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Can you really stuff 20 pounds into a 10-pound sack? Well, maybe not literally, but the more efficiently you operate, the more you will get done, and sooner rather than later. Five principles follow for how to be as efficient as possible:
1) Handle Once
The old adage “only handle something once” is pretty savvy. While you don’t want to literally handle everything that comes at you immediately, you should decide the next step for it right then. Does it go in the “read later” folder or pile? Does it go onto your “do today” list? Is it urgent so it gets taken care of right now? Get used to making quick decisions about next steps for all your tasks, whether email messages, work you need to do, errands you need to run, whatever. This method will save you from wasting time revisiting tasks over and over.
2) Prioritize
Relentlessly prioritize. Some people have numbered to-do lists. Others have lists grouped into As, Bs and Cs to allow a little more latitude than numbered lists. Still others have physical piles separated into do now, do this week, or do later. Whatever system works for you, use one! Prioritizing correctly will ensure that you are working on those things that are most critical at the moment.
One good way to make the decision as to priority is the urgent/important test. If something is both urgent and important – say my son broke his wrist so getting him medical attention falls into the “do it right now” category – it climbs up in priority. Something that is urgent but not as important – let’s say getting your hair colored – will have a high priority but not as high as those items above.
Tasks that are not urgent but are important are insidious because they tend to be put off when, in reality, they should carry a high priority. Items that fall into this category might be completing a strategic plan for your business or at home, making sure your fire extinguishers are handy and functioning. Move these items up the list, despite the fact that they are not urgent.
Lastly are the “not urgent nor important tasks” which deserve scrutiny for whether you really need to do them at all. Can you delegate them? Or can you delay until a calmer time? Be ruthless with these items … they belong on the bottom of the priority list, if at all.
Urgent
Sooner | Now
Not? | Soon
Important
Priority will help ensure that you are focusing on the right things in the right order, given your limited available time.
3) Use Technology
There really are some amazing time-saving tools out there. The Gadget Girl column in AW is a great place to discover some of them. Suffice it to say that from the iPhone and all its applications, to Google tools (Voice, Wave, etc.) for online efficiencies, to photo-organizing tools on your computer, technology can be incredibly helpful in saving time, let alone enabling you to be more effective.
One low-tech tool I recommend is the telephone. To replace meetings or conversations that you might think you need to have in person, make it a phone call/conference call instead. Beyond the drive time you save, you will cut down the overall time spent during the meeting as well. Calls just conclude faster than meetings. While I don’t have statistics on how much calls reduce meeting time, after doing business this way for at least 20 years now, I can affirm that calls are substantially less time consuming. This method will obviously not work for all circumstances – where you don’t know the parties, where you have very sensitive issues to discuss, etc. – but for many conversations, a call can easily replace a face-to-face meeting.
4) Break Large Projects Into Small Pieces
When faced with a monumental project, the tendency is to procrastinate because it seems like such a big hill to climb. The fairly simple act of breaking the huge task into small steps will make the job seem more manageable and enable you to tackle these smaller tasks, one by one, until you complete the whole.
As an example, one time I was given a project to hire 20 new people in two months. While this task might seem monumental, by carving it into pieces such as 1) establishing the job description, 2) recruiting candidates, 3) screening applications, 4) interviewing, 5) selecting, and 6) onboarding; I was able to effectively tackle the assignment and get it done on time. Of course, much more went into the project in terms of detailed planning within each piece above, along with an associated timeline, but it further reinforced the concept of dividing big into small to make it more approachable.
5) Meet with Purpose (and an Agenda)
Don’t fall into the meeting trap … meetings that wander endlessly in discussion with no focused goal so that by the end you come away saying, “What did we accomplish?” Instead, insist on having an established purpose for the meeting and, better yet, an agenda with topics and a timeline with an ending time. This little bit of organization on the front end will enable you to get so much more done with your precious time.
So, while I can’t give you 20 pounds in a 10-pound sack, nor more than 24 hours in a day, the tips above can help you make the most out of your (always) scarce time.
Vision Area Integration
April 8, 2010
Purpose: Develop a strategy and associated action plan for integrating across Vision Areas … Deliverable: Tactical Action Plan
Agenda:
Topic Timeframe Who
Brainstorm possible strategies 1:00 – 1:20pm Deb
Choose appropriate strategies 1:20 – 1:40pm Deb
Develop tactical action plan for 1:40 – 2:00pm Deb
each strategy
Limit: 1 – 2pm