Tag Archives: Time management

March 29, 2012

4 Great Time Management Tips

By Chris LoCurto
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If you’re anything like me, time management can be an issue. When you leave work, your brain doesn’t stop focusing on that day’s tasks. Throughout your evening, little things pop up in your brain saying, Hey … don’t forget you have to work on me tomorrow. I’m not going away, so there’s no point in acting like I don’t exist.

Inevitably, I send myself email reminders of the things I need to do the next day throughout the night. C’mon, don’t act like you don’t do the same thing. I know that when your spouse gets up and goes into the other room, you quickly pull out your phone and email yourself. You’re hoping they don’t come back in and say, “Are you with me or your work?!”

So how do you avoid such time management silliness? Here are five simple things you can do to free up your mind when you leave work:

  • Block it off - Set aside at least the last 15 minutes of your workday, so that you can focus on “wrapping up” your day. This can be very difficult for some people because there is still time left to do other things. However, if you use this time wisely, you will discover that it will create at least an hour of more productivity the next workday.
  • Send it out - Go through your emails and answer anything that hasn’t been answered yet. You saw them come in, so you know what needs to be done with them. Answer them quickly, so you’ve done your part to get those topics moving.
  • Write it down - The to-do list is one of the best time management tools there is. Studies show it can actually create up to two hours of productivity in your day. Why? Because without it, you are bouncing from task to task as you remember them. While the day is still fresh on your mind, do a quick brain dump of all the things you need to do tomorrow and then prioritize them. When you hit the door, start with the top of the list.
  • Clean it up - In How To Declutter Your Mind, I discuss how your mind is organized the same way your desk is. Yep, I just heard the audible OHHH from a lot of you. If your desk is a mess, even if you know where everything is, your subconscious keeps telling you that you have to do something with all of that stuff. Take a couple of minutes each day to clean it up! Read the post, trust me.

A little time management will change your day. If you will spend at least 15 minutes doing each of these, not only will your next workday be considerably more productive, but your night will be, too. Your silly subconscious won’t be talking to you all evening about work, so you can focus on what matters most…like your family.

Question: How does your day usually close out? 

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41 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Leadership, Random Thoughts, Small Business

November 28, 2011

Heartbeats And Time Management

By Chris LoCurto
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Here is an inspiring guest post by Chadrick Black, author of The Greatest Harvest. You can follow him on Facebook. You can guest post as well! Read how to here.

At the start of each day, place your hand on your chest, close your eyes and feel the rhythm of your heart. It’s just a few inches away from your fingertips. It’s real. You can’t hide from it. Feel it moving in tempo? Thump …  thump … thump.  Reflect for a few minutes. How many more heartbeats do I have? How many have I already used? What have I used them for? How many have I wasted? Keep feeling this small electric pulse in the end of your fingertips. It’s one of the few things in your life that’s 100% real. Without it, nothing else really matters. It takes priority over everything else. It takes precedence over work, business deals, the news and traffic jams. It is more important than money or gold.

I once presented the above exercise to remind the audience to readjust their idea of “time management” and focus on “heartbeat management.”  Why? So many believe in the “I’ll do it when ___________” plan, assuming that time’s infinite presence also applies to them. But it doesn’t. Time existed before we’re born and will continue long after we’re gone.

Keep in mind, the average heart rate is about 70 beats per minute. That’s 4,200 beats an hour, 100,800 beats a day, 36,792,000 a year. If a person dies at the age of 80, their heart will beat about 2,943,360,000 times.

The lesson? Time is infinite, heartbeats are not. Our lives are measured by how many times our heart beats, not the ticking of a clock. Therefore, direct your life around your heartbeats. Dance to the rhythm of them. Celebrate them.

Each morning, ask yourself: Out of the roughly 100,800 heartbeats that will expire today, how many will I give to my children? How many will I give to my spouse? How many will I give to a job that doesn’t align with my purpose? How many will I give to television? How many will I give to worry? How many will I let slip through my fingers with idle time? How many heartbeats will I give to myself?

