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The best time to do your weekly review

Planning, Time Management System, Time Management Techniques, Time Management Tips No Responses »

Feb 192012

A weekly review is a crucial part of an effective time management system. — but many people struggle to do this on a consistent basis.

When is the best time to do your weekly review?

In the GTD linked in group is was suggested that Friday lunch time is the ideal time and I totally agree.

Leaving it until late Friday seems to increase the chances some crisis comes up and the review is pushed aside. The same applies for Monday mornings and before you know it, it’s Monday afternoon and you haven’t done your review or your plan for this week.

Friday lunch is the ideal time for your weekly review and planning for the following week.

Do you agree?

Have the time of your life.

Michael

Robin Sharma’s Top 3 Productivity Tips

Effective Leadership, Productivity, Time Management Tips No Responses »

Dec 212011

Robin Sharma, author of The Leader Who Had No Title, has put together his top 3 productivity tips.

Watch the video here.

http://www.robinsharma.com/blog/06/my-3-best-keys-to-super-productivity/

Have the time of your life today

Michael

Steve Jobs on time management and life.

Time Management Quote, Time Management Tips 2 Responses »

Oct 112011

Time Management Quote:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Steve Jobs.

Have the time of your life today

Michael

Time management tactics that worked this week

Time Management Techniques, Time Management Tips 69 Responses »

Sep 292011

Time Management Tips

Each week I work with people looking to improve their effectiveness and use their time better.

Here are a couple of tactics that worked this week.

Hiding — Most managers I work with struggle to get uninterrupted time to do strategic, high impact work. Kate decided to get away from her desk for 2 blocks of 2 hours and she was amazed how clear her thinking was. She achieved more on her strategy in those two sessions than she had in the past 2 months.

Weekly mindset — Nev thought using a daily to do list was being organised. I suggest changing to a weekly structure. Nev was uncertain, but when he tried it he felt instant relief. Nev feels the weekly approach gives him more control compared to being overwhelmed with a daily to do list.

What has worked for you?

Have the time of your life

Michael

Stephen Covey goes from 7 habits to 5 choices!

Time Management Techniques, Time Management Tips 94 Responses »

Aug 122011

Time management tip

Stephen Covey, author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, posted this recently. It is worth a read as these ideas can have a significant impact on your time management.

Here is the message from Stephen.

We have identified 5 Choices that will help you transform the way you manage your time, decisions, attention and energy.

Here are the 5 Choices:

Act on the Important—don’t react to the urgent
Go for the Extraordinary—don’t settle for ordinary
Schedule The Big Rocks—don’t sort gravel
Rule Your Technology—don’t let it rule you
Fuel Your Fire—don’t burn out

I encourage you to learn more about these 5 Choices. They can help you take charge of your life like never before. You will feel empowered to cut through the clutter and get the right things done. You will feel more energized as you give your attention to things that are most important. In the end, you will feel remarkably productive and create extraordinary results.

You are invited to join us at one of the 5 Choices complimentary events to learn more. Click Here to register for a city near you.

I can promise you this: if you center on these 5 Choices, you will make exciting breakthroughs at home, at work, and in your community. You will feel empowered to live a meaningful life and make your unique contribution.

I wish you well as you embark on your journey to make these 5 Choices everyday in your life!

What is time management really and have we got it all wrong?

Effective Leadership, Time Management Techniques, Time Management Tips 44 Responses »

Jun 302011

Time Management Tips

I was reading David Allen’s GTD newsletter and he reminded me of a great point that I use all the time in my time management workshops.

Time just is — and it is the same for all of us.

We can’t find more time, create time or even manage time. Time just marches on now matter what and time stops for no-one (that I am aware of – if you can stop time please let me know

David Allen asks – what is time management, really? It’s dealing effectively with the things we have and want to do. It’s the latest industry publications sitting in a stack on our desk, about which we told ourselves we could/should/ought to do something. And the hundreds of hours of undone “stuff” sitting in most people’s brains (in psychic RAM) and on their desk and on the floor of the back seat of their car.

