule (in your diary) desk catchup time every 3 days

4 With your secretary, revise your filing system to be based on your

KRA’s (it is also helpful to have a desk with one drawer devoted to suspended/hanging files, one for each KRA – this means your operating files are not forming part of the clutter on your desk).

HOW TO PROCESS PAPERWORK (with acknowledgement to Howard Cook)

TARGET: Handle each piece of paper only once 1 If it’s not for me or anyone else – throw it away 2 If it’s not for me but for someone else – write on it & put it in OUT tray 3 If it’s for me:

A READING

1 “Must” read – if less than 3 minutes, read now then pass on or ditch. If more than 3 minutes, keep for later (at home or between appointments or while travelling, etc)

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2 “Like to” read, eg an article which is of interest to your KRA’s –

deal with as above. Extract relevant info (copy, scan, tear out or give to secretary) then pass on or ditch

B DICTATION OR OWN WORD PROCESSING

Accumulate letters in a file & schedule in your diary when you are going to write them. A good idea is to have an “Activities List” in your diary & update it regularly

C TO SEE OR PHONE OR E-MAIL Schedule in diary then file or ditch paper concerned D AWAITING DEVELOPMENTS (i.e. action has already been initiated by

you or by someone else) Have a file marked “Awaiting Developments” & check this file daily.

When these developments have occurred, transfer to Activities List &/or schedule necessary actions in your diary

E TO DO

1 Now if less than 3 minutes (eg sign a memo) 2 Later if more than 3 minutes – put on Activities List

F CONTINUING ATTENTION (eg plans, budgets, etc)

Put on Activities List or in folder marked “Continuing Attention” - & check this folder daily

4 Go through Activities List daily – determine priorities & schedule what you are going to do that day

Do not dump unwanted paper onto the filing system – its purpose is

RETRIEVAL, not STORAGE

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And ask yourself constantly – if this stuff is going to end up being thrown away

one day, what’s going to increase its value between now & then?

10 PRIORITIES When someone says “I didn’t have time to do it”, what are they really saying? That it wasn’t a priority for them….. Here are three systems for deciding your priorities – choose one (or none, as long as you have a better way): 1 The ABC system

a List all your activities/tasks/goals

b Make a judgement about the importance of each, & label A, B or C

c Make a further judgement about all your A’s & classify them as A1, A2,

A3 etc

d Start on A1 & finish it

e Do only one thing at a time

f Do things right first time

g Repeat daily

2 The high vs. low payoff system

Payoff value = importance of issue x my ability to impact it a Decide importance of issue (eg in terms of value to the Kingdom, cost,

customer service etc) to your organisation, on a scale of 1 to 10 b Estimate how much your efforts can impact the issue, on a scale of 1 to

10 c Calculate the payoff value (a x b)

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Another way of working both of these systems is to record all your

activities/tasks/goals on this matrix:

Low High High B’s A’s Spend 80% of your Importance time here Low C’s B’s Personal impact 3 The above is similar to Stephen Covey’s four-quadrant Urgent vs.

Important matrix, which you may want to use (see “The 7 Habits of Highly

Effective People”, Fireside/Simon & Schuster 1990, page 151).

PRINCIPLES OF PRIORITISING

1 Distinguish between the important & the urgent 2 Look for areas where you can make the greatest contribution/impact 3 Think long-term 4 Remember Pareto’s 80/20 rule (we tend to spend 80% of our time in

achieving 20% of our results. We also spend 80% of our household budget

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on 20% of items, eg meat. In business, 20% of customers provide 80% of the income)

5 Let your Key Result Areas guide you 6 Get accustomed to asking yourself ruthlessly: “Is what I am doing right now

the best use of my time?”

Illustrating the need to make time to think Bobby Naidoo chuckled as he passed a colleague’s office & saw the new sign on the wall: “Plan ahead”. “Man, that guy could really do with that reminder – he’s just so disorganised”. Suddenly his mind flashed back to the recent Saturday on which he himself had hurried from home to do a few things. Stopping off first at the video shop to return the tape he & his family had watched the night before, he then drove 8 km to the nearest Post Office. When the 10 people in the queue ahead of him had finished, he handed over the parcel he had to send to his Mom in Cape Town. As he reached for his wallet, he realised that he had no cash & should have stopped off at the ATM on the way. Embarrassed, he told the Post Office clerk he would be back later. He pushed his foot down impatiently on the accelerator as he headed for the ATM several km away. “Now I’ll have to come all the way back here just to stand in a queue again”, he thought with more than a little disgust. A few seconds of time at home to write down….

