HOW TO M A

HOW TO
MANAGE YOUR TIME
Written by
Geoff Rutter
Former Youth For Christ International Training Director
February 2006
CONTENTS
PAGE
1
Introduction
3
2
Our responsibility
4
3
A suggested time allocation
4
Your time problems
10
5
Some observations
11
6
A parable
12
7
Key Result Areas
13
8
Know where your time is going
16
6
9
Consolidating your discretionary time
18
10
Four questions
18
11
When peers/subordinates ask for your time
19
12
How to deal with timewasters
20
13
The telephone
20
14
Meetings
21
15
Delegation
22
16
The desk & paperwork
23
17
Priorities
26
18
Taking time to think
28
19
Goals
29
20
Purpose in life
31
21
Other helps
32
22
Time Management in 4-D
32
23
Life Management
33
24
Moving towards the future
34
25
Action Plan form
35
26
Daily “Do” sheet
36
INTRODUCTION
Most of what I have learned in the area of “Time Management” has been through hearing & reading
Dr Ted Engstrom, former Chairman of the Board of Youth For Christ International. If you can ever
find any of his books (most of which are out of print by now), grab them – they’re like gold. In
presenting this offering to the noble men & women of YFC in Africa, it’s with a deep sense of
gratitude to Dr Ted that I do so.
The first few pages here are conceptual & are taken from my 1995 “book” ‘Leadership &
Management: What the Bible Says’ (if you would like a copy, I will e-mail it to you with pleasure).
Beginning on page 10, we get more practical. Treat these pages as a “buffet” – take what you want
2
& can make work for you, but don’t disdain the rest, which others might find useful.
My only plea is that you use this stuff, including the forms provided (eg at the end).
GEOFF RUTTER
Johannesburg, February 2006
"Make the best use of your time" (Ephesians 5:16, Phillips)
OUR RESPONSIBILITY
Managing our time, which really resolves to managing ourselves, is a very serious responsibility.
Peter Drucker (probably the world’s most effective management consultant, who died in November
2005 aged 95) has said: "Unless he manages himself effectively, no amount of ability, skill,
experience or knowledge will make an effective executive"1. This is not only accepted in business but
it is a Biblical emphasis too (while we must be very careful not to regard the Bible as a management
textbook, its clear challenge to us is to be wise & effective stewards of our time). The verse prior to
the one under our chapter heading - "Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise"
- clearly implies that it is a wise person who "makes the most of every opportunity" (Ephesians 5:15 &
3
16, NIV). The KJV of Ephesians 5:16 has "redeem the time", reflecting the term for "buying out of the
slave market" in the Greek. In a sense time becomes ours by purchase, and there is a price to be
paid for its highest employment. The link between time management and wisdom is also found in
Psalm 90:12, where Moses prays: "Teach us to number our days aright" (i.e. to appreciate how little
time we really have in this life) "that we may gain a heart of wisdom". "Certainly wise people know
that time is a precious commodity. All of us have the same amount of time at our disposal, with sixty
minutes in every hour and twenty-four hours in every day. None of us can stretch time. But wise
people use it to the fullest advantage"2.
There are other places in Scripture where we are encouraged to make the most of the resources God
has given us - the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) and the Parable of the Minas (Luke
19:12-27) are some.
SOME OT EXAMPLES
1. It is a well-accepted business principle that time is money, not only because a person is paid per
unit of time given to a company, but also because the skills, experience and knowledge he or she has
gained have a certain value in the market-place. However, the principle was in use long before
business discovered it! In Exodus 21 God gives Moses laws dealing with interpersonal quarrels and
injuries. In verse 19, the assailant is commanded to "pay the injured man for the loss of his time", i.e.
his loss of income resulting from enforced idleness. Here is the original "Workmens Compensation"!
2. There is a graphic example of fulfilment of the do it now principle in Numbers 1. God commands
Moses to take a military census of the Israelites. That command is received "on the first day of the
second month" (v 1) and is obeyed the same day (v 18)! Moses was busy and under pressure, yet
did not procrastinate the important tasks. Oswald Sanders' advice is: "A most helpful method of
overcoming a built-in tendency to procrastinate is to set deadlines for oneself for reading a book,
writing a difficult letter or article, doing a task, and then steadfastly refusing to overrun them"3.
