“There is always more to be done, more that should be done, always more than can be done”

Andy Grove – CEO Intel

Christmas is a time for reflection – appreciating what you have achieved in the year, celebrating with your family or friends, resting and enjoying the holiday break before starting the new year, energised and refreshed.

As business owners and managers, we are ALWAYS under pressure and have restrictions on our time. There is always more to be done, as Andy Gove’s quote says, “You can never get time back!” We can accumulate money, friends, customers and businesses, but we cannot accumulate time.

So how do we get ‘more time’?

A simple exercise to get your time back and get better results

As business owners and managers, we are under constant pressure and time commitments. As Andy Grove’s quote says, there is always more to be done and sadly, we are costrained by the amount of time we have.

There are only 1,440 minutes in the day.

Having a to-do list does not always mean we can allocate our time effectively. Many of us spend time on things we like doing, rather than on what we should be doing!

As a manager, do you know the difference between effectiveness and efficiency?

The difference can be summarised as follows …

Being effective is about doing the right things, while being efficient is about doing things right.

I worked with a business partner who had a to-do list that he compiled daily at the start of each day. He would work on the easy tasks, such as answering emails but not the more difficult ones. He may have been efficient at creating a to-do list, but he was certainly not effective. The important things including having difficult conversations with customers, were not being done.

For us, as managers there is a difference between being effective and being efficient.

1. Effective – producing the intended or expected result
2. Efficient – performing in the best possible manner with the least waste of time and effort

As managers, to ensure effective and efficient use of time, we need to minimise reactive attention and maximise focused attention. This means that we should do this when we have the most energy and can focus. Lower energy tasks can be attended to later.

Here are my recommendations:

• Select the time during the day when you have the most energy and can focus. For me, I’m a morning person so it’s the first 2-3 hours of the day.
• Decide on what your most important tasks for the day are. Draw up a list and prioritise them into three categories. I’m a big fan of the ‘rule of three’ :
  • Write down the things that only you can do
• • Write down the things you hate doing
  • Write down the things that you shouldn’t be doing

Once you have done this, prioritise the tasks you need to do to ensure effectiveness and delegate those tasks that you shouldn’t be doing. Also, this includes “eating the frog”which is the worst task for the day. It’s amazing the sense of satisfaction when you complete such a task, as it often triggers endorphins, making you positive and energised. Also delegate.

Now that you have categorised your daily tasks, the next challenge is to determine what we should focus as an effective manager. It should not be tasks that we like doing, but tasks that will have the most impact on your business. Activities such as administrative tasks and meetings can be completed in a ‘lower energy’ period of the day.

Do you think these suggestions have merit?

Everybody has their own way of prioritising daily tasks. Time is a limited resource. Remember you only have 1440 minutes in a day so it’s important use them effectively.

In conclusion, I encourage you to look back at everything you did during your last day or week and consider the percentage of time you spent on activities in each of the three categories. You are most likely to be shocked by how little time you spend on the important activities that will actually help your business grow!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

@thenetworkofconsultingprofessionals