TGs Series # 2

Index

1 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
8. What is required is a central shift in Attitude..15 9. Exercise. 20 10.Getting the most out of leadership. 22

1. The Objective of the Book.01 2. Editorial.... .02 3. Why do we need time management.. .06 4. Definition of time management 08 5. Demands on your time.. 09 6. Exercise .10 7. Common time wasters13

11.Evading demands of people. ..27 12.Delegation how to delegate? Why do people fail to delegate? What should

2 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
not be delegated?. ..31 13.Handling interruptions..40 14.Time Management Tips...42

3 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
The objective of the book Achieve a sense of balance. Reduce stress. Enjoy life. Allocate time according to priority. Efficiency and efficacy.

1 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
Every horse race has a first place winner and a runner-up, second place contender. It is not uncommon for the first place horse to earn twice the prize as the second place finisher. Curiously, the number one horse did not have to run twice as fast or go twice as far as the competition to get twice the money. It only had to be a nose ahead of the competition to reap twice the rewards.

Editorial

2 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2

Time management, personal productivity, and success in life are a lot like the horse race metaphor. To get twice as much in life, in any of our many dimensions, health, family, financial, intellectual, professional, social, and spiritual, we do not have to double our effort and input. We only need to get a nose ahead of where we are now to realize significant increases in our results.

The suggestions given in this book, when applied, can help us to get a "nose ahead."

3 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2

First, plan your day, every day, preferably, the night before. Then, when arriving at work, there is a plan of action to direct us forward. Without a plan, temptations may draw us into unproductive avenues where we may serve the loudest voice that demands our time rather than dealing with the most productive opportunity.

Typically, it is unlikely that all items on the list will be completed, but that is fine. Success has little to do with how much was left undone at the end of the day but, rather, what was actually accomplished. We will always leave undone more than we do get done simply because we all have more to do than time permits which says a lot of good things about how good we really are, to have so much

4 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
entrusted to us by so many!

Second, over-plan your day to take advantage of "Parkinson's Law" which teaches that, "a project tends to take the time allocated for it." If you give yourself one thing to do during the day, it will likely take all day to complete it. If you give yourself two things to do during the day, you will likely accomplish both. If you give yourself twelve things to do during the day, you may not get all twelve done, but you

5 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
may complete seven or eight items. Having a lot to do creates a healthy sense of pressure on us to naturally become better time managers. With a lot on our plate, we tend to be more focused, we tend to suffer interruptions less so, and we delegate better. Third, work with a clean desk and work environment. There is truth in the saying, "Out of sight; out of mind." Equally true is the reverse, "In sight; in mind." When items are in our field of vision, we cannot help but be distracted and pulled in the wrong direction where we may major in the minors, busy all day long, but accomplishing little of significance.

6 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2

Fourth, restrict meetings. A meeting is two or more people getting together to exchange common information. Simple enough, but probably one of the top institutional time wasters. Always ask, "Do I contribute anything to this meeting?" and "Do I get anything of value from this meeting?" If the answer to both questions is "no," try to find a way out of attending the meeting.

Finally, handle paper just once. Get out of the "shuffling blues". As you encounter each new piece of paper, if it can be responded to quickly, in a minute or less, respond then and there. If it will require a longer effort, schedule it for a time when you will get to it and then put it away.

7 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2

Common sense ideas. That's what horse sense is, yes? Enjoy the race (book). Why do we need management time

Some of the objectives according to us are :

Take a minute to think through as to why do you need time management ?

To achieve our goals. Feel a sense of control. Reduce stress. Allocate time to areas that are important to us. Feel a sense of balance. Reduce effort.

8 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2

Enjoy life. Feel that we have a choice. Be efficient.

Increase your effectiveness and reduce stress

By using Time Management skills you can learn to:

By becoming more effective in your use of working time, you can reduce stress by:

Determine which of the things you do are important, and which can be dropped Use your time in the most effective way possible Increase the time in which you can work Control the distractions that waste your time and break your flow

being more in control of what you do being productive, and secure in your job because of this

9 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2

enjoying what you do giving yourself more quality time to relax and enjoy life outside work

10 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
Social time

Definition of time management

It is the skill of taking action for the right reason at the right time in the right way.

