Timings are Critical not Flexible

"There just aren't enough hours in the day" “I don’t have enough time”, are cries I hear all too often as a business coach. It never ceases to amaze me just how unproductive, incompetent and inefficient we can be with the time we have. Let's face it each and every day we are given just 24 hours, yet we continually squander them. Let's put this into perspective, take a look at how old you are right now, assuming you live in the UK where the average life expectancy is 80.42 years old, how many summers have you got left? Well I have 34. Now thinking in those terms how many do you want to waste? I for one don't aim to waste any of them. With that focus I aim to ensure I don't waste any of my time, in fact getting more done effectively allows me to enjoy a great work life balance.

So how can I get more efficient with my time? 

As a soldier and an officer I lived by the adage that timings were critical not flexible, I had a real militant approach to timings. If I had to be somewhere at a time I always allowed a factor of time to ensure I would arrive early, the ‘fudge factor’. If we had a parade at 0800hrs, then I would expect to arrive at least 5 minutes early. You’ll have heard the adage ‘with military precision’, timings really were critical in terms of coordinating activities on a very large scale.  Placing such significance on time and timings results in everyone internalising the importance of time and holding themselves accountable. Can your organisation say the same? Could you place significance on timing to build a culture of maximising efficiency?

Here’s my top 7 tips from my military experience for your business:

1. Work Back - When working towards a deadline always establish the major milestones working back from the deadline time. This will allow you to establish all the critical timings leading up to delivery. 

2. Timetable – Have a timetable of daily, weekly, monthly and annual activities which are routine. Identify who is responsible for the activities and have been given clear direction. Have the timetable published at a central point within the organisation and clearly communicate it.

3. Clear lines of Communication – Have clear lines of communication through the tiers of the organisation, to ensure timely and detailed passage of information. Meetings can form the conduit and starting point, you must ensure there is a clear agenda and stick to it. Don’t allow the meeting to detract and remain firmly in control of the agenda. So much time is wasted through poor communication and unnecessary lengthy meetings.

4. Synchronise - Whilst this may sound odd, from time to time it will be useful to check everyone’s time is synchronised. Maybe take the time from the internet, central clock or make one team member responsible for setting time. In the military we always worked from GMT and when on operations the Artillery would be responsible for setting the organisation, ‘gunners time’.

5. Clear Direction - When setting out tasks for the team make sure there is clear direction given; simply put set out what is to be achieved, what the limitations and constraints are and when it is to be completed by. Throughout make sure the team leader monitors progress periodically, be mindful not to micro manage though.

6. Concurrent Activity – Whenever possible always be thinking what complementing tasks can be conducted concurrently. There is greater efficiency to have tasks run in unison.

7 – One third, two thirds rule. During planning always ensure you, the business owner, ensure your team have the greater proportion of the available time to complete their roles within the planning or task. Essentially take 1/3^rd of the time and give the team 2/3^rd’s.  

There is often a focus on getting efficient with our time, the focus here is regarding building a culture and relationship with time. Having a team who value time, seek to gain greater proficiency with their time and maximise productivity. Implementing these 7 steps within your business is a start to building the culture where timings are critical not flexible. 

Be Militant About Your Time

Just a short rant about why we don't get more disciplined when it comes to mastering our time as Business Owners. In my travels and discussions with business owners I always seem to hear 'I don't have the time', 'there's not enough hours in the day', 'I haven't had a day off in months'. Additionally its not unusual to hear stories recounted of holidays which have been plagued with calls from the business on a daily basis, or frankly I haven't been able to take a holiday in years.

What was the purpose of entering into business on your own; a lifestyle choice most likely. Wanted to be my own boss, decide when and what hours I work! I bet for many that's a far off and distant dream now! Well folks you need to get some self discipline, you need to get militant about your time. In business time is after all money!