“Calendars are for careful people, not passionate ones …”

Chuck Sigars

Question: Does this different view of time management change your thoughts about today? If so, how?

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13 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in EntreLeadership, Leadership, Small Business

November 3, 2011

What’s Most Important Today?

By Chris LoCurto
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OK, this is pitiful. I have to get a lot of writing done before I leave to go racing, and I’m spending my time with other “important” things! What the heck?

The funny thing is that while I’m procrastinating, I’m thinking of the session I teach in EntreLeadership that covers this topic exactly. One of the lessons is, “We can spend time doing ridiculous things to avoid facing the things outside of our comfort zone.” Now, writing is no longer outside of my comfort zone … but sometimes being creative is.

While I have a ton of stuff to write on, attempting to put it together in a format that helps other people, while entertaining them, can be difficult. (Some of you might be thinking I haven’t reached that point yet. :-) ) No matter the task or issue, the need to roll up your sleeves and get dirty doesn’t go away. Instead, it compounds on top of something else you’re not getting done at the time.

So what do you do? Here are a few tricks to get you back on task.

  • What am I doing?! – Ask yourself from time to time, Is this the most important thing I can be working on right now? If the answer is no, then what is? Why are you not doing it? Self-realization is a powerful thing. I’m writing a post about me discovering that I’m slacking!
  • What to do, what to do? – Stay on target with your to-do list. If you don’t have one, you need to get one started. I know. I know. Very few people actually do one because they don’t see the point. Well, read my post What Am I Doing? to see the importance and the ease of doing it right.
  • Rinse and repeat – Keep going back to your list throughout the day to make sure you’re staying on task. If you have listed your tasks according to priority, then you will always be handling the most important one at the moment.
  • Get outta the trap! – In Stop Answering All Of Your Emails I talk about how much email and instant messaging are a distraction from what we really need to do. Shut them down, so you can stay focused on what you need to get done. I know it sounds crazy, but I’m sure there’s nothing in your inbox that can’t wait a bit to get taken care of. If it’s that important, they will call you.

As you refocus your thoughts and processes, you’ll be amazed at how much you can get done. You’ll start checking off the items on your to-do list with a speed that you wouldn’t think is possible. And then, you can spend more time reading my posts!

Question: What do you do to get on task when you find you’ve distracted yourself?

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30 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in EntreLeadership, Leadership, Small Business

August 12, 2011

How To Declutter Your Mind

By Chris LoCurto
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Everyone knows it’s back-to-school time. Just turn on your TV, and you can’t miss it. But did you realize it’s also the season of our second “New Year.” What do I mean? Well, in the helping-people business,  January 1st and when the kiddos go back to school are when most minds flip a switch and think, It’s time to get things in order!

Usually, it’s about weight loss. But for us, it concerns finances. Since I’m talking to you about leadership, I thought I would throw an idea out there you’ve probably never thought of: getting your mind organized. While there are many things you can do to accomplish this goal, there’s one that I see go unnoticed in leaders all of the time—the state of your desk. If it’s cluttered or messy, so is your mind.

People with messy desks argue, “But I know where everything is!” While I don’t doubt it, that’s not the issue. The problem? There is a stack of papers on your desk  just sitting there.

Your desk should be clear with the exception of what you’re working on. Why? Because everything else is taking up space in your subconscious, telling you to do something with it. Therefore, cluttering up your mind.