THE PRIORITIES OF JESUS
While the above isolated examples are instructive, the overwhelming thrust of Scripture in the area of
Time Management/stewardship of our time is towards allocating our time correctly. The Bible does
not tell us to "make a list of things to do today", or "use a diary", or "filter out interruptions", or "find
your optimum attention span". Rather, it gives us several helps in determining our PRIORITIES, and
no better model can be found than Jesus Himself. "He divided His energy among the many and the
4
few, in line with His strategy of saving the sheep (the crowds) and building-up the under-shepherds
(the disciples). In Matthew's Gospel we see the pattern. He mentions Jesus' contacts with His
disciples roughly twice as often as contacts with any other group. At a quick count there are fifty-four
to fifty-five references to contacts and relations with His disciples, compared to twenty-seven
mentions of encounters with His opponents, while instances describing His mingling with crowds or
dealing with individuals occur an equal number of times - twenty-one or so each"4.
Someone has counted that the Gospels record only 52 days out of the life of Jesus. Yet at the end of
His life He could confidently say to His Father, "I have finished the work you gave me to do" (John
17:4). Three years of 24-hour days, though short, were sufficient for Him to accomplish His mission.
"Our Lord sets the perfect example of the strategic use of time. He moved through life with measured
tread, never in a hurry, though always thronged and often harassed by demanding crowds"5. (I have
often wondered how He would have handled the crazy city traffic of today!). The Gospels are replete
with stories of people interrupting Him, yet He never allowed them to disturb His serenity nor to
distract Him from His Father's plan for Him. And He maintained a sense of urgency throughout - "As
long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work"
(John 9:4).
A SUGGESTED TIME ALLOCATION FOR CHRISTIANS
In moving towards a practical set of priorities for busy Christian leaders, it is necessary first to
distinguish between demand time and discretionary time. If you are employed or studying, then
your company or college requires time from you that cannot be negotiated. You are not in a position
to say "no" to your boss when he asks for a meeting with you; if you do not give your best in your
studies you are possibly going to fail. Such "demand" time can occupy up to 75% of your day, i.e. the
pressure on you to manage your time effectively is intensified, as it's pressure on that 25% of your
day over which you have "discretion". How then should we allocate our discretionary or available
time? Here's a suggested order:
1. TIME FOR GOD For the many Christian business people and leaders who get hyped up by and
hooked on all their activity, the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42 is instructive. Mary "sat at
the Lord's feet listening to what He said", while her sister Martha "was distracted by all the
preparations that had to be made". In response to Martha's angry demand for Jesus to intervene, He
reminded her that
5
1) Only one thing is really necessary, i.e. to sit at His feet; and
2) It is something we can choose to do.
We are talking here about the leader's Quiet Time and private Bible Study and prayer life. These are
absolutely essential in maintaining our cutting edge in Christian work. Beware "the tyranny of the
urgent"6 - "the time for receiving marching orders is so important that Satan will do everything he can
to squeeze it out". Listen to John Stott - "It is often said that Jesus was always available to people.
This is not true. He was not. There were times when He sent the crowds away. He refused to allow
the urgent to displace the important. Regularly He withdrew from the pressures and the glare of his
public ministry, in order to seek his Father in solitude and replenish his reserves of strength"7. You
and I should follow his example.
As one Pastor put it: "Tuesday is my day with God. I have to spend some time with my boss to keep
this job and he calls me into conference each Tuesday. He takes a dim view of me answering the
phones and appearing at social functions on conference day. Your boss wouldn't like it if you ran out
of the room while he was trying to talk to you. Mine doesn't either".
We are talking too about prioritising our Christian service - I strongly recommend that you involve
yourself in the life of your local church and a maximum of one other organisation. Someone has said
that the expression "too many irons in the fire" has lost its meaning for many of us, because the fire
has turned into ashes - we are so busy in so many spheres of service that we are busy starving our
spiritual lives to death.
2. TIME FOR YOUR FAMILY Much has been written on the modern threat to the basic unit of
society and on the Christian's rightful response. And correctly so, for statistics show that the average
father spends a matter of a few seconds, not minutes, per day in quality interaction with his children.
A well-known story with a moral runs like this:
Question: "What's more important, my family or the Lord's work?"
