I want to share a dialogue I just had with a client of mine as I feel that the message is valuable for anyone, at any time in their career and is a topic that comes up more than any other in my coaching sessions…
Client:
Actually I have created a time-blocked calendar many times before but failed most of time and have revised my calendar time and time again…The schedule is not the problem, the major issue every day is having too many other things that are happening around me to make me deviate from the schedule. I just need to build a cushion and fail safe way to get myself on track. I know once I am on track, I should be able to accomplish the most important things that are necessary to build my business and not just being busy.
Coach V:
Time Management is 50% scheduling and organization and 50% choice. You can have a perfect calendar, but if you do not make good choices from day to day, a perfectly time-blocked calendar becomes a moot point.You must be conscious of every decision you are making from day to day. We have to examine all the things that are taking up our time and re-directing our attentions that are low, pay-off, like personal distractions, getting in too late, holding on too long to bad leads or files that simply aren’t going to fly, not utilizing our team members, etc.I’ve had many clients elect to track their works days in 15-30 minute increments for a period of 5 straight work days and jot down on a pad of paper what they are doing in those increments to reveal what is wasting their time or taking up too much time. This is a great exercise to be able to see, once and for all, where all your time is going so that you can focus in on the biggest time-wasters and tackle those problems, FIRST. What people discover is that much of their time-wasters usually boil down to one or more of the following:
- Starting day too late-poor work schedule
- No plan for the day
- Allowing too many personal interruptions, distractions or team member distractions
- Having too many leads and no system to handle those leads
- Having too many leads and no Assistant to help