Here's a notion....there's no such thing as time management, there is only SELF MANAGEMENT. That's right you can manage the time you have with simple self discipline. So here's a few tips to get you started on time mastery:

1. Prior preparation prevents a poor performance, plan in advance, plan tomorrow today. Be clear in what you are to achieve the next day.
2. Urgency versus important, here's the thing, if you deal with all the important issues and task you'll avoid urgent stuff cropping up!
3. It goes without saying use GOALs to gain razor like focus and drive.
4. Have a default diary, scheduled your activity.
5. Get organised.
6. Increase you productivity by identifying when your business prime time is and when you are at your most productive.
7. Delegate, delegate, delegate!
8. Remember timings are critical not flexible........how do you feel when staff are late or you are late for a client!
9. Get systems in your business.
10. Say NO, don't allow unnecessary meeting to waste time (take the chairs out of a meeting room and see what happens), avoid getting caught in trivia.

Remember ultimately be militant about having your time wasted, get self determination, be tuff on those who undervalue your time and be tough on yourself!

If you are really ready to get productive in your business then join me on Wed, Feb 26, 2014 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM GMT for a webinar on Time Mastery follow this link: 

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3826703242211939329

In this short video Brian Tracy talks of some great strategies some of which I have touched on:

Stop Blaming Time

How many times have you heard people say "I don't have enough time to do ..." or "If only I could find the time to do ..." Or "I am too busy to do ..." Perhaps the person you heard saying these or similar things is the same person who stares back at you every morning in the bathroom mirror. Well, it is time to stop blaming time! Time is an absolute-there are 24 hours (1440 minutes, 86,400 seconds) in a day and that will never change. We cannot "manage" time. What we can manage is what we do during the next 60 minutes.

How we use time is one of the great determinants of how successful we are both as business owners and as individuals. Everyone from Bill Gates to the small business owner is given the same amount of time each day, 24 hours. Think of it like the auto races where they make all the drivers drive identically built and tuned race cars. The winner is then determined not by who has the fastest car but who can drive that identical car the best. Similarly in life the "winners" are those who learn how to drive their use of time the best.

So how do you take control of your time?

1. Accept that there is no such thing as too much or too little time. There is enough time available for you to be successful-others have been successful and they had no more access to time than you do. Take ownership of your situation. Be accountable for your results and responsible for your actions.
2. Decide what you want to accomplish. What do you want to be "successful" at? To some it may mean making a million dollars, to others it may mean being healthier while others may be looking to have better relationships with their family and friends. This is your goal. You must also understand the benefits to you of achieving the goal -how will it make you feel when you achieve it. Both the goal and your "why" must be written down with a time frame.
3. Once you have decided the goal and your "why", you must now determine the activities that will be necessary for you to accomplish that goal. What do I have to do? What time commitment will I make? What will I need to adjust/sacrifice/reduce/delegate in order to have the time to do the activities identified? Remember if it was easy everyone, including you would have already done it. What separates the successful users of time from the unsuccessful ones is the discipline and determination to obtain their goals no matter what. Winners never give up and they never quit on themselves.
4. Understand that life and business are about choices. You choose how you will spend your time- on what activities and how much on each. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Being successful in many different areas takes effort and time. Success comes from laser-like focus on one or two goals. Once they are accomplished you move on to the next set of goals and focus on those.
5. Prepare your calendar each week by creating "appointments" to do the activities that you have identified. These are defaulted into your calendar before anything else. Treat these as if the appointment was with your most important customer. Would you easily change your Monday 2-3pm "meeting" just because someone asked for that time slot? No, you would negotiate- "I am booked at that time. I can see you at either 1pm or after 3pm, which would work for you?"
6. Be militant about your schedule. If you don't care how your time is being spent, why should anyone else? Learn to say "No". In Stephen Covey's book "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" he breaks activities into 4 categories- Not Important/Not Urgent, Urgent/Not Important, Urgent/Important and Not Urgent/Important. The danger for most people is the Urgent/Not Important category. This is when we are responding to other people's urgencies, however the activity does not move us toward OUR goal- by definition it is Not Important. Beware of the time and effort devoted to those tasks. Conduct your own time usage study. Every minute that you can divert from not important categories to the important categories will move you closer to your goal.
7. Review your successes/challenges in meeting your schedule each week and adjust where necessary. Be honest with yourself and continually reinforce your "Why" - what are you trying to accomplish and how important is that to you.
8. Find an accountability partner or mentor to help keep you on track. We can all use help every now and then- it is a strength to admit this, not a weakness.

In summary, stop blaming time, take ownership of your time and commit to the discipline necessary to win the race by being the best "driver" of time you can be.