Answer: "Your family is the Lord's work"
To meet this challenge, it is essential to plan and implement substantial time for doing things together
as a family, and not just fulfilling our interests but theirs as well.
3. TIME FOR YOURSELF This should include:
a) PHYSICAL - time for leisure and recreation. We have only one body, which is the temple of the
6
Holy Spirit, and no complete transplant is available -so it requires care! In Exodus 34, Moses has
gone back up the mountain to hear God speak again. In reiteration of the previously-given law about
the one in seven Sabbath, He commands "even during the ploughing season and harvest you must
rest" (v 21). If we don't come apart, we'll come apart! Here is an appropriate little poem8:
"My candle burns at both its ends,
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and ah, my friends,
It gives a wondrous light"
b) MENTAL - time for reading and studying widely. John Wesley is reported to have told his
ministers, "Either read or get out of the ministry". David Livingstone utilised his time so well that, in
spite of working in a mill for fourteen hours a day, he mastered Latin and could read Horace and
Virgil with ease before he was sixteen. By the time he was 27, he had qualified in both medicine and
theology. Developing our minds should be a lifelong process, not least in the light of a current
"knowledge cycle" (the rate at which the world's store of knowledge is doubled) of between five and
eight years9. The type and size of a leader's library says something about his or her mental capacities
and discipline....
c) GOAL FOCUS - time to set and pursue some personal goals. All our busy activity needs to be
concentrated towards a few specific, measurable goals. And none of us can have fully learned the
lesson of saying "no" to things that lure us into yet another activity trap, that conflict with our priorities
and that hinder us from achieving our goals. Mark 1:32-38 records Jesus pursuing His priorities - He
had worked late into the night "healing many who had various diseases. He also drove out many
demons", but was up "very early in the morning" to pray. The disciples find Him after a long search
and exclaim, "Everyone is looking for you!" But Jesus was praying, in spite of the expectations of
needy people. John Alexander's advice is: "Busy people probably should say no automatically unless
they are certain the Holy Spirit wants them to say yes"10.
4. TIME FOR OTHERS Last, but by no means least, is the time we need to spend with friends, both
Christians and unbelievers. We are social beings and need such interaction with other people. Time
should also be allocated to encouraging and affirming new Christians in their faith - if I hear of a new
believer in my church or circle of contacts I should take the initiative in teaching him or her some
Christian life basics, not assuming that someone else will do it.
7
ACTION TIME
1
Do you need to re-allocate the priorities of your life? Then take some immediate steps.
2
For you to think about:
a)
Next time you offer the excuse "I didn't have time", what you are really saying is, "it
wasn't important enough to do it".
b)
People who have half an hour to spend usually spend it with someone who hasn't.
c)
Money lost can be replaced but time lost is gone forever.
d)
We will never "find" time for anything; rather, we need to "make" time to do what is
important.
3
Some brief but potent Time Management tips:
a)
Plan tomorrow before you leave office tonight
b)
Catch yourself asking this question several times a day: "What is the best use of my
time right now?", then implement the answer
c)
Calculate the cost per minute of your next staff meeting
NOTES:
1
Ted Engstrom and Alec Mackenzie, "Managing Your Time", Zondervan 1967, p 41
2
John Stott, "God's New Society", IVP 1979, p 202
3
J Oswald Sanders, "Spiritual Leadership", MMS 1967, p 93
4
Leighton Ford, "Transforming Leadership", IVP 1991, p 164
5
Sanders, op cit, p 88
6
Title of Charles Hummel's excellent booklet, published by IVCF 1967
7
John Stott, "Issues Facing Christians Today", Marshalls 1984, p 338
8
World Vision Intl., Christian Leadership Letter, August 1984
9
Institute for Futures Research, Stellenbosch University
10
John Alexander, "Managing Our Work", IVP 1975, p 28
8
YOUR BIGGEST TIME PROBLEMS
Before you proceed any further:
Briefly define your biggest time management problem(s):
When you have finished working through this book, record your response to
this:
I am going to take the following action(s) to resolve the above problem(s):
9
SOME OBSERVATIONS
1
Time is slower for the:
patient than for the dentist
congregation than for the preacher
student than for the teacher
convict than for the warder
-
Dr Ted Engstrom
2
“Yesterday is a cancelled cheque; tomorrow is a promissory note”
3
