Steps to Success: Take Time to Make TimeWhen I was little, I was fascinated by a large, circular gold coin my father kept on his desk. It had the word tuit embossed front and back. Around the edge was printed: “Now you’ve got a round tuit, give us a call…” and a telephone number. A clever advertising gimmick - I don’t even remember what for. I’ve often imagined that coin like a token for some eternal vending machine selling allotments of extra time. Wouldn’t that be nice? To buy a few more hours. What would you do with yours?I’m guilty of it, and clients often come to me saying things like, “I have so much to do at work/home/school but there aren’t enough hours in the day” or “I have this great creative project/exercise routine/family event I want to do but there’s never time to do it”.But then there are folks who manage to get it all done… they work hard, play hard, have quality family time, pursue interests and even get the laundry done and ironed. How on earth do they find the time? The answer is: they MAKE the time. They have mastered the skills of time management - using the same 24 hours we all get, to their maximum benefit, including time to eat and sleep well!The advantages of good time management are: a better sense of control in our lives, less stress and a greater sense of accomplishment as we are achieving everything we want to. It involves being pro-active rather than reactive and requires taking time to think and plan effectively.The key elements to managing time well include:l Knowing priorities - distinguish between what needs to be done and what needs to be done now, remembering to schedule in time to both plan and do the important, yet not urgent workl Planning and protecting the plan - find a scheduling system that works for you and allocate time for your every activity, including time for unforeseen activities/events. Strengthen your resolve and boundaries to defend the time slots you’ve allocated from interruptions or distractions from others (and yourself). Note: this isn’t just regarding work, defend planned family time and personal time etc to the same degreel Preparation time - factor both thinking time and practical preparation time into your schedulel Focus - concentrate fully on the task at hand rather than allowing distractions to dilute your attention and prolong itl Delegation - decide the most efficient use of your time and others’, recognise strengths and capabilities and share tasks whenever appropriatel Managing expectations - ensure others know what is expected of them and what they can expect from you regarding your schedulel Communication - keep those around you informed of when you need time/resources and for what, and share your weekly/monthly schedule with them in advancel Strategise - evaluate each area where you spend time, use some creative thinking and make efficiencies wherever possibleUseful tools to help harness these elements:Do a time auditAs with anything, awareness is the starting point of positive change. For three days, or a week if you can, write down a full list of how and where you spend your time everything from how long it takes to brush your teeth and get ready in the morning to time spent doing daily activities and one-off projects… and whatever’s in between. This exercise will give you a clearer picture of your starting point, to evaluate where there are inefficiencies and areas to introduce the other time-management factors listed above.Use the Prioritisation QuadrantsAs described in Stephen Covey’s, ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’, this simple matrix helps identify what is important and where and how you should be directing your time. For each task, question which quadrant it falls into and treat it accordingly. Time spent on un-important things is time you’ll never retrieve to spend of what matters to you.Urgent - Not UrgentImportant - Do It Now - Plane and Prepare a time to doUnimportant - Reject and Explain - Resist and RefrainTime BoxingFor each task on your daily ‘to do’ list, delegate and write a certain time-limit for it, eg telephone call, 15 minutes; report reading, 45 minutes; daily schedule prep, 20 minutes. When each task has a time, arrange them in priority order. Then set a timer at the start of each task and work solely on that task, focusing full attention on it until the buzzer goes off (don’t get distracted by e-mails, phone calls etc).The list becomes more manageable when we can see the reality of time/effort required to complete it. It reduces our resistance to tasks that otherwise might feel indeterminate and because of the limited time period, our subconscious will speed up to help adhere to that timeframe. Factor in a five- to ten-minute break between tasks to refresh.There are many useful time management tools available, make some time to research and find what works for you.Top Tipsl Involuntary e-mail notification has been cited as the single biggest time-management detractor. Turn off the e-mail notification and set up only specific times throughout the day to check and handle e-mails.l Pick it up once -aim to reduce the number of times you handle any piece of paper/information. Deal with it immediately. Either: action (or schedule a time to action)/file/delegate/ditch it - get it out of your inbox.l Eat that frog - the concept of coach Brian Tracey’s book of the same name. Considering your daily ‘to do’ list, whatever is the ugliest, least appealing task on there - do that first! You won’t waste time worrying about it all morning, or put it off for another day and instead will feel relief and accomplishment starting your day when it’s done.l Check out this useful website containing great practical information, especially for time management in the work place: www.businessballs.com/timemanagement.htm.l Take great pleasure crossing things off your ‘to do’ list - this reinforces a sense of accomplishment and promotes future action.l Reward and celebrate your progress and improving time management skills.Let’s not put our lives and successes off until ‘we get a round to it’ or the elusive ‘someday’… otherwise they may never happen. Take control. Decide what’s important, plan it, prepare it and do it until it’s done. Then take time to enjoy the results of your efforts! Make time. Make it count.Julia Pitt is a trained success coach and certified NLP practitioner.For further information telephone 705-7488 or visit www.juliapittcoaching.com.