This is the time we spend on meeting friends, making social calls, talking on the telephone, family occasions, get-togethers, spend on self development like reading etc.

Business time Time can be of various types

Biological time

This is the time spent on meetings, interviews, data entry etc.

This is the time we spend on sleep, physical recreation and food etc.

How do we optimize the Social, biological time and business time?

11 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2

12 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
easy to forget time spent talking to colleagues, making coffee, eating lunch, etc. It can also function poorly when you are at a low ebb during the day. You may also be unaware that your energy levels may vary through the day - most people function at different levels of effectiveness at different times. This may be caused by the amount of sugar in their blood, the length of time since they took a break, routine distractions, stress, discomfort, etc.

Demands on your time

How do you spend your day now? Memory is a very poor guide when it comes to assessing how you spend your time - it is too

13 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
How to use an Activity Log to find out A revealing technique is to keep an Activity Log for several days. Without modifying your behaviour, note down the things you do as you do them, from the moment you start working. Every time you change activities, whether opening mail, working, making coffee, dealing with colleagues, gossiping, going to collect paper from a printer, etc., note down the time of the change. As well as noting activities, it is worth noting how you feel, whether alert, flat, tired, energetic, etc. This should be done periodically throughout the day.

Analysing your log Once you have logged your time for several days, analyse the log. You may be alarmed to see the length of time you spend opening mail, talking to colleagues, dealing with disruptions, or doing low value jobs! You may also see that you are energetic in some parts of the day, and flat in other parts. A lot

14 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
of this can depend on the rest breaks you take, the times and amounts you eat, and quality of your nutrition. The activity log gives you some basis for experimenting with these variables.

15 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
o List down the three major time demanders.

Exercise

Also decide where the least

demands come from? o List down the three least time demanders.

Which of these activities are value adding activities ?

Decide where most of the

demands on your time come from?

16 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2

Which of the activities are non value adding activities ?

17 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2

Common time wasters In order for a time management process to work it is important to know what aspects of our personal management need to be improved. Below you will find some of the most frequent reasons for reducing effectiveness in the workplace. Tick the ones which are causing to be the major obstacles to your own time management. These we refer to as your "Time Stealers".

Identifying your time stealers

Interruptions telephone Interruptions personal visitors Meetings Tasks you should have delegated Procrastinatio n and indecision

18 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2

Acting with incomplete information Dealing with team members Crisis management (fire fighting) Unclear communication Inadequate technical knowledge Unclear objectives and priorities Lack of planning Stress and fatigue

Inability to say "No" Desk management and personal disorganization

Fortunately there are strategies you can use to manage your time, be more in control and reduce stress, but you can analyse your time and see how you may be both the cause and the solution to your time challenges.

19 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
Many people spend their days in a frenzy of activity, but achieve very little because they are not concentrating on the right things. This is neatly summed up in the Pareto Principle*, or the 80/20 rule. This states that typically 80% of unfocussed effort generates only 20% of results, and that the remaining 80% of results are achieved with only 20% of the effort. By applying time management, including planning, we aim to change this to ensure that we concentrate as much of our effort as possible on the high payoff tasks. This ensures that we achieve the

Whats required is a - The Central Shift in Attitude

At the heart of the subject is a simple, but obvious, shift in focus: Concentrate on results, not on being busy

20 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
greatest payoff possible with our investment of time. Below, we examine time management issues in more detail 1. Shifting priorities and crisis management. Management guru Peter Drucker says that "crisis management is actually the form of management preferred by most managers" The irony is that actions taken prior to the crisis could have prevented the fire in the first place.

2. The telephone. Have you ever had one of those days when you thought your true calling was in Telemarketing. The telephone-our greatest communication tool can be our biggest enemy to effectiveness if you don't know how to control its hold over you. 3.Lack of priorities/objectives. This probably the biggest/ most important time waster. It affects

21 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
all we do both professionally and personally. Those who accomplish the most in a day know exactly what they want to accomplish. Unfortunately too many of us think that goals and objectives are yearly things and not daily considerations. This results in too much time spent on the minor things and not on the things which are important to our work/lives 4. Attempting too much.