“Time never takes time off” (Augustine)
4
“No hand can make the clock strike for me the hours that are passed” (Byron)
5
Time properly understood & managed is one of our best friends; poorly
appreciated & mismanaged, it is a formidable enemy
6
Everyone in the world has the same amount of time
7
Time is money (by virtue of the worth of a particular person’s time in financial
terms, eg the chief executive of a company is paid more than a clerk, thus his
10
time should not be spent on minor things). Note that we speak of spending
time……
8
Time is inelastic (a finite quantity), irreplaceable (once it’s gone, it’s gone),
irreversible (it doesn’t go backwards, only forwards) & indispensable (you
can’t do anything without spending time)
9
The greatest thief of my time is me (I cannot blame anyone else for wasting
my time if I fail to manage it properly)
10
Parkinson’s first law (his writings are well known in business) is: “Work will
expand (or contract) to fill whatever time is made available for it” (if I think a
particular project will take me two hours, it will; if I think it will take me three
hours, it will)
11
The resources available to anyone in management are:
a
People
b
Finance
c
Information
d
Experience
e
Time
What is unique about the last one is that it is NOT VARIABLE – all the others
can vary
A PARABLE
John Malepa woke up one day to discover that he had $ 86 400 in the bank. A
brand new account had been opened for him, but the condition was that he could not
keep the money beyond the end of the day – no balances could be carried forward,
neither could the account go into overdraft.
11
If you were John, how would you spend the money?
(For an answer & a lesson, see top of next page)
There are 86400 seconds in every day, but they cannot be stored, frozen or carried
forward to tomorrow. They have to be spent TODAY.
KEY RESULT AREAS
Also known as (depending on which textbooks you read):

Performance Areas

Effectiveness Areas

Key Areas

Focus Areas
1
Definition
Those areas of the organisation where I am responsible
to produce results
2
Performance & results in these areas will directly & vitally affect the health of
the organisation, & perhaps even its survival
3
Drucker:
8 KRA’s for any business:








4
Market share
Innovation
Productivity
Profitability
Physical & financial resources
Management performance & development
Worker performance & attitude
Social responsibility
Why is it important for me to have KRA’s?
12
a
b
They help me focus my energies & activities in the small % of my time
that is at my discretion (refer to page 4 for this concept)
They form the basis for setting goals or objectives (see later)
c
They are a means of communication within the organisation (i.e. who
does what around here)
d
They determine my priorities when choices arise
GUIDELINES TO HELP YOU ESTABLISH YOUR KRA’s
1
Refer the previous page for definitions
2
A list of your KRA’s gives a complete overview & perspective of your job.
3
A minimum of 3 & a maximum of 8 are suggested
4
Be brief – use a maximum of 3 or 4 words per KRA
5
Do not describe goals or objectives – KRA’s are deliberately not measurable.
They describe areas of results, not the results themselves
6
They are headings & nouns, not verbs
7
They must be clear & able to be understood by your colleagues & your
subordinates
8
Avoid overlapping between jobs
9
Avoid duplication within your KRA’s – eg “relationships with subordinates” &
“subordinate effectiveness” can be combined into one statement
10
Embrace all your responsibilities
11
Your KRA’s answer the question, “What exact contribution do I make to
my organisation?”
12
Information about the requirements of your position can be obtained from:




Your Job Description
Your organisation’s Performance Appraisal system
The organisation’s objectives
Budgets, plans, policies, etc
13
13
 Management/Board decisions
 Your boss
Consult the following possible examples:
Director of YFC in a city
Secretary/Office assistant
Fundraising!
Staff supervision
Board relationships
Evangelism programmes
Planning
Communication with publics/PR
Training
Discipling programmes
Word processing
Office neatness
Boss’s diary
Minutes of meetings
Administrator/Accountant
National Director of YFC
Office security
Equipment maintenance
Payroll execution & maintenance
Monthly management accounts
Creditors/debtors
Staff recruitment & effectiveness
Board relationships
PR/Marketing
Fundraising & financial stability
Pioneering new cities
Long term planning
Communication with YFCI
NOW LIST YOUR KRA’s
1
2
3
4
5
6
14
7
TWELVE PRACTICAL AREAS FOR MANAGING YOUR TIME
1
KNOW WHERE YOUR TIME IS CURRENTLY BEING USED
Efficient time managers have a handle on where & how their time is currently
being spent. They do this by the discipline of recording time, & most often
the shock provided by the record is a wakeup call.
