Time Management
With some many demands on you, I have compiled a list of 8 practical and simple tips that I personally try to live up too. These have greatly assisted me throughout my career and hopefully they can help you as well.
1. Get Organized
Make a To-Do list and organize your time around it.
Get a Daily or Weekly planner to schedule and monitor your time.
2. Clear your Desk
Remove all items from your desk (each piece of paper on your desk will distract your attention 5 times a day).
3. Make use of your files
Discard all non relevant documents (up to 85% of all your documents will never be looked at again).
Identify your files clearly. Use colour folders (eg. yellow/vendors, red/buyers).
4. Phone Calls
Leave Clear messages on the other people's voicemail. Always leave your name, number and best time to be reached.
5. Prioritize. Prioritize. Prioritize
Let’s say you start your day with 20 things on your ToDo list. How many of those are income generating activities? Focus on those first. You can then move on to the auxiliary activities.
6. Set Time Limits
This maybe hard, will certainly help you in the long run. For example, reading and responding to your e-mail can take you the whole day if you let it. Try to set one hour for this, and only one hour.
7. Don’t waste time waiting
It's impossible to avoid waiting for someone or something. But you don't need to just sit there and twiddle your thumbs. Always take something to do with you. Be it your checkbook that needs to be balanced or your ToDo list that needs to be updated.
8. Reward yourself
Time management is not entirely about work. It also involves scheduling some downtime to relax and recharge your batteries. This could mean taking a coffee break as soon as you've finished a listing presentation or planning a vacation several deals you’ve been working on close.
“I will persist until I succeed. I was not delivered into this world into defeat, nor does failure course my veins. I am not a sheep waiting to be prodded by my shepherd. I am a lion, and I refuse to talk, walk, and to sleep with the sheep. I will persist until I succeed.”
Og Mandino