151 Quick Ideas to Manage Your Time

  • 1h 57m
  • Robert E. Dittmer
  • Career Press, Inc.
  • 2006

Too many of us live our lives trying to shoehorn our many activities and responsibilities into too few time slots available. Increasingly for business people, fathers and mothers, even kids—(ineffectively) managing the myriad of activities has become an all-consuming chore. And we're so stressed that our relationships and job performance suffer.

Why? Because we organize our time and our lives poorly: We spend five years of our lives waiting in lines, three years in meetings, and two years playing telephone tag! We get interrupted 73 times per day, interfering with our productivity, and take an hour of work home every night, interfering with our family time.

But we can solve these problems. This book presents 151 quick and easy ways to meet these challenges in our daily lives. Each idea comes from the real world experiences of people like you—people who are experimenting with, examining, and discovering unique solutions to the time problems all of us face every day.

These tried and tested ideas work! And now they are available to you. Select those that fit your particular circumstance and try them out! Here are a few:

  • Start Your Day the Night Before
  • Undercommit and Overdeliver
  • Organize Your Workspace
  • Block Contingency Time Every Day
  • Use Voice Mail as a Call Screener
  • Fight SPAM with an E-mail Blocker

Do more in less time, take control of your schedule, and create a new balance between your work and your family life. You’ll be surprised at how easy it is to take charge of your time and increase your quality of life…day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute.

About the Author

Robert E. Dittmer, APR, has spent 30 years in business and government service where he has seen almost every kind of time waster you can imagine. He has served as a Director of Media Relations for NATO and the U.S. Army and has owned and operated public relations agencies for more than 15 years, and has special expertise in emergency and crisis communication planning and execution. He currently is an accredited public relations consultant and faculty member with the Indiana University School of Journalism.

In this Book

  • Getting Started Is the Toughest Step
  • Consider a Time Study
  • Assess Your Problem Areas
  • Establish Clear Goals for Your Job
  • Write Down Your Goals and Objectives
  • Set Clear Goals for Time Use
  • Set Daily and Weekly Objectives
  • Start Your Day the Night Before
  • Don't Procrastinate
  • Pareto's Principle: 80-20
  • The ABCs of Prioritizing
  • The A in ABC
  • The B in ABC
  • The C in ABC
  • Write Down Tasks as You Receive Them
  • Set Deadlines for Assignments
  • Under-Commit and Over-Deliver
  • Keep Score
  • Make a To Do List
  • Use the To Do List!
  • Share the To Do List
  • Update the To Do List
  • Organize Your Workspace: General
  • Organize Your Workspace: The Desktop
  • Organize Your Workspace: Paper Files
  • Organize Your Workspace: Folders
  • Organize Your Workspace: Electronic Files
  • Organize Your Workspace: Contacts
  • Organize Your Workspace: Cull Your Files
  • Handle Your Mail Efficiently
  • Use a Suspense File
  • Keep Only One Planner/Scheduler
  • What to Keep—and What Not to Keep
  • What to Do with Draft Documents
  • Handle Business Cards
  • Know Your Best Working Hours
  • Make Critical Appointments at Your Best Times
  • Group Similar Tasks
  • Put Up a Fence
  • Block Contingency Time Every Day
  • Scheduling: A 5-Step Process
  • Scheduling: Step 1
  • Scheduling: Step 2
  • Scheduling: Step 3
  • Scheduling: Step 4
  • Scheduling: Step 5
  • Use an Electronic Calendar
  • Make the Electronic Calendar Work
  • Attend Outside Meetings
  • Minimize Interruptions: Set Office Hours
  • The Second-Greatest Time-Killer
  • Handle Voice Mail
  • Your Voice-Mail Message
  • Use Voice Mail as a Call-Screener
  • Use Caller ID Effectively
  • Handle Inbound Phone Calls
  • Handle Outbound Phone Calls
  • Keep Written Records of Phone Calls
  • Speaking Is Faster Than Writing Memos
  • Handle Your Paper Mail
  • Handle Your E-Mail: When
  • Handle Your E-Mail: Brevity
  • Handle Your E-Mail: Files
  • Handle Your E-Mail: Fight Spam
  • E-Mail: Discourage the Jokers
  • E-Mail: Organize Your Folders
  • E-Mail: Write Clear and Direct Subject Lines
  • Copy and Paste Are Two of Your Best Friends
  • Handle Office Visits
  • Handle Paper Files
  • Magazines: Cull and Kill
  • Use a "Reading File"
  • Create a Contact List
  • Use a PDA
  • Make It Really Save Time—Not Use More Time
  • Keep Software Current
  • Keep Your E-Desktop Clean
  • Establish a Clean Filing System
  • Make Certain Your Computer Is Operating at Speed
  • Make Certain Your Internet Connection Is at Speed
  • Virus Protection: Not an Option
  • More on PDAs
  • That Cell Phone!
  • Who Knows Your Cell Phone Number?
  • Cell Phone: Set to Stun
  • To BlueTooth or Not to BlueTooth
  • Is Text Messaging for You?
  • Get Your Own Printer!
  • Get Computer Training to Get More Efficient
  • The Third-Greatest Time-Killer
  • They Can't Be Avoided—But They Can Be Efficient!
  • Meeting Timing—When Is Best?
  • Put a Time Limit on Meetings
  • Have an Agenda for Meetings
  • Use the Agenda—Time the Elements
  • Distribute the Agenda in Advance
  • Train Yourself on Conducting Meetings
  • Train Participants and Staff on Efficient Meetings
  • Attend Only the Meetings You Must
  • The Greatest Time-Killer
  • Communicate Your Work Style
  • Adjust to Your Boss
  • Find a Mentor or Coach
  • Control Interactions with Others
  • The Geography of the Office
  • Desk Placement
  • Chair Placement
  • Relationships to Windows
  • Discourage "War Stories"
  • Stand and Be Counted
  • Learn to Say No
  • Learn to Delegate: Discover What Your Staff Can Handle
  • Learn to Delegate: Learn What Others Can Handle Better
  • Learn to Delegate: Train Your Staff to Handle
  • Recognize That Procrastination Is a Habit—Work to Break It
  • Don't Put It Off, Wimpy!
  • If It's on the to Do List, Do It
  • Commit to the Job—Or Delegate It
  • "It's Not My Job, Man!"
  • Beat the Fear of the Unknown
  • Overcome the Insecurity of a Lack of Knowledge
  • If You Are Not Interested, Get Interested
  • If You Don't Like the Task, Do It and It Will Go Away
  • Schedule Travel Trips in Batches
  • Use Travel Time to Learn
  • Use Travel Time to Communicate
  • Use Travel Time to Unwind
  • Use Travel Time to Prepare
  • Use Airplane Time to Catch Up
  • Use Travel Time to Read
  • Set Personal and Family Goals
  • Make Certain You Leave Time for Personal Goals
  • Schedule Downtime During the Day
  • Take Brief Breaks
  • Don't Overwork Yourself
  • Schedule Medical and Dental Visits Well in Advance
  • Schedule Medical and Dental Visits for Early Morning
  • Grocery Trips: Buy Bulk
  • Organize the Closet
  • Don't Make Special Trips—Combine Them
  • Organize and Systemize Your Morning Procedure
  • Train the Family
  • Reward Yourself
  • Don't Be a Perfectionist
  • Home Communication: Are You Over-Connected?
  • TV Time Sucks Away From People Time
  • Control Children's Access to TV
  • Control Children's Access to the Internet
  • Don't Check Your Portfolio Every Day
  • Schedule Vacations—And Take Them!
  • Try to Live Close to Work
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