Many people today feel that they have to accomplish everything yesterday and don't give themselves enough time to do things properly. This leads only to half finished projects and no feeling of achievement.

22 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
5.Drop in visitors. The five deadliest words that rob your time are "Have you got a minute". Everyone's the culpritcolleagues., the boss, your peers. Knowing how to deal with interruptions is one of the best skills you can learn . 6.Ineffective delegation. Good delegation is considered a key skill in both managers and leaders. The best managers have an ability to delegate work to staff and ensure it is done correctly. This is probably the best way of building a teams moral and reducing your workload at the same time. The general rule is -this; if one of your staff can do it 80% as well as you can, then delegate it. 7. The cluttered desk.

When you have finished reading this article look at your desk. If you can see less than 80% of it then you are probably suffering from 'desk stress'. The most effective people work from clear desks.

23 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
8.Procrastination. The biggest thief of time; not decision making but decision avoidance. By reducing the amount of procrastinating you do you can substantially increase the amount of active time available to you. 9. The inability to say "no!". The general rule is; if people can dump their work or problems on to your shoulders they will do it . Some of the most stressed people around lack the skill to 'just say no' for fear of upsetting people. 10. Meetings. Studies have shown that the average manager spends about 17 hours a week in meetings and about 6 hours in the planning time and untold hours in the follow up. I recently spoke to an executive who has had in the last 3 months 250 meetings It is widely acknowledged that about as much of a third of the time spent in meetings is wasted due to poor meeting management and lack of planning If you remember your goal is to increase your self management, these are the best ways to achieve this; 1.2 Job clarification The purpose and priorities, without purpose the efforts are wasted.

24 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2

This is basically an understanding between the job holder and also manager about,

What the individuals job is What they are expected to achieve Where/how it relates to other jobs

25 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2

Exercise 1 2 3 What are the main job activities What are the key areas What are the key priorities

1.2.2 Tasks Analysis There are many tasks that make up an activity. We many times are unable to do many activities because we either do not enjoy them or dont have time for them. Exercise

1.2.1 Inputs analysis 1 This is the process to : 2 Exercise 1 2 Identify the people who give u the major work Identify also the time wasters What do you have to do achieve your purpose? How skilled are you at each task ?

26 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2

Section D KRA s After analysing all the tasks do identify certain key areas of improvement Key action Area 1 Key action Area 2 Key action Area 3 And there are many more that you can list down.

Styles of time Learning to say No was one of them.

27 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
Just as jobs that you do have a cost, the meetings that you attend have a cost, not only of your time but also that of the other attendees. You should ask yourself whether the benefit of the meeting has been worth the time invested in both the meeting and the preparation for it. Was your contribution worth your investment? This section explains how to run a meeting in the most effective way possible, and then how to get the most out of meetings that you attend.

Getting the most meetings

out

of

Meetings can be effective ways of sharing information or reaching a decision. They can, however, be ineffectively run in a way that swallows up your time without giving a sufficient benefit.

28 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
Running Meetings This section gives a series of recommendations that should help you to run effective meetings: Hold meetings only when trigger events occur whether this is cost-effective or not. In many cases it is much more effective to agree to hold meetings only when specific trigger events show them to be necessary. As an example, a manager may propose a meeting when he or she projects that resource difficulties may be encountered, and needs a decision on how to handle this. By scheduling meetings to occur on trigger events, you can ensures that time is invested in the solution of a problem only when it is needed.

