This article was originally published in The Simplifier #52.

Article: Staying on top of your game

By Shawn Tuttle

Have you ever thought about what the term “time management” really means? You can manage a herd of cows, you can manage a baseball team, you can try to manage a bunch of angry people at a meeting. But how do you manage time? You can’t change anything about it. You can’t tell it to go this way or that. You can’t make it behave differently. We each get 24 hours a day. Period. 

What you can manage during those 1,440 minutes a day is what you do and, just as importantly, how you do it. 

The game you don’t want to play
Imagine playing a game in which the objective is getting to the other side of an island by midnight. You come up with a plan to go through the forest, cross the river, and then climb over the mountain. It’s a small island and your plan is totally doable. You get going first thing in the morning, but then half way through the forest, a mysterious character shows up and entices you in a different direction—then takes off! You find your path again…but then another character jumps in your path and lures you in another direction. Sounded fun at the time, but now they, too, have disappeared and you have no idea where you are. You wander around until your watch beeps midnight—you’ll have to try again tomorrow. You feel a bit like Bill Murray’s character in Groundhog Day when he kept waking up to the same day—over and over again.

The metaphor is simple. Sticking with your plan gets you where you want to go. Getting distracted repeatedly leaves you wondering what happened to the day and all the important things you wanted to accomplish. 

Your work most likely involves interacting with others and work that you do on your own. If you are like many others, you have a tough time carving out sufficient time for the work that you need to do alone. Scheduling time for your key work creates a little island for you to protect from intruders. Keeping people at bay during these times doesn’t mean you don’t ever want to associate with them. On the contrary, it means that you recognize there is a better time for them in your schedule. 

To better understand what we mean by “time management”, let’s rename it “the art of staying on top of your game”.

The most common external distractions are: email, phone, and people. 

Email (a.k.a. the ultimate intruder of the 21st Century)

Is email a blessing? A curse? Both? A wonderful accomplice to procrastination, email can suck you into a time warp in nothing flat. Discipline and determination can keep this king of distractions under control. 

Designate email processing times—for example, three times spaced out over the course of the day. (Of course, if you’re expecting time-sensitive e-mails, it’s OK to take a quick glance more frequently.) “Processing” means treating your email inbox like your paper inbox—reserved for items that you haven’t looked at yet. Each email you open is assessed and then either moved to trash, dealt with immediately (if it will take less than 2 minutes), or moved to a Take Action folder to deal with later. 

And NO browsing! The habit of browsing will find you looking through the same email 5 or 6 times before you feel like dealing with it—a big time waster. Very few email messages deserve that kind of attention.

tip summary: 
Designate blocks of time for email. 
No browsing!
Treat your email and paper inboxes the same way—i.e., each item is: Trashed, Done now, or Moved for later action.

Phone (a.k.a., a ringing phone does not mean “jump!”)

There are many types of calls that don’t need to be answered while you are in key work mode: wrong numbers, telemarketers, callers simply responding to a quick question you’ve asked, etc. Plus, if it’s a potential client, do you think you’ll give a better first impression when you are prepared for the call, or when you are engaged in another project?

This may seem like basic phone skills 101, but you wouldn’t believe how many small business owners I’ve talked with who take the call every time the phone rings!

tip summary:
Let calls go to voice mail during key work time.

If you have an assistant who answers your phone…

Create a system for screening calls. For example:
-if your door is closed, take a message. 
-if you are expecting an important call, let them know. 
-if you are selectively available, write down a simple script for your assistant to follow. For example, when someone asks for you: “Who’s calling, please?” “Thank you, Barbara, I’ll see if she’s available.” If you’re not free: “Barbara, she’s not available right now. I’ll tell her you called. Would you like to leave a message?” “And the best number to reach you?” (Again, this may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised…)

assistant tip summary: 
Train assistants on phone screening.

People (a.k.a., What am I? Your hairdresser?)

Treat your key work time as seriously as you would an appointment with the Dalai Lama. While a spontaneous conversation can potentially replace several emails or phone calls, too often they are accomplices to procrastination. 

If you are wanting a short break, then great! Perfect timing. If not, come up with a gracious way of letting the other person know you don’t want to pause work right now. Try something like, “Hey, I’m making great progress on this project. Can we talk later?” or, “That sounds really interesting. Can we talk about it after I’ve finished this?”

tip summary: 
Respect your key work times.
Memorize gracious conversation stoppers.

Gracious conversation stopper #2…

You get a call you want to take but are walking out the door…
“Hi Kim, I’m glad you called! I know we have several things to talk about, but I’m going to a meeting right now. Can I call you when I get back to the office, around 4:30pm? Does that work for you?” That gives Kim the option to suggest a different time and even to ask a simple question while knowing that the rest of her questions will be addressed later that day.

When the desire to avoid the frustrating feeling of no-progress grows strong enough, it’s time to confront your distractions. Dealing with the external influences of other people’s requests is an important aspect of managing your daily 1,440 minutes. A little strategy and planning go a long way in protecting your islands of work-time, and in helping you get through the forest of your day. Now that’s being on top of the game!

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Shawn Tuttle is founder of Project Simplify.