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Beyond Time Management – Getting Things Done in 2015

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” -Steve Jobs

 

Continual Connection – Information Overload

Time management strategies were developed at a time when people had few communication channels, received information and documentation by post. The underlying assumption was that once people knew how to more effectively manage their time, their performance and productivity would improve.

 

To-do or not To-Do: That is the Question

Now we are subjected to a barrage of constant calls, texts, emails and social media notifications. Many of these are time and energy draining request and demands. Most of us have a rapidly growing to-do list, which typically gets added to rather than addressed. These factors contribute to a massively distorted sense of time.

When I work with clients to increase their productivity, with the aid of technology I help them audit how they really spend their time. They frequently find that their perception of how much time they invest in their most important tasks is double what the amount of time they actually invested.

 

Upgraded Time Life Management

While time management still has a part to play in contributing to better performance, productivity and quality of life, it should only ever be a single component of a holistic strategy.

The following 5 steps will help you get more out of your days and weeks:

 

  1. Increase your focus and attention. When you increase your focus, you’ll get far more done in the same amount of time. Research indicates that every time a person’s focus on a task is distracted it takes approximately 25 minutes to get back to the same point they were at before the interruption. In addition to employing daily practices to increase and maintain your focus, consider taking advantage of focus enhancing technologies.
  1. Increase and preserve your energy. Obvious but so often overlooked. The higher your energy levels the more you will accomplish in a shorter space of time. When you have more energy you are more likely to tackle the most important tasks that you keep putting off. The contribution that sleep, nutrition and exercise make to increasing performance and productivity cannot be overstated.
  1. Accept you will not complete your to-do list. While to-do lists serve the function of helping you keep track of the things you need to do, they should not dictate how you structure your day and spend your time. Prioritize those tasks that will help you make the biggest leaps forward. The 20% that will give you the 80% return. Allow yourself to be ok with the fact that you will never complete your to-do list. After a while you will find that many of your to do’s were not that important in the first place.
  1. Say No. Productivity warriors are master of saying ‘No!’ to the many time and energy vampires that are ever present. The demands of others can usually wait and often be dealt by someone else. Time is the most precious resource we have and we must guard it fiercely.
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  2. Use Technology. There are hundreds if not thousands of productivity apps. But there only a few that are truly awesome. Apps can be incredibly useful in freeing up your brain so that it can focus on getting the important things done. These include apps to plan, track, remind you, increase your focus and store your thoughts. Always remember that these apps exist to support, not replace, your system.

Goals Serve a Purpose but this is Critical to Success

Legendary Coach John Wooden was well known for de-emphasizing winning and losing while focusing on effort and process. To some extent this may seem at odds with the teachings of countless ‘success’ books and coaches that clearly defined goals are critical to success.

While goals serve a purpose, they should be secondary in terms of focus and effort to the process you follow and the system you have in place for achieving your goals. This is something that is often overlooked and undervalued by those advocating and using goal setting. To achieve goals the focus needs to be more on the journey than the final destination.

 

The Downside of Focusing on Goals

When there is too much focus on the goal, it can be a distraction from the actual process itself. To use a sporting analogy; if a basketball player is focusing on the fact that he must get the 3 point shot to win the game, this will impact on his ability to focus on how he takes the shot.

The very essence of focus is that it can only be directed on one thing at a time. Plainly the process for getting the ball into the basket is more important than what rides on the outcome i.e. the goal. Research has demonstrated that focusing on the process both reduces psychological pressure and increases enjoyment of the task.

When you have a system for achieving specific, measurable goals that builds in daily tasks, milestones and accountability, the actual achievement of the goals appears to take care of itself. You’ll arrive at your intended destination, more efficiently and with less stress.

 

The Upside of Goals

 The above comments should not be taken as devaluing the importance of goal setting. Without clear, measurable goals there would be little point in creating a system or process for achievement. There needs to be some clarity about what the desired outcomes are.

Professor David Kohl, formerly professor emeritus at Virginia Tech University, found that those who write down their goals are 9x more successful than those who don’t.

Goals can provide inspiration and motivation. If the goals are big enough and you are emotionally connected to their outcome, they can be the fuel that keeps you going through the days, months and sometimes years of process. So make sure you have clear, measurable goals but keep always your focus on your process and system.