A Templeton Finn Coaching Article:

COACHING FOR IMPROVED TIME MANAGEMENT:

Avoid this Killer Habit that
Destroys Your Day

Nothing to show for your time?

Do you ever get to the end of the day and wonder how it is possible to spend twelve hours of your precious time in the office and only charge two hours to clients? (And the client will probably dispute those!)

You'll probably find that the worst days are the ones where you fall victim to this killer habit, which not only ruins your day but can also sabotage your health and happiness.

This habit is to do the quick stuff immediately, because "it won't take long".

This habit's catch phrase is: "Oh, I'll just..." as in: "Oh, I'll just answer that email" (or some other quick, easy task), "before I draft that agreement" (or some other lengthy, difficult task).

How you justify this habit to yourself...

"I need to be in the right mood to do the agreement - if I get the email done first, I'll feel more like it"

You'll probably hear yourself saying:

• "I'll concentrate much better on the agreement if I've already answered the email"
• "I need to be in the right mood to do the agreement - if I get the email done first, I'll feel more like it"
• "It'll only take five minutes to answer the email."

Of course, half an hour down the line when the email is happily answered (in beautiful prose), something else appears which you could get done oh so quickly before settling down and tackling the agreement.

There's an infinite supply of quick tasks to keep you from the bigger ones...

Before you know it, the day is over, a multitude of emails are answered and the agreement file is now staring malevolently at you from the side of your desk. It is probably hidden beneath random phone notes and email print outs but you still know it's lurking there...

Will it take more than two minutes?

"You'll feel busy all day but go home frustrated that you haven't achieved anything."

David Allen (see below) has spent his life researching time management and has concluded that if the quick thing will take less than two minutes you should do it immediately. Otherwise it needs to go into your system to be prioristised.

Fail to do this and your day will be engulfed by this "quick stuff". You'll feel busy all day but go home frustrated that you haven't achieved anything.

There's also an emotional cost to avoiding the difficult things, including difficult people, because at some level you are running scared. And hiding that drains your energy. Tackling the tough jobs is one of the best ways to build both confidence and energy.

For the other two killer habits see our articles The second killer habit and Time Management - the most dangerous habit of all!

And for a great time management system, see David Allen's book "Getting Things Done"