Successful people tend to follow an early morning routine. Using the early morning time to get ahead on your personal and career goals will instantly give you an extra 2 hours per day that most people spend sleeping or mindlessly drinking coffee while watching television. Once your day gets rolling, you are working down your energy level, just like gas in your car, so it’s important to consciously choose a time management system that serves your needs and makes the most of your energy,  to ensure an effective day. Does your current system include these components?

• Creating an environment conducive to effectiveness
• Setting of priorities
• Carrying out activity around those priorities
• The related process of reduction of time spent on non-priorities
• Incentives to modify behavior to ensure compliance with time-related deadlines

It’s Not Just for Work!

One of the key factors found in successful time management is learning to use it  throughout your life, not just at work. Over time, the efficiencies you integrate into your professional life will root themselves deeply into your nature, and become part of  how you live your life, no matter where you are!

As time management evolved there have been some specific methodologies developed out of its core nature; such as ABC Analysis, Pareto Analysis, The Eisenhower Method, and POSEC Method. Which of these methods will work best for you?

ABC Analysis
This process is the categorization of large data into groups. These groups are often marked A, B, and C—hence the name. Activities are ranked by these general criteria:
A – Tasks that are identified as being urgent and important,
B – Important but not urgent tasks,
C – Neither urgent nor important tasks. (This list could also include tasks that are urgent but not important.)

Pareto Analysis
The old 80% / 20% rule. Basically the majority of most important or 80% of tasks take up 20% of time, while the remaining 20% of tasks will take up 80% of the time. This principle is used to sort tasks into two parts. According to this form of Pareto analysis, it is recommended that tasks that fall into the first category be assigned a higher priority.
The “Eisenhower Method” stems from a quote attributed to Dwight D. Eisenhower: “I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.”

POSEC Method
POSEC is an acronym for Prioritize by Organizing, Streamlining, Economizing and Contributing.
The POSEC Hierarchy:
Prioritize – Your time and define your life by goals.
Organize – Things you have to accomplish regularly to be successful (family and finances).
Streamline – Things you may not like to do, but must do (work and chores).
Economize – Things you should do or may even like to do, but they’re not pressingly urgent (pastimes and socializing).
Contribute – By paying attention to the few remaining things that make a difference (social obligations).

Research has defined for us many methods and tools to facilitate effective time management.  We can use one or many of them or even a combination or multiple tools. The key is to actively engage ourselves and our lives in the practice of looking at tasks and to do’s throughout our day so you can categorize each task into useful groupings. Live consciously.

Whichever tool or combination of tools you use, the key to your success is to use whatever tool works best for you. Use them every day, until those new habits become second nature. Finally establishing a set of time management habits will result in increased personal effectiveness and improved personal presence!

Leaders with the most impact are those who can build and successfully manage great teams. Every day, we help our clients and colleagues achieve their highest levels of professional presence and personal effectiveness. That includes everyone on the ladder, from company presidents to project managers, to staff members. Contact us at 800-282-3374 to find out how we can help you impact your own productivity and the productivity of your entire organization.