When I work with managers and sellers in our business there's one issue that almost always comes up: Time. Finding it, managing it, understanding where it goes. Our business may not necessarily be more intense or frenetic than many others, but it can seem that way. And the very tools that are supposed to help us control time and manage productivity often have just the opposite effect.
I can't solve all of your issues with the calendar and the clock, but if you're one of those who ends up asking "So what the hell did I end up doing all day?" at 6 pm, here are a few ideas.
Take Back the First Hour. Millions of American workers start their day on email. Tragic mistake. Instead of a plan for the day or some much needed creative time, we go north to south through the inbox. We priority communication based on who wrote to us most recently. 15 or 20 minutes in, we start seeing the replies to our replies. Most of us never recover. Instead, declare a moratorium for the first 60 minutes of the day (OK, a half hour for the seriously addicted.) Use that "pre-mail" block of time to set priorities, make a plan, or maybe just think about a problem or opportunity.
Opt out of the String. People CC you on email strings unnecessarily for lots of reasons; sometimes just because they want you to know they're 'working.' Unless you tell them otherwise, they'll keep doing it. Respond to the string with a comment and they think you actually like it. So tell them already. "Thanks for copying me, but please drop me from the string now. I know you guys can handle this without me."
Does it Have to Be a Meeting? One thing that kills the calendar and deadens the soul is the proliferation of meetings within companies. There are too many of them, they include too many people, and they almost always lack any productive framework or focus. People are late, they are distracted while there, and they end in confusion and ambivalence. Once you start to push back on meetings - "I'm not sure I need to be part of this?"... "Why do you need me there?" - you start to realize that much of what's been drawing you into the perpetual meeting is nothing more than fear and inertia.
...and Does it Have to be 30 Minutes? Why do we always meet around a conference table in 30 or 60 minute blocks? Good question. Try the 5/15 meeting instead: A stand up meeting that lasts no less than 5 but no more than 15 minutes. The 5/15 must be centered on a question to be answered or an issue to be solved, and whoever calls the 5/15 must send the question in advance.
Account for Just One Day. It's an old bromide, but it's true. Write down everything you do for a single day. It's eye opening. Only when you get some sense of where the time goes, you can't begin to control it.
