Chinese American Business Association Birmingham

Professional Development Seminar Presented by Allan Staib

September 1, 2007

21 Keys to Time Management and Doubling Your Productivity Brian Tracey

1. Become Decisive - Change begins with making a clear decision to do something or stop doing something. Being decisive is a skill you can practice and develop into habit. 2. Develop Clear Goals and Objectives Success comes from being very clear about what you are trying to accomplish. Become intensely goal oriented. a. Decide what you want in each part of your life b. Write down your goals clearly on paper c. Set a deadline for your goal d. Make a list of everything you can think of you will need to do in order to achieve your goals e. Organize your list into a plan and write it down f. Act on you plan g. Do something everyday which moves you towards your most important goal 3. Plan Every Day in Advance Daily planning is essential a. Remember the 6 Ps Prior Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance b. 10/90 rule 10% of time spent planning will save 90 % of time in execution c. Write your plan down d. Start with a master list of all you want to accomplish in your life i. Write everything down on your list ii. Every month update what you want to do that month iii. Every day look at your master list and make a list for that day iv. Working from a list increases productivity 25% the first day v. All highly efficient people work from lists 4. Use the ABCED method a. A tool to select the most important tasks you should be working on b. Think about the consequences of doing or not doing planned activities c. Start with your master list d. Put one of these letters next to each item i. A items are the most important and have major consequences ii. B items you should do but are mild consequences iii. C nice to do but no significant consequences iv. D items you should delegate if possible v. E items you can eliminate

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e. Now take all your A tasks and prioritize them A1, A2, A3, etc. f. Work on your items in order, A1, A2, etc. Never work on a B task if there are A tasks which can be worked on. Separate the Urgent from the Important always ask yourself about the consequences of what you plan to do a. Categories of tasks i. Urgent and Important must be done immediately ii. Important but not urgent 1. Can be delayed but not forgotten 2. usually have the greatest possible long term consequences iii. Urgent but Unimportant great time waster! iv. Not Urgent and Unimportant contribute nothing to your goals or your companys goals Use the law of forced efficiency a. No one works best under pressure! b. Four questions you should ask to improve efficiency i. What is the highest value use of my time? ii. Why am I on the payroll? What have I been hired to do? What are the things I must do to fulfill that role? iii. What can you and only you do that if done well will make a big difference? iv. What is the most valuable use of my time right now? Whatever you answer, make sure you spend most of your time doing these activities! Apply the 80/20 rule a. One of the most important and powerful ideas in personal productivity b. 20% of the things you do account for 80% of the value of what you accomplish i. 80% of sales from 20% of customers, etc. c. Make a list of 10 things to do today and 2 of them will accomplish the vast majority of the value of what you can contribute today d. Discipline yourself to delay the low value tasks that have very low value consequences e. Always make sure you are working on the top 20%! Work at your Energy Peaks a. High levels of physical and emotional energy is essential i. Eating properly, regular exercise, and sufficient rest are needed to ensure this physical and emotional energy b. Identify the times of the day you are at your best c. Do your tasks which require the most creativeness at your peak energy/clarity times Practice Single-Handling with Key Tasks a. One of most powerful productivity ideas b. Simple steps i. Make your list ii. Select the most important task iii. Work on that task until it is 100% completed

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c. Focusing and concentrating on one task until it is complete saves much time d. If you can do this you will become very valuable and powerful in meeting your goals e. When you work on something until it is completed it is very satisfying! Eat that Frog! a. Do the most unpleasant but important tasks first b. Start with the formula for Single Handling by preparing the night before i. Make a list of all you need to do the next day ii. Use the ABCED iii. Prioritize iv. Put the most important task in the center of your desk and the next day and work on it first until it is completed! Organize your Workspace! a. Efficient productive people work from a clean workspace b. 30% of working time is often spent in looking for things they cant find c. A clean desk helps you work on one thing at a time d. TRAF i. Toss throw things away as quickly as possible ii. Refer - if it is something someone else should do, send it to them iii. Action Use a red file to keep action items it make sure you work on these things iv. File 80% of all things that are filed are never looked at again. File what you need but e. In cleaning up your office i. When in doubt, throw it out! ii. If you havent used it or read it in 6 months, get rid of it. iii. You will never be able to read all the things you get! Use Travel Time Productively a. Turn driving and flying time into productive time i. Use the time to listen to educational material 1. Podcasts make this easy! b. When flying you can work without any interruptions i. Plan and organize what you will work on while flying and make sure you have all you need to complete the tasks. ii. Get to the airport early so that you are relaxed. iii. Drink two glasses of water every hour iv. On the outbound flight work on the important tasks and on the return flight when you tired, read required readings, etc. Get Better at your Key Tasks a. The better you get at your important tasks, the faster you can get your most important things done. b. Typing is an example. With practice you can type very quickly and get the same work done in a dramatically shorter time

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c. Determine the key tasks required in your job or profession i. What one skill if you develop and did it consistently in an excellent fashion will have the most impact in your career? 1. Ask your boss if you arent clear! ii. Establish a plan to become absolutely excellent at this task. Work in Real Time a. Develop a bias for action! b. Working fast with a sense of urgency is key to high productivity c. Respond to brief items immediately d. Be the person everyone thinks of when they need something done fast! Re-engineer your Work a. Most work processes are multitask jobs and have developed over time b. Many work processes have a lot of wasted steps c. Take complex processes and i. Write down the steps ii. Set a goal of eliminating 30% of the effort iii. Always ask why are we doing it this way, and is there a better way? Reinvent yourself Annually a. A time of great change b. Once a year take a look at your life and ask are you doing what you really want to be doing? c. Do the exercise of thinking you needed to start your life and career all over again, what you do differently? Practice Zero Based Thinking Continually a. Is there anything in my life that I wouldnt do over again if I knew then what I know now? b. The biggest time waster of all is to continue to pursue goals which are not really what you want. c. 70% of the decisions we make turn out to be wrong! d. If you feel chronic stress with any person or situation, it is a sign that you need to get out of the relationship or situation. e. Do you have any investments of time, emotion, money, that are not bringing you the results that you wanted? f. Your decisions become better as you practice this kind of thinking. Set Clear Posteriorities a. Identifying the things you will NOT do is often as important as deciding what you will do! b. When you take on something new, decide what you will stop doing to make room for it. c. Sometimes the word NO is the best time saver! Keep Your Life in Balance a. Be clear about the big goals in your life i. 85% of happiness in your life comes from your relationships with other people b. Most people lose track of this and believe that making money is the goal c. Keys to balance are simple

i. Set your happiness as your higher goal and organize the rest of your life around them ii. Quantity of time at home and Quality of time at work iii. Put the most important people in your life ahead of everything else iv. When you are work, focus 100% on your work 20. Plan Every Project Carefully a. A project is a multi task activity b. All projects require careful planning and execution c. Formalize the process i. Clarify the goal ii. List every step required iii. Decide priorities, resources required, what can be done simultaneously, etc.? iv. Assign responsibilities and deadlines v. Monitor the project closely 1. make realistic time schedules and then make sure the project is completed on time 2. anticipate possible problems and have plans for dealing with them 21. Be Intensely Action Oriented a. Be constantly aware of the need for speed. b. Top performers are always in constant motion toward their goals. c. Avoid the tendency to talk a good game and plan things to death! d. Results are everything!

Simple Formula! Decide what you want in terms of goals both, personal and professional! Make a list of everything you have to do today! Organize todays list by prioritizing indentify your A1 task! Begin to work on the most important A1 until it is done! Repeat over and over Do it Now!