Champion Chat

In the weekly poll posted on June 12th, I asked about what type of time management system you use. Based on our poll results and the feedback I received, it seems that time management is a constant struggle for many of my LinkedIn connections. Typically when I begin coaching a new client, helping them improve time management is where we begin. You see folks, you can make a great income, do all kinds of great things for you and your family..... but all of us are limited to 24 hours each day. We cannot create more time, only learn to effectively manage and use it to make our lives better, happier and more fulfilling.

There are 10 time management systems that are most commonly used. Personally, I use the Time Block method in conjunction with some tools I have developed. For me this has become my go to system for effectively managing time both personally and professionally. Before I briefly go over each system I want to address a common mistake that many people make with time management, schedule management, goals, vision and planning in general. People tend to separate business and personal time, goals, planning, etc. This is a monumental mistake and quite frankly one I used to make. When you own a business, you have to meld the different facets of your life together so you have a consistent, complete and well planned schedule every week. When you separate your business life from, personal life, health issues, family time and any other components of your life you end up with all kinds of issues and you accomplish very little, which makes you feel stressed and that you have little or no control. At Champion Coaching and Training, we have many time management as well as business management tools that I can share with you, so please reach out if you struggle with managing your time, business, goals, planning, etc.

Here are the 10 types of time management systems and an overview of each:

1. Eisenhower Matrix

The Eisenhower Matrix is a time management system that divides tasks based on their importance.

You divide your tasks into four quadrants for effective time management:?

Urgent Not Urgent

Important Quadrant 1 Quadrant 2

Urgent And Important Items Important But Not Urgent Items

Not Important Quadrant 3 Quadrant 4

Not Important Yet Urgent Items That Are

Neither Nor Urgent

Based on this template, you can decide which tasks need your immediate attention and which tasks can be postponed or delegated, or eliminated for the time being.?

This time management system is quite useful when you’re swamped with multiple project management tasks, and it’s hard to identify what’s urgent. It helps you quickly sort your action items and tackle each task in order of priority.?

2. Getting Things Done (GTD)

Getting Things Done is a time management system that emerged from the book by David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.?

Using this time management tool can help you get the essential tasks out of your head onto a notepad to understand better what needs to be done and when.?

The five essential steps to Getting Things Done are:

• Capture: List all your crucial to-dos and project management tasks for easy tracking.?
• Clarify: Go over your to-do list and identify any task you should remove or postpone.
• Organize: Categorize your tasks into different lists of work priority. Add due dates, so you never skip the deadlines.?

• Reflect: Keep revisiting your task list and figure out the upcoming steps and subtasks for each task.?
• Engage: Refer to this to-do list every day for tracking your work progress and getting more things done during your work hours.?

3. Time blocking

The time blocking system helps you improve work focus — you block certain hours of your day to perform specific tasks.?

Here’s how you can implement the time blocking method for better task management:

• Step 1: Make a task list and highlight any repetitive tasks that you can automate.?
• Step 2: Estimate the time you need to dedicate to each task.
• Step 3: Keep some time aside for emergencies like sickness, downtime, hardware malfunctioning, etc.
• Step 4: If you still have any free time on your hand, use it to complete any of your pending tasks.?

You can use or a calendar app to block your work time for tasks or meetings and stay in control of your work schedule.?

4. Autofocus

Autofocus is a technique to help you make faster decisions and execute tasks based on your motivation. It allows you to perform tasks that you’re more inclined to do than others. This way, it keeps you engaged in finishing your task list with the least amount of struggle.?

Here’s how you can use the Autofocus technique for successful project management:

• Step 1: Note down all the big or small tasks you have.
• Step 2: Carefully go through the tasks and choose the one that comes across as exciting or enjoyable.?
• Step 3: Keep working on the task for an hour or more and check it off the list on completion.?
• Step 4: Each time you finish a task, repeat the process from Step 2.?
• Step 5: Highlight the remaining tasks at the end of the workday and re-start the next day.?

5. Iceberg Method

The Iceberg Method lets you collate important notes and resources as and when you come across them. This information may prove valuable for your future projects and save you additional time in research.??

This time management technique helps you build a repository of material that acts as a knowledge base for any task you may take up later.?

Here's an example of how it works:

• Step 1: Save any work-related email, quote, article, video link, or PDF that may come in handy later.?
• Step 2: Organize these resources using specific tags and folders for easy access.?
• Step 3: Go through all the information in your knowledge base every four to six weeks to check if any material can prove helpful for your current tasks.?

6. Pomodoro technique

Pomodoro is a popular time management technique that recommends 25 minutes of super-focused work followed by a 5 minute break. It minimizes the chances of burnout by allowing intermittent breaks throughout the day.?

Here’s how you can deploy the Pomodoro technique for efficient use of your time:

• Step 1: Choose a task and work on it uninterruptedly for 25 minutes.?
• Step 2: When the timer indicates the end of 25 minutes, take a 5-minute break to stretch and unwind.?
• Step 3: Continue working with absolute focus again for another 25 minutes, followed by a 5-minute break. You can reward yourself by extending the break time of every fourth break by 15-30 minutes.?

You can integrate your project management software with simple time tracking tools to follow the Pomodoro technique rigorously.?

7. Agile Results

With Agile Results, you can identify any three tasks that you hope to achieve by the end of the day, week, month, and year. It allows you to manage work in small chunks, which isn’t too overwhelming.??