Some things that occupy too much of our time are:







Too many or unnecessary or over-long meetings
Unwelcome phone calls
Unsolicited e-mails
Drop-in visitors
Some staff require handholding & very close supervision
Writing (& reading) lengthy reports
Not enough time is spent in planning & preparation, resulting in
panic & rush
On the next page is a form on which you can record where your time goes.
Do this every day for at least a week then look for the common
factors/repeating robbers, & tackle them. This is hard work & takes discipline,
but the results are worth it for the one who is serious about time management.
HOW TO IDENTIFY WHERE YOUR TIME GOES
15
WHAT I PLAN TO DO TOMORROW
WHAT I ACTUALLY DID
………………………………………………………….
0800
…………………………………………………
………
………………………………………………………….
0830
…………………………………………………
………
………………………………………………………….
0900
…………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………….
0930
…………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………….
1000
………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………….
1030
………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………….
1100
………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………….
1130
………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………….
1200
………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………….
1230
………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………….
1300
………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………….
1330
………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………….
1400
………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………….
1430
………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………….
1500
………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………….
1530
16
………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………….
1600
………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………….
1630
………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………….
1700
………………………………………………………….
HOW MUCH OF THE DAY WAS USED AS:
SCHEDULED? ……………………………………..
………………………………
UNSCHEDULED?
WHAT WERE THE TIME ROBBERS THAT GOT YOU OFF SCHEDULE?
2
CONSOLIDATE YOUR DISCRETIONARY TIME INTO BLOCKS
On page 5 [check] we referred to the concept of “discretionary time”, i.e. time
left over after your boss (& others) have received their “demand time”.
As no one works well or efficiently in short spasms or “bits” of time:
3
a
Find out your “optimum attention span” – that period of time for which
you can concentrate on a task with unwavering attention before you
need to have a break. For some it’s as little as half an hour, for others
it’s more than an hour.
b
Arrange your discretionary time during a day into blocks of this length,
when you can be uninterrupted & focus on just one thing. It may be
first thing in the morning; for me it was often in the late afternoon when
everyone else had gone home that I could get quite a lot done.
c
Obviously, there is no such thing as a perfect plan or a complete
absence of interruptions. This means you have to be flexible – when a
“demand time” situation arises that you have not foreseen or planned
for, shift your block to another time of the day. The point is: you will still
get more done by working in “blocks” rather than “bits”, or by just
waiting passively for things to happen & to which you can react.
d
For further help, see Section 10 of these notes re “Priorities”.
ASK YOURSELF 4 QUESTIONS
ANSWERS
17
1
Are there some things I do which need not
be done at all (& nothing would happen if
they were not done)? Examples: meetings;
reports to be written
Learn to say ‘NO’!
2
Are there some things which could be done
just as well by my staff?
Delegate
(See later for more)
3
Clarify roles
4
Am I really the right person to be doing some
of the things I do?
Am I guilty of allowing my mind to become
cluttered through eg an untidy desk, no diary,
filing system not working, etc?
4
WHEN PEERS/SUBORDINATES ASK FOR YOUR TIME
Get your act together!
Usually involves the question “Can you spare a minute?” (this is a joke – it’s
never just one minute but several. Take care in announcing things like “I have
an open door policy” – this usually invites all kinds of timewasting people to
drop in, put their feet on your desk & spend your time).
1
Agree on how long the meeting will take; or…..
2
Define what you are going to talk about; or…..
3
Define whose problem it is – don’t accept upward delegation/let the
monkey jump on your back (this is a business term for allowing
someone else’s problem to land on your shoulders. Upward delegation
should be refused every time).
5 QUESTIONS TO ASK SUBORDINATES WHO COME TO YOU WITH
“PROBLEMS”
18
5
6
1
What is the problem?
2
What are its causes?
3
What are its possible solutions?
4
Which is the best possible solution?
5
By when are you going to solve the problem by implementing this
solution?
