Time Management

Essentially, we spend our time on tasks that are categorised into one of four areas:

1. Urgent and Important – these activities will include crises, pressing problems, deadline-driven projects, meetings and preparation for all of these things. Whilst we do have to spend time on these tasks, it’s vital to appreciate that many of these become urgent because of lack of planning or simple procrastination.
2. Important and Not Urgent – these activities include preparation, prevention measures, planning, relationship building and creating. In fact all these types of tasks can be summarised as activities that are directly linked to the accomplishment of our long-range goals.
3. Urgent and Not Important – these activities will include interruptions, some phone calls, some emails and reports and those types of tasks that we may enjoy doing, popular activities. The noise of ‘urgency’ can create the perception that these type of tasks are important.
4. Not Urgent and Not Important – these activities will include trivia, some phone calls, junk mail, time wasters, watching mindless television shows and anything that we do to escape doing, those tasks that we need to do. If are battered by spending too much time on urgent activities we may seek solace through doing these types of activities. We can summarise these tasks as those that waste our time.

When working on urgent tasks, two things are likely to occur. Firstly, the feelings of urgency, creates an adrenalin rush that can fill us with a sense of excitement. Once the urgency has been withdrawn from our situation we can feel down and depressed. This develops into an addiction to urgency – we crave the highs and do whatever we can to avoid the lows. Secondly, urgent tasks can create a ‘Choking Effect’ when we feel so overwhelmed that it impairs our ability to think clearly. Neither reactions are helpful if we want to remain in a peak state over a long period. Many people who experience ‘burn-out’ have spent too much of their time working on urgent things, this creates an imbalance and they simply become exhausted. They simply cannot see ‘the wood from the trees’ and negative thoughts begin to dominate the positive ones. Many sales people get stuck at a certain level of success because they have allowed themselves to become buried under countless details, demands and activities that drain their energy.

Research by The Strategic Coach identified that when people have more balance and more free time to devote to important tasks , they are rejuvenated and better equipped to increase their productivity. This is why spending a larger proportion of our time on activities that are important yet not necessarily urgent gives us a greater sense of control over our lives. Planning our time accordingly will save you time and ensure that you remain focused on those tasks and activities that take you closer to your goals. Also by scheduling your tasks you’re more likely to complete them. When planning your time, the following suggestions can help you become more time efficient:

• The first vital step is to become consciously aware of how you are spending your time. People who complain that they “Don’t have the time” have unconsciously created bad habits that need to be highlighted. This conscious awareness is best achieved by keeping a time log of everything they do for one month so they have ‘the problems’ clearly identified before they look for solutions.
• Start with identifying your long- term goals first, because it creates a context for all your activities. Having a clear vision of what you are aiming for, gives you motivation and momentum so that day-to-day decisions that arise can be easily made because you are able to evaluate them in terms of “Is this activity moving me closer towards my goal?”
• Prioritise and schedule tasks on a monthly, weekly and daily basis according to their priority of importance to you. Because people’s efficiency is optimised when they have good work/life balance, it helps to plan in time for family and self so that these areas aren’t compromised. By working on your higher priority tasks first you are able to channel more of your energy and concentration into important activities. As your energy and concentration starts to fade so does the priority of the tasks that you are working on.
• At the end of each working day, make a ‘To Do’ list for the next day. This pulls out what needs doing onto paper, freeing your mind from worry, so that you can sleep more peacefully. Once you’ve completed your list and before you prioritise, review each task and ask yourself 3 questions:
- Do I need to do this? (If your answer is “No” then delegate the task)
- Do I need to do this tomorrow? (If your answer is “No” then remove it from your ‘To Do’ list)
- Does this task add value to my organisation and myself? (If your answer is “No” then why are you doing it?)
It takes 21 days of consistent focus on doing something differently to establish that activity as a habit. Therefore, it helps to review your daily tasks every evening for 21 days by asking yourself the following:


➢ Did I accomplish all of my high-priority goals?
➢ Did I reach or surpass all of my other goals?
➢ Did I invest as much time as I planned in persuading others?
➢ Did I contact every prospect that was on my list today? If not what prevented me?
➢ How much time did I spend prospecting for new customers?
➢ How much time did I waste procrastinating today?
➢ What is the most productive thing I did today?
➢ What is the least productive thing I did today?
➢ What could I have avoided or eliminated?
➢ How much did I spend doing something that will profit me?
➢ Can I devote more time here?
➢ Was today a productive day for me? For my company?
➢ Did I take care of all the paperwork I needed to care of?
➢ How many of today’s activities have helped me achieve my goals?
➢ How much time did I allocate to my family, friends etc.?
➢ What can I do to improve the quality time I need to spend with my family/friends etc?
➢ How much time did I allocate to me?
➢ If I could live today again, what would I change?
➢ What did I do today that I feel really good about?
For busy sales people, working smarter requires paying attention to non-urgent and important tasks. This is best achieved by having a proper understanding of how they are spending their time, identifying where their time wasters are and planning into their schedules the non-urgent and important activities. According to George Murphy, CEO e-Justify-it, he proves that just the process of paying attention to specific areas will increase those areas results by at least 5%. Therefore, if sales people are encouraged to become more time-aware, even if they don’t do anything else, they will generate 5% more time.



Time Management - To learn more about this author, visit Nikki Owen's Website.

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