1 Draw cash 2 Drop off video 3 Post parcel

….would have saved him several kilometres, wasted petrol & precious Saturday morning time. What a bargain for investing a few seconds of time! Sure, his colleague could profit from the slogan “Plan Ahead”……… Peter Drucker: Thinking (i.e. planning) should occupy 20% of our time Henry Ford: Thinking is the most difficult work in the world – which is why so

few people do it

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If you’re too busy to think, you’re too busy

When you fail to plan, you are planning to fail 11 GOALS Definition A desired end result that can be measured & is to be achieved

within a specific time Purpose To give direction & focus to all that we do Goals must sit in judgement on all our activities & busy-ness Requirements:

1 Measurable

2 Achievable, yet….

3 Stretching

4 Flow from organisation (or individual) purpose/mission

5 Owned by all involved

6 Prioritised See next page for a “Goals Worksheet” that will help you focus your

time & energy. Explanation:

a The left-hand column shows 8 different areas in which you may want to

set goals, & you can add others as you wish. The page itself (or any column or row) can be enlarged too if you wish

b The second column is for recording a succinct goal statement c The third is for identifying realistic obstacles in the way of your

achieving the goal

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d The fourth is for recording what can be done to overcome the problem(s)

e The fifth is motivational – what will happen if you achieve the goal? f The sixth is for recording specific dates/times by which you will know

when you have reached the goal EXAMPLE: In the “Mental” category: say you wish to study for a B. Com. degree

through UNISA & gain it in five years. This short statement meets the requirements above & is indeed measurable (the most common mistake with so-called goals is that they are not measurable).

Problems might be two-fold: 1 Lack of time to devote to such study (how are you ever

going to scale down your active social life?!) 2 Lack of funds Remedies: 1 Decide your priorities – do you really want to do this or

not? And become accountable to someone who, over five years, is going to ensure that you keep going

2 Apply for a study loan, or borrow from your parents, etc Rewards: Let your imagination guide you….. Timetable: By when will you have the money? By when will you

register? How many modules, & which, will you take in each year?

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PLAN FOR THE FUTURE – PURPOSE IN LIFE

CATEGORY

GOALS

PROBLEMS

REMEDIES

REWARDS

TIMETABLE

Physical

Mental

Social

Family

Hobbies

Work/Career

Finance

Housing

Originally by Dr James Galvin, YFC/USA

12 OTHER HELPS

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1 Use a “Time File” – if a piece of paper arrives on your desk & you don’t need it for say another week (eg a meeting agenda), then write “T/F” & your required date in the top right-hand corner; give it to your secretary who then uses a “concertina file” (virtually a box with 31 numbered compartments/sub-files). She then has the responsibility to hand you a day’s papers first thing every morning

This is a valuable tool in keeping paper off your desk.

2 Plan tomorrow tonight (Lee Iacocca of Chrysler said that doing this enabled him to “hit the ground running” next morning).

3 Learn to speed read.

4 Master the use of a diary. Whichever type you choose (paper or

electronic), make it work for you.

TIME MANAGEMENT IN 4-D 1 DROP IT – avoid clutter – drop whatever is not necessary to do or keep 2 DELAY IT – spread low priority tasks over the week 3 DELEGATE IT – what is not worthy of my particular time/position/expertise 4 DO IT - when I can’t do nos. 1 to 3, for whatever reason - NOW !

LLIIFFEE MMAANNAAGGEEMMEENNTT

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1 GOALS Decide what you want to do with your life 2 PRIORITIES Determine which are more important 3 PLANS Determine HOW you are going to reach these priority

goals

4 ACTIONS Implement your plans in the least possible time

MMOOVVIINNGG TTOOWWAARRDDSS TTHHEE FFUUTTUURREE 1 On the basis of what I have learned through this book, I intend to

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2 I will do this by means of 3 My first step is 4 I will take this step by (date/time) 5 Next steps will be 6 I will share this intention with……………………………………………& ask

him/her to hold me accountable

NAME: DATE:

ACTION PLAN For use after a meeting to indicate commitments made by team members to each other.

WHO

WHAT

BY WHEN

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DAILY ‘DO’ SHEET

TASK

PRIORITY (A, B, C)

WHO TO…

SEE

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PHONE

E-MAIL

CONTINUING ATTENTION

AWAITING DEVELOPMENTS

What Who When