HOW TO DEAL WITH PEOPLE WHO WASTE YOUR TIME
1
Stand up at the end of the agreed/allocated time (or don’t even sit
down in the first place)
2
Summarise the discussion
3
Use an eggtimer/hourglass (don’t laugh – there are managers who do
this)
4
Use a pre-arranged interruption
5
Have no chairs opposite your desk
THE TELEPHONE
INCOMING CALLS -
It exists for your convenience, & customers, not
for timewasters [have you defined who YFC’s
“customers” are?]
-
Screen or delay calls (equipment suppliers offer
training for secretaries)
-
Consider working off site for one or more mornings
a week
19
OUTGOING
7
-
Group your calls, i.e. make them in quick
succession
-
Use memory numbers (“speed dial”)
MEETINGS (said to be a group of people who keep minutes but waste
hours)
Lonely? Work on your own? Hate having to make decisions?
Then call a meeting!!
You get to:
See other people…..sleep in peace…..offload decisions…..pass the buck…..feel
important…..impress your colleagues…..enjoy free refreshments
And all in work time!
MEETINGS – the practical alternative to work – don’t delay, have one today!
The usual problems with meetings include (note how many involve having a
poor Chair):
1
No direction/purpose/objective
2
Chair allows waffle, tangents
3
Repetition of issues previously discussed
4
No agenda, or agenda not made available beforehand
5
Not really necessary
20
6
Resulting actions not clear. Every meeting should end with an
ACTION PLAN that spells out WHO will do WHAT by WHEN (see
the form on page 34) check
7
No time limit. Parkinson’s Law = “Work will expand [or contract] to fill
the time made available for it”
8
They generate further meetings, lengthy reports
9
There is an absence of clear organisation policies, hence a meeting is
called to make a decision on an issue that should be the subject of a
Policy (does YFC in your country/city have a Policy Manual?)
10
The wrong people are there, & it is evident by what they say that they
are out of their depth

Some business leaders compute the cost per minute of meetings by
means of a programme that is based on the pay of the individuals
attending
SOME TIPS
8
1
Start on time & penalise persistent latecomers
2
The Chair must control dominant members (those who have lots to say
about everything)
3
Some companies have no chairs in their Boardrooms……….(this
reminds me how, when I must read a newspaper, I should read
standing up)
DELEGATION
“Assigning work to others with commensurate authority & responsibility”
21
ADVANTAGES
DISADVANTAGE
-
Frees you for more important & worthy-of-yourvalue tasks
-
Involves, motivates & develops others
-
There is only one – no one will ever do it as well as
you can!!
PRINCIPLES
1
Make a list of the things only you can do, & delegate the rest
(especially routine)
2
Choose the right person (this assumes you know their capabilities)
3
Require completed work (unfinished work = upward delegation =
should never be allowed)
4
Unfortunately you cannot delegate ultimate accountability
5
Secure understanding & acceptance (even in writing if necessary)
6
Observe the “Unity of Command” principle (each person has only one
boss & you cannot delegate to someone else’s subordinate without
their boss’s permission)
Hold the reins lightly (i.e. don’t maintain tight control or the horse will
stop)
7
8
9
Give recognition for a job well done (“positive reinforcement”). The rule
is: commend in public; criticise in private
DESK & PAPERWORK
Mess on the desk causes:
1
Stress
2
Brain overload (by having to think of more than one thing at a time)
3
Loss of sight of goals
4
Loss of sense of being in control
22
5
Battle to set priorities

THE DESK CAN & MUST BE CONTROLLED
Some answers:
1
The IN tray is the only “public” receptacle on your desk. Establish &
assert a rule – no one is allowed to put papers on your desk, only in the
IN tray
2
When returning from being away, focus on:
a
Clear your desk
b
Return calls (tells people they’re important)
c
Gain control
3
Schedule (in your diary) desk catchup time every 3 days
4
With your secretary, revise your filing system to be based on your
KRA’s (it is also helpful to have a desk with one drawer devoted to
suspended/hanging files, one for each KRA – this means your
operating files are not forming part of the clutter on your desk).
