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Page 7 of 8
Managing Your Time
6. Time Analysis
Monitoring your own use of time is an effective way of improving your time management.
6.1 This involves logging your activities in some detail (say, in 20-minute blocks) over a given period, for instance a week.
- You will have to do this anyway if you charge for your time.
6.2 Once you have worked out how you spent your time, analyse your activities.
- To what extent did they contribute towards achieving your goals?
- To what extent could they be classified as urgent and important, important, urgent but not important, or neither urgent nor important (see 1.2-1.5)?
- You may well find you are spending 30 per cent of your time on unnecessary activities.
- This analysis will help you to decide what to delegate and what to abandon.
6.3 If you compare your actual use of time against your plans, you can identify the tasks that you fail to do, or fail to do on time.
- If they are important (or urgent) for your business, you know that you will have to reduce the time spent on other activities.
- Or you will have to take other measures (for example, acquiring a partner) to ensure they get done.
Typical Pitfalls
These are the most common problems, with suggested solutions.
Trying to do everything yourself.
It is impossible. Aim to delegate, particularly the following:
- Jobs which are routine, require no special skills or are time-consuming, and regular tasks planned in advance.
- Jobs which someone is keen to take on - delegation can be good training.
Failing to brief people properly.
- Explain the objectives before you explain the task.
- Encourage 'ownership' of the project by whoever is taking it on.
- Agree support and deadlines.
- Arrange procedures for monitoring.
Aiming for unnecessary perfection.
Most customers would rather have a good job, completed on time, than a perfect job, three weeks late.
Agonising over toss-up decisions.
- If the balance of arguments is in favour, go ahead.
- If the balance of arguments is against, do not go ahead.
- If the balance is even, all the available information has been considered, and there is no alternative, do either. There is an equal chance of being right, and no point wasting time deciding.
Chaotic filing systems.
Regularly set aside time to throw out all general information over one year old, and to ensure files are in order.
Not keeping your focus
- Your focus determines how effectively you use your time.
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Business Advice