Regular meetings are often little more than a security blanket, where the convenor feels vaguely that 'it is a good thing to communicate' with only vague ideas what to communicate about. Time is routinely made available for discussion, so discussion will expand to fill it

29 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
Use the Agenda Effectively The agenda of the meeting shows the aim of the meeting, and points of discussion in priority order - effectively it is a To Do List for the meeting. Using an agenda helps to focus the meeting, stopping it drifting off-topic. If you circulate it sufficiently far in advance, it allows people to prepare fully for the meeting so the meeting does not stall for lack of information. Where many people are to attend the meeting, it may be beneficial for a small expert subcommittee to meet to prepare the agenda. Setting the time meeting of the

You can usefully change the timing of the meeting depending on the habits of the attendees:

Where people tend to waffle excessively, you can schedule the meeting just

30 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
before lunch or going home. This gives people an incentive to be brief Alternatively where other people are time conscious, writing the cost per minute of the meeting on a flip chart can have a focusing effect. Where people tend to turn up late, start a meeting at an unusual time, e.g. 19 minutes past the hour. This seems to improve punctuality. If possible, ensure that the meeting starts on time where it starts late, time of all the attendees is being wasted waiting for the start. If late-comers are not critically needed, start without them. Other Useful Techniques These points can also improve the effectiveness of a meeting:

You should only bring the minimum number of attendees to a meeting the more people are present, the more will want to air their views. Similarly, bringing people who are not needed to a meeting wastes their time. Ensure that decisions taken at previous meetings have been acted on. This

31 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
ensures that the meeting will not just be seen as a 'talking-shop'. At the end of the meeting, summarise the points discussed, and make an action plan out of the decisions taken. This ensures that everyone understands what has been decided, and who will do what. other people's time. To this end, you should be:

Attending Meetings When you attend a meeting, ensure that you do not waste

on time, and present only if needed well prepared and briefed on your contribution attentive to the discussion so that your contribution does not repeat someone else's

32 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2

involved in the discussion and brief, relevant, focussed and courteous in your interventions

33 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
Evading demands of people.

You do not always need to be welcoming

Visitors can waste a lot of time. Other people may not have as disciplined an approach to work as yourself. You may find that you are wasting time dealing with colleagues who stop to chat and gossip, are having time needed for intense concentration disrupted by assistants needing help on small matters, or are being pestered by salesmen.

In these cases you may find that you are being too welcoming. You can protect yourself with barriers such as closed doors, tables or desks. Similarly you can prevent people from settling by removing places where people can sit. Alternatively you can avoid eye contact or stand up

34 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
yourself. These make it uncomfortable for other people to be in your space. Where you are in a sufficiently powerful position, you may find it effective to refuse to accept interruption without an appointment. This is particularly effective with salesmen. Letting people know not to distract you You may have times when you do not mind being distracted - perhaps when you are tired, or doing jobs that do not require sustained concentration. At other times you may prefer not to interrupted, but may be happy to take interruptions if they are important. Sometimes you may be concentrating on difficult work where you do not want to be distracted unless the building is burning down!

35 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
consider putting your phone on divert, or 'leaving it off the hook'. When dealing with colleagues it is worth being light-hearted some successful solutions have involved wearing arctic ear-muffs when they need to work uninterrupted, or setting up traffic lights where the colour of the lights shows whether people can interrupt or not. Creating positive delays Occasionally delay can be positive and useful:

If you have a PA, then he or she can screen you from visitors or phone calls. If not, then it may be useful to develop strategies to let people know whether they can interrupt you or not. To avoid telephone distractions you may

36 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2

When you are tired, upset or angry it can often be best not to tackle jobs that require sensitivity and clarity of thought. When you do not have the information or skills to do a job properly, it may be best to delay until you have acquired them. When there is something more important to do than the job being delayed.

more information to come to light to guide the choice, may see a different perspective that changes your view of the circumstances. Alternatively random occurrences may give you a useful advantage, or may reduce the severity of a problem. These positive aspects of delay must not, however, be used as an excuse to avoid action that is obviously essential

Delay can also be useful in a situation where you feel threatened or are unhappy about any course of action needed to meet a crisis. By delaying in these cases you give time for

37 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
Delegation How to delegate work to other people Delegation is useful following reasons:

for

the

Delegation involves passing responsibility for completion of work to other people. This section examines the reasons you should delegate, how to delegate, failure to delegate and what should not be delegated.