HOW TO PROCESS PAPERWORK
(with acknowledgement to Howard Cook)
TARGET: Handle each piece of paper only once
1
If it’s not for me or anyone else – throw it away
2
If it’s not for me but for someone else – write on it & put it in OUT tray
3
If it’s for me:
A
READING
1
“Must” read – if less than 3 minutes, read now then pass on or
ditch. If more than 3 minutes, keep for later (at home or
between appointments or while travelling, etc)
23
2
B
“Like to” read, eg an article which is of interest to your KRA’s –
deal with as above. Extract relevant info (copy, scan, tear out or
give to secretary) then pass on or ditch
DICTATION OR OWN WORD PROCESSING
Accumulate letters in a file & schedule in your diary when you are
going to write them. A good idea is to have an “Activities List” in your
diary & update it regularly
C
TO SEE OR PHONE OR E-MAIL
Schedule in diary then file or ditch paper concerned
D
AWAITING DEVELOPMENTS (i.e. action has already been initiated by
you or by someone else)
Have a file marked “Awaiting Developments” & check this file daily.
When these developments have occurred, transfer to Activities List
&/or schedule necessary actions in your diary
E
TO DO
1
2
F
Now if less than 3 minutes (eg sign a memo)
Later if more than 3 minutes – put on Activities List
CONTINUING ATTENTION (eg plans, budgets, etc)
Put on Activities List or in folder marked “Continuing Attention” - &
check this folder daily
4
Go through Activities List daily – determine priorities & schedule what you are
going to do that day
Do not dump unwanted paper onto the filing system – its purpose is
RETRIEVAL, not STORAGE
24
And ask yourself constantly – if this stuff is going to end up being thrown away
one day, what’s going to increase its value between now & then?
10
PRIORITIES
When someone says “I didn’t have time to do it”, what are they really saying? That
it wasn’t a priority for them…..
Here are three systems for deciding your priorities – choose one (or none, as long as
you have a better way):
1
The ABC system
a
List all your activities/tasks/goals
b
Make a judgement about the importance of each, & label A, B or C
c
Make a further judgement about all your A’s & classify them as A1, A2,
A3 etc
2
d
Start on A1 & finish it
e
Do only one thing at a time
f
Do things right first time
g
Repeat daily
The high vs. low payoff system
Payoff value = importance of issue x my ability to impact it
a
Decide importance of issue (eg in terms of value to the Kingdom, cost,
customer service etc) to your organisation, on a scale of 1 to 10
b
Estimate how much your efforts can impact the issue, on a scale of 1 to
10
c
Calculate the payoff value (a x b)
25
Another way of working both of these systems is to record all your
activities/tasks/goals on this matrix:
High
Low
High
B’s
A’s
Spend 80% of your
time here
Importance
Low
C’s
B’s
Personal impact
3
The above is similar to Stephen Covey’s four-quadrant Urgent vs.
Important matrix, which you may want to use (see “The 7 Habits of Highly
Effective People”, Fireside/Simon & Schuster 1990, page 151).
PRINCIPLES OF PRIORITISING
1
Distinguish between the important & the urgent
2
Look for areas where you can make the greatest contribution/impact
3
Think long-term
4
Remember Pareto’s 80/20 rule (we tend to spend 80% of our time in
achieving 20% of our results. We also spend 80% of our household budget
26
on 20% of items, eg meat. In business, 20% of customers provide 80% of the
income)
5
Let your Key Result Areas guide you
6
Get accustomed to asking yourself ruthlessly: “Is what I am doing right now
the best use of my time?”
Illustrating the need to make time to think
Bobby Naidoo chuckled as he passed a colleague’s office & saw the new sign on the
wall: “Plan ahead”.
“Man, that guy could really do with that reminder – he’s just so disorganised”.
Suddenly his mind flashed back to the recent Saturday on which he himself had
hurried from home to do a few things. Stopping off first at the video shop to return
the tape he & his family had watched the night before, he then drove 8 km to the
nearest Post Office. When the 10 people in the queue ahead of him had finished, he
handed over the parcel he had to send to his Mom in Cape Town. As he reached for
his wallet, he realised that he had no cash & should have stopped off at the ATM on
the way. Embarrassed, he told the Post Office clerk he would be back later.
He pushed his foot down impatiently on the accelerator as he headed for the ATM
several km away. “Now I’ll have to come all the way back here just to stand in a
queue again”, he thought with more than a little disgust.
A few seconds of time at home to write down….
1
2
3
Draw cash
Drop off video
Post parcel
….would have saved him several kilometres, wasted petrol & precious Saturday
morning time. What a bargain for investing a few seconds of time!
