Time Management: The Decent into Elimination

As promised, I am going back to the issue of time management in today’s post. On page 67, Ferris offers a few words about time management “Forget all about it”. Basically, he suggests that traditional time management approaches simply encourage us to fill up the day with more and more to do without really examining what is productive or efficient work versus tasks that are done very efficiently, yet lead to nowhere. Tasks that don’t help us complete mission critical tasks in the day, tasks that are not related to specific goals and worse, tasks that are used to avoid doing other things that are uncomfortable but important. [For more about Effective Versus Efficient Work See Post] http://4hrwwproject.wordpress.com/2010/02/01/figuring-out-how-to-get-to-my-goals-effective-versus-efficient-work/

I had a real struggle with this during the past week. I am a planner, list-maker and like to engage in organizational structure simply because of my nature. Giving up my locus of control was very difficult. A mentioned in the last post that I began using Toodledo software and this continues to help me organize, find my mission critical tasks each day (2 or 3 maximum) and most importantly through the  upgraded membership I can also assign each task to specific goals. At first I thought this may be exactly what Ferris was referring to as a bad idea, too much time spent entering info, checking lists etc etc. However, this is not the case. In fact, this approach was perfect for applying the 80/20 Principle (http://4hrwwproject.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/goals-and-the-8020-principle-finding-the-route/).

Again, Surprised the Hell Out of My Own Self!

I could not believe my eyes at the end of the second week when I looked at the list of things I had done and how many of those items related to a specific goal! It was a brick between the eyes. The previous week I had a 50/50 chance of looking at my completed tasks and having a task match a short-term, long-term or lifetime goal. The following week over 95% of what I had accomplished matched up perfectly with a goal! Also, over 50% of them were short-term goals. Unbelievable! I could actually see, come to life on my screen in front of me how I was going to knock off two short-term consulting projects within the next 2 weeks and I had not missed one day completing a task that was directly related to launching the new website (which I am excited to report is getting very very close).

What a relief.

For weeks now I have felt motivated and determined to make change. After last week’s Assessment of the First 30-Days of the Project http://4hrwwproject.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/first-30-day-assessment-of-the-4-hour-workweek-project/ I was also feeling like I was making real progress. Even the E-Business team was feeling the surge of excitement last week as we were doing final edits and designs changes to the New Child Safety site but when I saw the definitive evidence on my screen of the alignment of tasks to goals I was speechless.

So What Was the Major Factor in Lining Up Tasks to Goals

The answer to that question is going to seem so simply that I bet I lose a few readers, who state “yeah right” and click out of my blog. For those of you who have kept reading congratulations, you’re open-minded, seeking change and have determination. I followed Timothy Ferris’ advice exactly. At the beginning of last week, I ended each day by identifying my mission critical tasks for the following day. The two (sometimes 3) tasks that I had to carry out (or work a minimum of 3 hours on each work session) without interruption. I pulled any necessary hard-copy files I needed, starred any e-Documents necessary before I closed shop for the day. That way when I sat at my computer every morning I knew without thinking exactly what I was going to work on. In addition, my mission critical tasks were chosen based on either a priority to get something completed or move forward on a specific goal. I did this for 6 days in a row and it worked – I mean really really worked. Wow, how could the simplicity of this approach have eluded me for over 20 years? Hmm, that question I cannot answer. Possible do not want to.

One More Important Piece

I am beginning to understand how this whole process is starting to add up to more than the sum of its parts. Although lining up tasks to goals and setting out at the end of each work session preparing for the next is very important, other specific pieces of this whole process are necessary to continue the move from efficient to effective work. Because I am only checking my email once per day, mid-day, I am ‘protecting’ the mission critical time along with removing the temptation to get lost in the email black hole. I cannot stress this one enough. If you are looking to make change in your work life, free up more time and also move from being efficient (or maybe you don’t even feel particularly efficient) to your work becoming more effective do this one step today. Choose your one time (OK, start with two if that freaks you out) in the day you will check email, set up your auto-responder to let every one know why they may not hear from you as quickly as they might expect and give it a 30-day trial run. I can assure you this will change your day!

Next Blog: More about the decent into elimination: Answers to Ferris’ 9 Important Questions

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