So at the beginning of this second new year, it’s the perfect time to get organized, desk-wise. Here’s how:

  • Check your calendar – Start by picking a Saturday to come in and completely organize your office. And remember, it’s not going to be a 30-minute task. You need hours set aside—time when you won’t be bothered by others. Then, with all your focus on the task at hand, you’ll be able to make decisions on every piece of paper you find. And no, you’re not allowed to shove stuff in drawers or closets like you did as a kid!
  • Pick your favorite - Separate into two piles the tasks you must deal with immediately, and what can wait a bit but must be done soon. Then, organize the papers in order of importance, from top to bottom. When you come in Monday, you’ll know exactly where to start.
  • Hate on your team members – Every  job that you can’t get done in the next two weeks or the tasks you don’t need to spend time on need to be delegated to your team. Leave them little surprise stacks on their desks for Monday morning. Seriously, though, make sure you let them know ahead of time of the potential additional work coming their way. If you don’t have a team, it’s all you baby.
  • Put some arch on it – Everything left needs to be filed in an idea file. If it doesn’t get done, it doesn’t matter. If it’s not an idea, it needs to be crumpled up into ball and shot like a free-throw into the trash. I know, it will be difficult for some of you who still have files from 2004, with more dust in them than paper. But hey, you’re improving your basketball skills.

At this point, you are probably surprised because you have forgotten what material the top of your desk is made of. But you should also be pretty proud of yourself. As you leave your office, your mind will be tired, as well as ready to tackle Monday.

Question: When will you do this? 

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12 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in EntreLeadership, Leadership, Small Business

August 4, 2011

Stop answering all of your emails?

By Chris LoCurto
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When Michael Hyatt, the guru of the blogosphere, gives you an amazing idea about a post, you write it! Recently Michael sent this message:

Michael’s talking about the dilemma we all face when we’re so slammed with work that we can’t find time to get to all the emails. Well, the best thing to do is get someone else to handle your emails. That comment just lost me a ton of trust points with a lot of you, but stick with me.

One of the things I like to do in leadership training is teach people how to focus on only the vital parts of their job or business. And honestly, sometimes email just ain’t it. In fact, there is a great deal of email that does nothing but distract us from the larger goal. In his book Time Traps, Todd Duncan talks about how email and instant message constantly causes us to lose the momentum we have on a project, because we’ve trained ourselves to believe that email is so important.

If you’re only getting a few emails a day, this probably isn’t an issue. But if you’re getting hundreds, what do you do to redeem your time? Some of our leaders here at Dave Ramsey‘s organization have their assistant or personal assistant handle them, at least for a specific email account. (Read Please Help Me! to understand the difference between an assistant and a personal assistant.) In essence, the email address you give the general population, or gen pop as referred to on TV prison shows, is not the same one you give close business contacts, friends or family. You only give that email address to folks you can trust to keep it private.

If you already have a personal assistant, then that person is probably taking care of all of your appointments. Some of us never even see appointments, they go straight to the personal assistant since they really are the ones who control the calendar. Therefore, letting your assistant take over most of your emails isn’t that big of a step. I know it seems weird, but as long your assistant is mature and responsible, handing off those emails simply means those folks will be served by someone who will do a better job than you could.

How do you make the transition? Carefully and with clearly defined expectations:

  • How old are you? - First thing you must have before you hand off your emails to someone is maturity in both parties. Your assistant must understand that everything they read is considered extremely private. It’s not to be discussed with anyone. Now, you really should only be handing them things that aren’t so private, but understand that one will slip through from time to time. You also have to understand that they didn’t just become your pit-bull. You still have to handle the tough stuff when it comes up.
  • Ummm, I have a question - This person needs to be able to come to you with questions about answering emails on your behalf. Schedule a time if there are a lot of questions, so it’s not death by a thousand slashes. Otherwise, the occasional one-off is necessary. This is also a good time to see just how well they respond as “you.”
  • Where would you like me to put this? – You should also seriously consider a folder option where they can put emails they know you will want to review and respond to personally. The changeover will take time, and there will be a lot of stuff that has to run through you. You can set up rules in most email systems for those emails to dump into a specific folder you check once or twice a day.
  • You missed one – It’s highly likely that you will receive stuff into your “private” email that your assistant can take care of. Don’t be afraid to forward that on as the trust level is built.

Question: What ways has an assistant made your life easier?