Sure, his colleague could profit from the slogan “Plan Ahead”………
Peter Drucker:
Thinking (i.e. planning) should occupy 20% of our time
Henry Ford:
Thinking is the most difficult work in the world – which is why so
few people do it
27
If you’re too busy to think, you’re too busy
When you fail to plan, you are planning to fail
11
GOALS
Definition
A desired end result that can be measured & is to be achieved
within a specific time
Purpose
To give direction & focus to all that we do

Goals must sit in judgement on all our activities & busy-ness
Requirements:

1
Measurable
2
Achievable, yet….
3
Stretching
4
Flow from organisation (or individual) purpose/mission
5
Owned by all involved
6
Prioritised
See next page for a “Goals Worksheet” that will help you focus your
time & energy. Explanation:
a
The left-hand column shows 8 different areas in which you may want to
set goals, & you can add others as you wish. The page itself (or any
column or row) can be enlarged too if you wish
b
The second column is for recording a succinct goal statement
c
The third is for identifying realistic obstacles in the way of your
achieving the goal
28
d
e
f
The fourth is for recording what can be done to overcome the
problem(s)
The fifth is motivational – what will happen if you achieve the goal?
The sixth is for recording specific dates/times by which you will know
when you have reached the goal
EXAMPLE: In the “Mental” category: say you wish to study for a B. Com. degree
through UNISA & gain it in five years. This short statement meets the
requirements above & is indeed measurable (the most common
mistake with so-called goals is that they are not measurable).
Problems might be two-fold:
1
Lack of time to devote to such study (how are you ever
going to scale down your active social life?!)
2
Lack of funds
Remedies:
1
Decide your priorities – do you really want to do this or
not? And become accountable to someone who, over
five years, is going to ensure that you keep going
2
Apply for a study loan, or borrow from your parents, etc
Rewards:
Let your imagination guide you…..
Timetable:
By when will you have the money? By when will you
register? How many modules, & which, will you take in
each year?
29
30
PLAN FOR THE FUTURE – PURPOSE IN LIFE
CATEGORY
GOALS
PROBLEMS
REMEDIES
REWARDS
Physical
Mental
Social
Family
Hobbies
Work/Career
Finance
Housing
Originally by Dr James Galvin, YFC/USA
12
OTHER HELPS
TIMETABLE
1
Use a “Time File” – if a piece of paper arrives on your desk & you don’t
need it for say another week (eg a meeting agenda), then write “T/F” &
your required date in the top right-hand corner; give it to your secretary
who then uses a “concertina file” (virtually a box with 31 numbered
compartments/sub-files). She then has the responsibility to hand you a
day’s papers first thing every morning
This is a valuable tool in keeping paper off your desk.
2
Plan tomorrow tonight (Lee Iacocca of Chrysler said that doing this
enabled him to “hit the ground running” next morning).
3
Learn to speed read.
4
Master the use of a diary. Whichever type you choose (paper or
electronic), make it work for you.
TIME MANAGEMENT IN 4-D
1
DROP IT – avoid clutter – drop whatever is not necessary to do or keep
2
DELAY IT – spread low priority tasks over the week
3
DELEGATE IT – what is not worthy of my particular time/position/expertise
4
DO IT -
when I can’t do nos. 1 to 3, for whatever reason
NOW !
LIFE MANAGEMENT
32
1
GOALS
Decide what you want to do with your life
2
PRIORITIES
Determine which are more important
3
PLANS
Determine HOW you are going to reach these priority
goals
4
ACTIONS
Implement your plans in the least possible time
MOVING TOWARDS THE FUTURE
1
On the basis of what I have learned through this book, I intend to
33
2
I will do this by means of
3
My first step is
4
I will take this step by (date/time)
5
Next steps will be
6
I will share this intention with……………………………………………& ask
him/her to hold me accountable
NAME:
DATE:
ACTION PLAN
For use after a meeting to indicate commitments made by team members to each
other.
WHO
WHAT
BY WHEN
34
DAILY ‘DO’ SHEET
TASK
PRIORITY
(A, B, C)
WHO TO…
SEE
35
PHONE
E-MAIL
CONTINUING ATTENTION
AWAITING DEVELOPMENTS
What
Who
When
36