Time Management

It seems to be a universal truth that people are always running short on time. During the French Revolution, their government tried to fix this by making a calendar of ten-day weeks. How much more work could you get done if you had only three weekends per month? Their new clock also divided days into ten hours of a hundred minutes each. Working a four-hour shift then would be like working for more than 9½ of our standard hours. Unsurprisingly, their revolutionary calendar was abandoned within 13 years.

If today's businessmen and women need extra time, the only way to get more is by recovering what is currently being wasted. The Communication Briefings Newsletter has identified the five biggest time wasters in business. Do any of these pertain to you?

1. Poor prioritizing. If this is a tough area for you, make daily lists of what needs to be done and by when. Don't forget to schedule some cushion time to allow for unforeseeable accidents and opportunities.

2. Fear of delegating. Thinking that it is easier to do a routine task yourself is being short-sighted. Taking the time to properly train an employee now will pay off in big time savings in the future.

3. Not saying "No." You can't do it all. If you have trouble knowing when to say no, revisit your lists of priorities. If a request will take time away from achieving your priority list, you should probably say, "Sorry, I can't."

4. Being tethered to the phone. Clients like the personal touch of reaching a real person. Can some calls be delegated to others? Record a nice intro for your voicemail and use it when you need to work without interruptions.

5. Procrastination. If you procrastinate, you are human, but it's also human to focus on what we don't like. Focusing on the end result instead helps considerably in overcoming procrastination. If the task seems overwhelming, do it one step at a time.

If you have done all this and are still coming up short, consider buying extra administrative time by contracting with a PEO.