Here are the four key features of Agile Results that can help you get better control of your life and time:

• Monday vision: Each Monday, note down three results you’d like to accomplish before the weekend and start working on that goal.?
• Daily wins: Every day, identify three important tasks you’d like to complete before the day ends.?
• Friday reflection: Review your work timesheet on the time tracker app on Friday. Analyze existing work processes to note three things going well and three things that require improvement.?
• Hot spots: Apart from figuring out the three daily and weekly tasks, you should invest your time in identifying pain points (low revenue, client dissatisfaction, etc.) and other big picture tasks related to your business.?

8. Kanban system

If you’re tracking multiple projects with dynamic timelines, then the Kanban system can help you see things through. It can help you visualize tasks and determine stages of work progress.?

Today the Kanban system is integral to several task management and time tracking apps like Asana, Trello, Toggl Track, Microsoft Project, etc.?

Here’s how you can use the Kanban system to boost employee time management:?

• Step 1: List your tasks in a visual format (online or on paper). Mark the ones you want to tackle first and others that you can take up later.
• Step 2: Figure out the time you’ll have to spend on each task, depending on the difficulty level.
• Step 3: Create a Kanban board with three columns: tasks to be done, tasks in progress, and tasks completed.?
• Step 4: Don’t have more than three tasks under the ‘tasks in progress’ column to avoid stress and tackle one task at a time.

9. Bullet Journal

Bullet Journal is a daily note-taking system to organize all your task-related information. It uses various symbols for task entries so you can quickly identify whether a task is completed, postponed, or removed.?

Here’s how you can implement the Bullet Journal system:

• Step 1: To start with, you’ll need a journal with page numbers. Add a work-relevant title to every page.?
• Step 2: Under every title, you can list out specific tasks (represented by ?), events (represented by ?), and notes (represented by –).?
• Step 3: Depending upon the task status, mark them as completed (X), migrated (>), postponed (<), or eliminated (?).?
• Step 4: Add signifiers to give your bullets more context. For example, an asterisk (*) denotes a priority, while an exclamation point (!) denotes inspiration.
• Step 5: Create collections to organize specific types of entries.

10. Time tracking

Time tracking is easy to execute and can improve employee efficiency. It essentially allows you to track time spent on different tasks and projects to know where most employee time is spent.?

You can use any time tracking app for managing employee performance and identifying areas of improvement. Additionally, it can assist you in calculating billable hours, tracking attendance, and processing payroll.?

Here’s how you can use the time management software for employee time tracking:

• Step 1: Track time for all the tasks you perform during work hours, be it as a project manager, employee, or freelancer.
• Step 2: Assess your timesheet on time tracking apps to identify time-consuming tasks and figure out a different approach to fastrack them.?
• Step 3: Implement those processes and check if the work time has come down or gone up for the same tasks on time tracking app.?

Now that we know the different types of time management systems out there, let’s understand why we need to have a time tracking system in the first place.?

4 reasons you need time management systems

Here’s why you should consider implementing time management systems in your organization:

1. To deliver quality work on time

Time management systems help you create a framework in which you’re aware of your tasks for the particular day or even the entire week. It means that you don’t waste time deliberating over what to work on and what to leave out on any specific workday.?

By establishing such a planned work schedule, you can avoid the last-minute stress of not meeting any work goal. This way, a time management system ensures the best business outcomes and improves overall work quality.?

2. To improve productivity

Encouraging team members and key people in your life to adopt a time management system can help them prioritize urgent tasks and minimize distractions. Additionally, they can avoid working on weekends by sorting out all the high-level tasks on time.?

It boosts your team members' personal productivity and makes them better at task management.?

3. To reduce workplace stress

Team members often procrastinate or spend too much time on tasks that may be delegated or even deleted.?

In the long run, this sort of poor time management can bring about stress as you’re left with too little time to wrap up urgent tasks.?

However, time management systems can guide you and your team members in the right direction through list-making, progress tracking, and eliminating time-consuming processes.?

It also helps them strike the perfect work-life balance, so work problems do not constantly preoccupy them even outside their work hours.?

4. To streamline business workflow

When every team member sticks to a fixed time frame and work schedule, they can collaborate better among themselves. It’s because they have a rough idea of how much is achievable within a particular time.?

So teammates can communicate their deadlines among themselves, set up work dependencies accordingly, and streamline the internal workflow.?

Choosing An Electronic Calendar

For years I used a physical planner from the Planner Pad Company. Now I use multiple calendars and encourage you to do the same so your schedule is backed up. I use am icloud calendar with my Outlook calendar. I also have Calendly so I can send a link to facilitate prospects and clients being able to book time with me. You can use these or Google Calendar, HelloHabit, Simple Calendar, TickTick, Minical or any of the myriad of calendar and planning apps. Make sure you have a back up calendar and sync all your calendar tools together for consistency.

When To Plan

I am a big believer in having my week planned by 8:00 pm Sunday evening and then sharing my weekly calendar. Who should you share it with? Well I believe your superior(s), team, coach, accountability partner, family, significant other

Conclusion

Time management is an underrated skill that can help you stay calm and keep chaos at bay.?

You can use the methods we’ve discussed in this edition of Champion Chat to improve your time management skills.?

And besides adopting a time management system, you can opt for a time tracking app to help you improve team members' productivity and create perfect work schedules.?

If you would like some time management tools or help, you can either email me at [email protected] or click on my Calendly link below and set up a no cost 30 minute session with me on Zoom:

https://calendly.com/championcoachjoe/discovery-coaching-call