Are you disorganized? Do you need help meeting your goals?
I recommend these books:
I. Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
p. 60 Get personally involved in all material you read;
read as if you are going to teach it within 48 hours. This also helps
you avoid wasting time, by actively learning the material.
p.98- Begin with the end (goal) in mind. This helps
you focus and manage your time around what is important to you: your goal.
p. 151 Time Management Matrix: Activities fall into one
of 4 categories
Urgent and Important: crises, pressing
problems, deadline driven projects
Urgent and not important: interruptions,
some mail, some meetings...
Not urgent and important: relationships,
planning, recreation, building relationships, recognizing new opportunities...
Not urgent and not important: busy
work, some phone calls, some mail...
II. Hyrum W. Smith, The 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management.
This books helps you to gain control over your life by gaining control of
your time. Naturally, there are some things we can’t control, but there
are significant tips here for how to control what you can. I think
the book also helps us see how our behavior may be wasting other people’s
time, so we may learn how to make the most out of the time we request from
other people.
Law 1: You control your life by controlling your time.
Law 2: Your governing values are the foundation of personal
success and fulfillment.
Law 3: When your daily activities reflect your governing
values, you experience inner peace.
Law 4: To reach any significant goal, you must leave your
comfort zone.
Law 5: Consistent daily planning leverages time and increases
focus.
(taken, from p. 14)
Time Robbers (pp. 30-45)
I. Those Imposed on us by others:
Interruptions
Waiting for answers
Unclear job definition
Unnecessary meetings
too much work
poor communication
shifting priorities
equipment failure
disorganized boss
red tape
conflicting priorities
low community morale
untrained staff
peer/staff demands
lack of authority
mistakes of others
revised deadlines
meetings
II. Self-Inflicted Time Robbers
failure to delegate
poor attitude
personal disorganization
absentmindedness
failure to listen
indecision
socializing
fatigue
lack of self-discipline
leaving tasks unfinished
paper shuffling
procrastination
outside activities
cluttered workspace
unclear personal goals
perfectionism
poor planning
preoccupation
attempting too much
Of all of these, the most commonly experienced time robbers are:
1. interruptions
Unnecessary Interruptions: “someone
drops in unannounced or calls on the phone, mistakenly assuming that you
care, that you have the required information, or that you are responsible.
If none of these is true, then this is an unnecessary intrusion....This interruptions
is to be avoided or terminated quickly.
Necessary Interruptions “are those
about which you do care, for which you do have information, or are responsible.
A necessary interruption has value, and you should handle it at once, unless
it is untimely.”
Untimely Interruptions “are necessary,
but come at an inconvenient or inappropriate time. These should be
rescheduled to a more suitable time.”
2. procrastination
--set a deadline and stick to it.
--divide large projects into smaller
units
3. shifting priorities
4. poor planning: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”
5. waiting for answers: request a time-frame for an expected
answer; call the person if the answer doesn’t come in that time-frame and
explain your need for getting the answer. Ask what you can do you help
out the situation.