Learning how to maximize and prioritize your hours is critically important.
Effective time management does not come naturally to most people. Many must learn, practice, refine, and improve time management skills over time.
I am the least naturally oriented person to everything that I’m about to show you.
My awareness of what does (and doesn’t) come naturally to me drives me to get better. I have been on a lifelong journey to develop my skills as a disciplined and detail-oriented person, particularly in the workplace.
Psalm 78 tells us, “David shepherded his people with integrity of heart; with skilled hands he led them.”
The majority of leaders I’ve met shepherd with integrity, and they do so well. The second condition, however, to lead with skilled hands, is a rarer find.
Leadership, whether it comes naturally or not, is a discipline of diligence. Your journey in time leadership and time management starts by focusing.
Technology ain’t the solution.
Asking for the best technology tool is a common temptation for leaders seeking to improve productivity.
The technology will change. It is the discipline and diligence behind it that are missing.
As technology continues to unfold, becoming increasingly powerful, we are growing farther away from understanding what it means to be effective.
I regularly coach, “It’s not hocus focus, it’s all about focus.” There is a power in your focus that makes all the difference.
Most people walk around with a lot of things to do, and they might have to-do lists here and there, but they don’t have a disciplined thought process in their head that then shows up on their lists.
Regardless of the technology that you use, there is incredible power in creating lists to get things out of your head and down where you can see and review them consistently.
List responsibilities versus projects.
Responsibilities are the five to seven constants that you, as a leader, are ultimately accountable for for growth. For example, you may be responsible for driving growth, maintaining financial health, and shaping the organizational culture.
Projects, however, involve steps. Take an oil change, for example. Whether you do it yourself or schedule a drop-off, it’s a project.
Most leaders have between 60 and 100 projects on their plate at any one time.
Look at things in context.
It doesn’t help you to walk around knowing what you need to do when you pick up the phone. The phone is a context.
Being in your office or at home is a context.
Having a list of things to accomplish in seven different places around the world doesn’t help much.
What helps is a list that tells you what to do depending on your location or the context. When you’re in your office, you are doing X. On your computer? You’re doing Y.
You could go crazy with this, but I encourage you to keep it simple.
Keep Journals.
I have a journal for every person with whom I regularly meet.
I write down the date and time of the meeting, and I keep lists of things to discuss or things we did discuss in my notes.
For instance, I have journals dating back eleven years that document meetings with my assistant.
For any project I work on over time, I’m likely to start a journal. Think about it like a list. Here’s my list for this project. Here’s my list for this person.
Create and track a waiting list.
I operate under the assumption that no one will do what they say they’re going to do.
If someone says they’re going to send me a book, and receiving that book matters to me, it goes on the waiting list.
I have things on my waiting list that I’ve been waiting for for years.
Why is this helpful? I’m taking responsibility.
Whenever someone on my team or with whom I’m working tells me that they are going to get me something, I don’t care whether they remember or not. I don’t care whether you keep up with it or not. If it’s important to me, it’s on my ‘waiting for’ list.
And when it becomes an issue for me, then I can bring that up. I simply say, “Hey, I’m still waiting on this.”
List the lists.
A few other lists I find helpful are:
- Right Now To-Do List
- Stop Doing List
- Ideas List
- Read and Review List
- Planning for Next Year List
- Someday, Maybe This List
Start somewhere.
I’m not saying start with all of these at once.
You may already have a couple of these.
When you have the thoughts on paper, literal or digital, they’re no longer rattling around in your brain. Thoughts can’t get lost when they’re on the list.
Pick one or two that could be the next big game-changer for you and tackle those.
I would love to hear how implementing one or two of these lists into your leadership routine improves time management. Text me here.