While there has been much focus on workplace productivity, personal productivity is just as critical an issue. Being busy is the new normal; it’s part of the modern world. But these days, it’s madness. People are stretched with work and there are demands from other sources with emails, texts and phone calls always coming in and people demanding more time. The tell-tale symptoms are obvious: a tendency to feel in a rush, getting impatient at the slightest hold up, losing focus in the middle of a task or conversation, spending more time on the Blackberry or iPhone than talking to people and projects piling up and not getting finished.
So what are the best ways to deal with it? Experts recommend using a diary to identify where that time goes, not only work time spent sitting in front of screens, from the computer to the iPad, but also time for personal stuff such as shopping, catching up with the family and friends and visits to the gym.
An even better idea is to use a default diary. For most, a normal diary lists events during the week with, for example, a planning meeting on Monday morning, meetings with the marketing team all day Tuesday and meetings with the number crunchers on Friday.
A default diary turns that around. Let’s say, for example, that you need to spend two hours every Monday afternoon working on finances by yourself, and every Tuesday, you spend an hour and a half going over marketing reports. These are work sessions you spend on your own. But with a default diary, these are put down in advance along with all the other set appointments. These can include personal items like sessions in the gym. This is not hard to organise, all it takes is a visit to Outlook. The beauty of the default diary is that it blocks out time. It allows the receptionist to hold calls during this time because you are essentially in a meeting with yourself. It helps people manage their time better and avoids double booking.
Experts also recommend people break down the time they need to spend for each task. This allows them to better allocate their time when they have any spare moments and to plan ahead.
Another important strategy is to outsource as much as possible. That means not working on tasks that do not generate revenue. The focus should be solely on revenue generation; everything else can be outsourced. Learn how to delegate.
One way to manage time better is to batch similar sorts of tasks. If you need to make phone calls, for example, get a lot of them done and get into the flow.
Creating a different focus for different days is also effective. For example, client days, admin days, business development days and so on will create areas for you to focus on. Some schedule in advance as much as possible, setting regular appointments 12 months ahead. The benefit of that is that you will know exactly where you should be and when.
And finally, it is important to say NO to time-wasters. That includes everything from people and events to your own internet surfing. There are 168 hours in a week. The key to personal productivity is to make each one of them count.
Leon Gettler is a senior business journalist who writes for a range of leading newspapers and journals
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