Once people have learned how to work with you, they can take responsibility for jobs you do not have time to do. You can develop people to look after routine tasks that are not cost-effective for you to carry out It transfers work to people whose skills in a particular area are better than yours, saving time. Transfer of responsibility develops your staff, and can increase their enjoyment of their jobs

38 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
The ideal position to reach as a manager is one where your staff carry out all the routine activities of your team. This leaves you time to plan, think, and improve the efficiency of what you are doing. How to delegate? The following points may help you in delegating jobs:

effectively done by someone either more skilled in a particular area, or less expensive. Alternatively you may decide to use your activity log as the basis of your decision to delegate: this will show you where you are spending large amounts of time on low yield jobs.

Deciding what to delegate: One way of deciding what to delegate is simply to list the things that you do which could be more

Select capable, willing people to carry out jobs: How far you can delegate jobs will depend on the ability, experience and

39 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
reliability of your assistants. Good people will be able to carry out large jobs with no intervention from you. Inexperienced or unreliable people will need close supervision to get a job done to the correct standard. However if you coach, encourage and give practice to them you may improve their ability to carry out larger and larger tasks unsupervised.

than on many fragments of the task. If you delegate a complete task to a capable assistant, you are also more likely to receive a more elegant, tightly integrated solution.

Explain why the job is done, and what results are expected: When you delegate a job, explain how it fits into the overall picture of what you are trying to achieve. Ensure that you communicate effectively:

Delegate complete jobs: It is much more satisfying to work on a single task

40 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
o o o

o o

the results that are needed the importance of the job the constraints within which it should be carried out the deadlines for completion internal reporting dates when you want information on the progress of the project

Then let go!

Once you have decided to delegate a task, let your assistant get on with it. Review the project on the agreed reporting dates, but do not constantly look over their shoulders. Recognise that your assistants may know a better way of doing something than you do. Accept that there may be different ways of achieving a particular task, and also that one of the best ways of really learning something is through making mistakes. Always accept mistakes that are not caused by idleness, and that are learned from.

41 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2

Give help and coach when requested: It is important to support your subordinates when they are having difficulties, but do not do the job for them. If you do, then they will not develop the confidence to do the job themselves. Accept only finished work: You have delegated a task to take a work load off you. If you accept only partially completed jobs back, then you will have to invest time in completing them, and your assistant will not get the experience he or she

needs in completing projects. Give credit when a job has been successfully completed: Public recognition both reinforces the enjoyment of success with the assistant who carried out the task and sets a standard for other employees.

42 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
delegation than they do for you to do by yourself, when coaching and checking are taken into account. In time, with the right people, you will find that the time taken up reduces significantly as your coaching investment pays back.

Why do people fail to delegate? Despite the many advantages of delegation, some managers do not delegate. This can be for the following reasons:

Lack of time: Delegating jobs do take time. In the early stages of taking over a job you may need to invest time in training people to take over tasks. Jobs may take longer to achieve with

43 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2

Perfectionism - fear of mistakes: Just as you have to develop staff to do jobs quickly without your involvement, you will have to let people make mistakes, and help them to correct them. Most people will, with time, learn to do jobs properly. Enjoying 'getting my hands dirty': By doing jobs yourself you will probably get them done effectively. If, however, your assistants are standing idle while you do this, then your department will be seriously inefficient. Bear in

mind the cost of your time and the cost of your department's time when you are tempted to do a job yourself. Fear of surrendering authority: Whenever you delegate, you surrender some element of authority (but not of responsibility!) This is inevitable. By effective delegation, however, you get the benefits of adequate time to do YOUR job really well. Fear of becoming invisible: Where your department is running smoothly with all

44 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
routine work effectively delegated, it may appear that you have nothing to do. Now you have the time to think and plan and improve operations (and plan your next career step!) Belief that staff is not up to the job': Good people will often under-perform if they are bored. Delegation will often bring the best out of them. People who are not so good will not be effective unless you invest time in them. Even incompetent people can be effective, providing they find their level. The only people who cannot be reliably delegated to are those whose opinions of their own abilities are so inflated that they will not co-operate. It is common for people who are newly promoted to managerial positions to have difficulty delegating. Often they will have been promoted because they were good at what they were doing. This brings the temptation to continue trying to do their previous job, rather than developing their new subordinates to do the job well.