So have we got time management all wrong – I think so. I will explain in my next post, there is no such thing as time management!!

Have the time of your life this week

Michael

60 seconds to improve time management effectiveness

Effective Leadership, Time Management Techniques, Time Management Tips 1 Response »

Jun 202011

Time Management Tip

60 seconds to improve your time management effectiveness

Robin Sharma, author of the best seller The monk who sold his Ferrari (and other leadership books) has 5 tips to improve your time management that only take 60 seconds each. Here they are:

1. Have the courage to get great at saying “No Thanks” to any activities that don’t advance your priorities.

2. Take 60 seconds every morning to do a written game plan for a productive day. “The things that get scheduled are the things that get done.” as I shared in The Greatness Guide.

3. Take a few seconds each day to turn off all your technology and work deeply on a key project with zero distraction.

4. Take 60 seconds to breathe deeply and focus on your progress. This will re-energize and refuel you.

5. Take 60 seconds to un-clutter your work area so you create space for your creativity to flow.

Let me know if these tips work for you.

Have the time of your life

Michael

Break free from being a slave to email

Email Management, Time Management Tips 1 Response »

May 302011

Time Management Tip – Breaking free from being a slave to email

Email has mastered so many of us — we have become a slave to our own email. We can fight back and regain our freedom.

Today’s tip on mastering your email is to:

Create automatic rules to move all group, cc and newsletter email out of your inbox

You can move them all into one folder or have different folders for different content. The key is that the emails are out of your inbox without you looking at them.

Let your team know that all cc and group emails will go into a ‘reading’ folder for you to read when you get some spare time (which really means never). If something is important they must send it to directly and ideally also talk to you about it.

Good luck take back control of your email and your life

Michael

Are you a slave to email?

Email Management, Time Management Tips 3 Responses »

May 242011

Time Management Tip – email management.

As I mentioned in my last post I was at a client site and the issue of managing email came up. It was clear to me that everyone there had become a slave to email. I want to help you change that so you become that master and email is the slave.

In my last post I described how you need to change your mindset to master your email.

The next step is to change your work colleagues expectations around responding to email. Let your colleagues know that you often have important meetings so you will not be able to respond to email quickly. Tell them you will get to the email but it may take a day or two.

Let them know that for any urgent and important issues they should come and talk to you (with their recommendations) or call you.

Email is NOT to be used for urgent issues.

These tips have worked for many hundreds of my clients. I’d like to hear from you. Do you use the email management techniques. Do you have other techniques and tips that work for you?

In the next post I will talk about what not to-do with your inbox.

Have the time of your life

Michael

How not to be a slave to email.

Email Management, Time Management Tips 35 Responses »

May 232011

Time Management Tip – managing email.

“How many emails?” I asked. “Over 2000 in my inbox and about 220 unread,” was the reply.

I was at a client site the other day and talking to some people about some leadership effectiveness training when lack of time and email management came up. One of the managers mentioned email was killing him and told us about his 2000 emails. I was stunned.

Everyone at the table agreed that managing email was a major challenge and took up way too much time each day. So I’d like to share with you some tips that have helped my clients to improve their email management.

The first step is to change how you see and think about email. Email is a communication tool for you to use. You are the master and email is the slave!

Unfortunately most people have fallen into the trap of letting email be the master.

Email itself is NOT a priority. You do not have a KPI of read all emails and reply with 20 seconds. What is important is the information in some of the emails.

So look at your email in terms of how important the information is rather than feeling you have to read and reply to every email quickly. Focus on the emails that relate to your top 3 KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). Take that information and think about how it impacts on achieving your KPIs.

Email only provides information — you must decide what is important. You must also set aside time to work on achieving your KPI projects without being distracted by email.

In the next few blogs I will give you more tips on managing the amount of email, using rules, checking for email addiction and changing email culture.

Enjoy some email free time and have the time of your life today

Michael

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