Effective Time Management
It’s said that goals are just dreams with a deadline. While this won’t sound nearly as profound, but I think that mastering time management should be everyone’s goal. Few other skills that can be easily acquired after your twenty-fifth birthday will have such a positive impact on your life. To raise my competency in this area, I recently read 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management by Kevin Kruse. Mr. Kruse based his book off of personal experience and interviews he conducted with “7 billionaires, 13 Olympic Athletes, 29 straight A students, and 239 successful entrepreneurs.” He then broke down their advice into a time management system he calls “E-3C.” This week’s post will explain what that acronym means and how it can help your career.
Energy
Like a car, you need fuel to run properly. Mr. Kruse spends the first part of this book making that point exceedingly clear. At what at times seems like an attempt at penance for the mistakes he made early in his career, Mr. Kruse implores the reader to get enough sleep, eat a healthy diet, and regularly exercise. He also extols the virtues of what he calls “pulse and pause.” To fend off the afternoon dip in energy that many daytime office workers experience, Mr. Kruse says to alternate between periods of work and rest throughout the day. Last, and perhaps the point that resonates the most with me, is that “there will always be more to do.” Leave work when you’re tired and ready, not when everything is finished. If that’s your threshold, you’ll never go home!
Calendar
In my opinion, however, the most revolutionary suggestion Mr. Kruse offers is to scrap the to-do list and use a calendar. In his view, calendars shouldn’t be used to remember birthdays, but instead to schedule time to tackle your to-do list. He’s found that doing so increases the likelihood that you’ll actually accomplish everything on it. Further, since each task has a dedicated time slot, he’s found that completing it seems less daunting. I have to agree: I practically get nightmares about endless to-do lists. He didn’t offer any specific comments on how to manage your calendar, but I’ve found that Google Calendar works great. It’s highly customizable and is supported by most calendar iOS and Android apps. My personal favorite is called “Sunrise.”
Concentrate & Capture
Of course it’s difficult to accomplish any task — whether it’s written down on a calendar or otherwise — if you’re being constantly distracted. Mr. Kruse argues that no one can truly multi-task and while you may be an exception, you’ll still achieve productivity gains when you choose a singular focus. To start, he recommends turning off push notifications on your phone. That doesn’t mean he wants you to go off the grid, just that you mark-out time on your calendar to check emails and social media, and not to do so in the midst of your work. In the same vein, he says to carry a notebook around with you in which to write down things your thoughts. This will help your retention, but also help you focus on the task at hand, not juggling a mental to-do list.