45 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2

What should not be delegated? While you should delegate as many tasks as possible that are not cost effective for you to carry out, ensure that you do not delegate the control of your team. Remember that you bear ultimate responsibility for the success or failure of what you are trying to achieve. Effective delegation involves achieving the correct balance between effective control of work and letting people get on with jobs in their own way.

46 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
Handling Interruptions. or relevant people when each meeting will end and make it clear that you do not wish to be interrupted, and when you will be available. 2.If you are constantly bombarded by random phone calls and visits, set aside a time each day (quiet time, focus time) to work on specific projects. Make sure staff are aware that this time is sacrosanct and should not be intruded upon unless there is a dire emergency. Consider scheduling this time at the same time each day. 3.If you have a "gate-keeper" who deals with visitors and phone calls

Interruptions, be they on the phone or in person can be frustrating and time consuming. Apart from the time spend ON the interruption, it may take time after the interruption for you to regain your original level of concentration and focus. Some tips follow. 1.When scheduling meetings (ie., in your office), schedule them in blocks. Don't have one here and one there, but consolidate them, one after the other if possible. This will help keep each individual meeting to a reasonable and predefined length. Inform secretary

47 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
before they are handed to you, make sure that they know what people should be "gated" to you and which people will receive return calls/visits. You don't NEED to see or talk to people every time THEY want you. You can exert some control over the process. 4.Set aside particular times each day to return calls. If you have a secretary inform him/her when you will be returning calls so this information can be passed on to the caller.

48 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
Change habits that lead to messes. Keep cleaning supplies handy so you can take advantage of the odd free moment to police your work space.

Time Management Tips The following tips can help you stay on track:

Conquer the clutter. Schedule 10 to 15 minutes each week to clear your work area of junk mail, old papers, and other accumulated clutter.

Defuse distractions. Little distractions can add up to a major drain on productivity. If you're spending too much time on the phone, keep an egg timer at your desk and hold calls to a reasonable limit. Learn how to terminate calls politely. If co-workers often drop in to

49 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
chat, close your door. If you're constantly walking around obstacles, consider a change of floor plan. Take steps to reduce distracting noise. different lighting would boost your efficiency.

Know thyself. Rivers can't be forced to flow uphill; nor should you try to work against your inner nature. Schedule the toughest work for your circadian period of peak productivity. Minimize the impact of sub optimal climate control with a fan or small heater. Perhaps better or

Eliminate redundancy. Analyze every process you use to determine if any steps can be eliminated. Common problems include multiple signatures for approval, extra steps designed to circumvent systems or correct problems that could be addressed more directly, and generating multiple copies that are no longer required.

50 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
Group and separate. tedious or redundant tasks can be grouped for increased efficiency: file all at once, bill all at once, order all at once. Large, multifaceted tasks, on the other hand, may be best tackled in small pieces. For example, sort that large stack of paperwork on Monday, process some on Tuesday, some on Wednesday, and so forth until it's done. Using this approach, even the most daunting tasks become manageable. Share the burden. As any quieter knows, many hands make light work, especially when tackling tedious or large

tasks. Performance of dreaded chores like the annual inventory can take on a party atmosphere when many are involved and frequent breaks are scheduled.

Seize the moment. We all have a tendency to put off minor, less important tasks, and we also spend significant chunks of time holding on the phone or waiting in line. Can you see an opportunity here? Make a list of tasks that take five, 10, or 20 minutes, and keep the materials you need

51 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
to do these tasks handy. That way, when you're put on hold or stuck in line, you can pull out that small job and finish it up. task; perhaps you've overlooked some short cuts.

Emulate others. Don't try to reinvent the wheel. If someone else always seems to be ahead of the game, watch and learn. If someone else has a speedier way of doing something, copy it. If you're having trouble getting specific jobs done, ask others how they organize and execute the

Make work fun. Introducing a bit of fun into your work will make the day easier for you and your customers. Challenge yourself to process one hundred pieces of paper every day for five days. Have a friendly contest with a co-worker to see who can process the most billing statements in an hour with no mistakes. If possible, flip your morning and afternoon

52 Time Management Hand Book

TGs Series # 2
schedules for a change of pace.

53 Time Management Hand Book