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By Root 1190 0

book is a great example. I’ve been getting book offers for more than 10 years. But I looked at the book as a huge undertaking. Once I made the commitment, I put an hour a week on my calendar to address the book. Within three months, I had a solid book proposal that got me this book deal. What have you been putting off for years? Or what important initiatives are you just not getting to because they take too much time? Do them in small chunks of time.

Exercise

Next to each item on your list, write how much time you will realistically spend on it tomorrow. Now your list might look like this:

Work on client proposal—.5 hour.

Revise and fax contract—1.5 hours.

Schedule meetings—.5 hour.

Conference call—1 hour.

Work on marketing plan—1 hour.

Work on direct mail letter—2 hours.

Add up the total amount of hours for your “productive tasks.” Here it comes to 6.5 hours. I’ve done this exercise in many seminars, and there are always a few people who add up their hours and get 11 hours’ worth of stuff. Not realistic at all when you now must work these six things into the rest of your day. A good guide to go by is that your six most important things should take about six hours. I’ll explain why later.

Step 4: Plan the Day

Now that you have allocated amounts of time for each task, you need to plan your day. This is not a general guide to how your day might unfold. It must be specific and have a time slot for absolutely every thing. This includes each of the six items on your list as well as time to check email and open mail. Remember, if you are following the first rule and only touching these items once, then you need to have a dedicated period of time each day when you can deal with them.

Note in this fully planned day below that there are two periods of time for miscellaneous and got-a-minute meetings. These miscellaneous periods are absolutely essential because we all know that your day might be interrupted. There are some things you will have to react to that will throw you off your schedule. If you have planned at least two half-hour slots of reactive time, then when you get off track, you’ve actually built in buffers so that you can get back to your schedule. But, most important, stick to that schedule no matter what. Note in the plan below that this is actually a 10-hour day, but only 6.5 of the hours are for your six most important things:

8-8:30:

Send client proposal and check email.

8:30-9:00:

Review employees’ time management lists.

9–10:30:

Review, revise, and fax contract.

10:30–11:00:

Miscellaneous meetings (scheduled got-a-minutes), check email.

11–12:00:

Review marketing plan.

12–1:00:

Lunch with client.

1:30–2:00:

Conference call.

2–3:00:

got-a-minutes, miscellaneous, check e-mail.

3–5:00:

Direct mail letter.

5–6:00:

Check and respond to email.

Exercise

Write a plan for your day tomorrow that would give you enough time to cross off all six items on your to-do list and stay on top of your email and other tasks.

Step 5: Prioritize

Now that you’ve done this exercise, look at your day tomorrow and see where you put the most difficult tasks. In seminars, I often see people put the most important task last because it typically takes the most concentration or is the most difficult. But, by the end of the day, there is rarely time or energy to take on this chore. Put the most important task first. This simple step will give you a tremendous sense of control and accomplishment.

We’ve heard it again and again: only 20 percent of your effort brings 80 percent of your results. Many people drown in busywork that produces few results. They’re so busy that they’ve lost their ability to prioritize and concentrate. I call them “busypeople.” I’ve had a lot of them working for me over the years—dedicated, devoted, even appearing like they are really busy. But when you look at their actual productivity, it’s very low. For these people this whole technique becomes critical. And you have to police it like a ninja master to get them to