Maximise Your Results
Strategies to Manage Your Time and Maximise Your Results
Adapted from Karima Mariama
Time is a non-negotiable, non-renewable resource and there are only 168 hours in any given week but somehow we all too often seem to forget this.
But consider this; if you were to remove the distractions and prioritise your critical tasks, you could very quickly become more effective, more efficient, more productive and more profitable.
Think about this for a moment: When you work do you become fully immersed in your professional day and are you pro-actively engaged in your activities or do you generally concede to your circumstances and find that your time becomes somewhat ineffective?
Time will always be elusive and yet time will always be responsible for the results we get?
So this is probably a good time to make the point that no matter how hard you try you will never be able to capture more time let alone manage time because time is finite.
We all have the same amount of time and yet some create great successes whilst others fail miserably even when they compare closely on an intellectual level.
Why is that ?
Well its quite simple really because when you think about it you can’t manage time because time is relentless and we all get the same amount.
But if we flip that and consider that whilst we may not be able to manage time, we can in fact manage the events in our life and by doing this we can quickly begin to understand that there is no such thing as time a management only event management which is the first key to maximising your results.
Bottom line is, it’s up to you to effectively manage your events amidst a persistent sea of competing interests and once you master that you will be able to do more and accomplish more in a much more efficient, productive and profitable manner.
Here are three ways to help you take back control and manage your time better:
1. Begin with the End in Mind
Before starting your week, identify your most important tasks, tasks that you need to accomplish, as well as the specific results or metrics that you want in terms of deliverables.
Limit your list to no more than three to five items and schedule them based on their degree of difficulty with the hardest task first.
NB. Take care not to assign equally demanding items on the same day.
Allocate a specific period of time to accomplish each task, approaching them with a sense of enthusiasm and urgency.
And when a competing interest arises, ask: Is this activity relevant and appropriate right now given what I need to accomplish today?
Every once in a while a dilemma will arise that will take precedence, but with proper planning this will occur less frequently and where the task takes you away from your "to do list" set it up so that particular task can be delegated.
Evaluate your success by how many critical outcomes remain outstanding by the week’s end.
Your goal is a completion rate of >90% .
Push any incomplete tasks to the following week placing these items at the top of the list for rapid completion or delegate those tasks to another staff member who is capable or completing them quickly and efficiently for you.
2. Confront Distractions
It may seem difficult to avoid the constant lure of people, technology and other more appealing distractions when compared to work but remember that you’re responsible for all the choices you make.
What’s the best choice –And is it a want or is it a need?
Eliminate distractions. You already know your weaknesses and what is likely to cause you to lose focus and attention so remove these distractions before you begin.
Recognise distractions for what they are, and realise that by giving these distractions any attention at all will cause you to lose precious time, time that could be better spent doing the things that matter the most, and doing things that will make you money!.
Evaluate your success by how well you navigate each distraction and whether or not you achieved the desired outcome you started out with.
3. Evaluate Your Results
By measuring your performance and taking a closer look at your results, you can quickly determine where adjustments need to be made.
Critical Benchmarks: Daily and Weekly.
While everything is still fresh in your mind, do a quick assessment at the end of each day.
Did you achieve your objectives?
If not, consider the impact this is having on your time, your performance, your productivity, your efficiencies, your business, your profits and your staff.
Are you creating a positive and enthusiastic environment?
Be prepared to change and be prepared to abandon whatever isn’t working and further develop whatever is.
At the end of each week, do a global assessment including those tasks which were delegated.
Look for patterns and trends in behaviour and performance to better understand where time is being lost, and where productivity and efficiencies are being compromised.
Whatever you find, whatever you discover through this assessment you will still need to go beyond those observations to maximize your results.
Learn to manage the events in your day and disregard the time because we all have the same amount of time, so it boils down to how effective and how efficient we can be with our event management and activities that will determine just how well we maximize our results.
Bottom line:
- Be deliberately proactive
- Set yourself up for success - Plan ahead
- Use these simple strategies to harness the power of your working day
- And understand that you can’t manage time – only events.
I’m Christopher Shaw and I’m wishing You Continued Success!
www.facebook.com/mindinterventions
1300 822 090