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9 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in EntreLeadership, Leadership, Small Business

May 31, 2011

Check Me Out!

By Chris LoCurto
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In What Am I Doing? I talked about the importance of creating a to-do list. You’ll save amazing amounts of time each day if you just do a quick brain dump of all the tasks you need to get done the next day. On top of that, one of the most valuable things (if you’re like me) is a checklist. Yep, I know, it sounds like I’m giving you more work to do. The truth is, I’m saving you a lot of heartache.

How’s that? Well, a checklist is more than just a checklist. It’s a list of goals. Let me give you an example: When I first started working at Dave Ramsey‘s office as the VP of Live Events, I was handed a legal size sheet of paper from my EVP explaining how we do events here. Now, I just came off of doing multi-day youth events where I realized just how not detailed I was. When I looked at that sheet, I knew right away I was going to fail if I didn’t turn that into a series of goals I could hit no matter what was going on at the time.

I turned that one sheet into 34 pages of things I needed to get done to pull off a successful event. Then I hired incredible coordinators who took it even further and turned it into a 60 page checklist. Side note: The checklist for EntreLeadership Master Series is 100 pages long. With everything spelled out in a fantastic Excel spreadsheet, we are able to produce outrageous events without missing a thing.

Our checklist became a list of goals that if hit, will produce exactly what we intended, leaving only the unexpected, which, without a checklist, becomes a crisis because we would be dealing with the items we missed as well as the unexpected. And with my personality style, I would miss a ton of stuff if I tried to just go from memory. With the list, the unexpected is only an inconvenience.

So, as you have projects you need to complete, write down all of the goals you need to hit for them to be successful. It doesn’t matter how short or long it is, just as long as it is thought through. And for the highly detailed folks on your team, make sure they understand there is a chance they will always be adding to this list. Your projects may morph over time, so you’ll learn new things. And detailed folks like things to be finalized. :-)

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9 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in EntreLeadership, Leadership, Small Business

May 25, 2011

What Am I Doing?!

By Chris LoCurto
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If you’re anything like me, you run like crazy all day long and when you get home, you wonder what it was you actually did. It’s not uncommon at all for owners, leaders and team members to feel this way. Unfortunately, it carries into the next day. When we get to work we’re not really sure what it is we’re supposed to do. We know it’s a lot, but where do we start?

That’s why I really push for people to make a simple to-do list. It doesn’t have to be difficult at all. It just needs to exist. Studies have shown that a to-do list can gain you up to two hours of productivity each day. How? Well, what usually happens is we get to work, start on the first thing we can think of, then we realize we need to do something else. Oh! Don’t forget that thing that was supposed to be done last week. Wait… something new just landed on my desk. It’s a vicious cycle. That’s where we end up losing up to two hours a day.

Instead, if you spend 15 minutes prioritizing what you need to do, you’ll be amazed how easy it is to follow that list. Now, most people will make their list in the morning, and that’s great. But I’m going to tell you to do it at the end of your day for the following day. Why? Two reasons:

  • It’s fresh in your mind. When you get to the end of your day you know all of the stuff you’ve been working on. Dump it all out right then, along with any other items that need to be added to it. Now you won’t have to wonder what tasks need to be tackled tomorrow.
  • This will also get all of the junk stirring around in your head out. That way you don’t spend the rest of your evening thinking about what you need to do tomorrow. I have a tendency to send myself emails at night if I didn’t take the time to write stuff down before I left the office. When you know everything’s already on your list, you can spend focused time with your family.

List your tasks using the ABC method. The most important things get listed under A. Anything that can bring money in the door should be in this category. Your most crucial task should be listed as A1. Things that need to be done soon fall under B. Everything else goes under C. If you can’t ultimately get to the Cs, you need to either delegate them or store them in an idea file. That way they don’t stay in your subconscious as something that needs to get done.

There ya go. Simple and elegant. Ok, maybe just simple.

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8 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Leadership, Small Business

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