Successful Time Management For Dummies

Dirk Zeller is one of the world's most published authors on success, time management, productivity, sales, and life balance. He is the author of ten top-selling books, including Telephone Sales For Dummies and Success as a Real Estate Agent For Dummies.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Icons Used in This Book 2

Foolish Assumptions 3

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go From Here 4

Part I: Beginning the Revolution: Simple Steps to Start With 5

Chapter 1: The Essence of Good Time Management: Organizing Yourself 7

Planning in Advance 8

Achieving peace of mind 8

Activating your subconscious mind 9

The 1,000 percent return 9

Assemble all that is needed 9

Handle everything—just once 10

Grabbing the Three Keys to Personal Organization 11

Stepping back to evaluate 11

Developing neatness habits 11

Refuse to excuse 12

Chapter 2: Setting Yourself Up for Success 13

Getting to Know Yourself 14

Assessing your strengths and weaknesses 14

Naming goals to give you direction 15

Assigning a monetary worth to your time 16

Identifying your rhythm to get in the zone 16

Following a System 18

Scheduling your time and creating a routine 18

Organizing your surroundings 18

Overcoming Time‐Management Obstacles 19

Communicating effectively 20

Circumventing interruptions 20

Getting procrastination under control 21

Making decisions: Just do it 21

Garnering Support While Establishing Your Boundaries 22

Balancing work and time with family and friends 22

Streamlining interactions with co‐workers and customers 23

Keeping Motivation High 23

Chapter 3: Linking Time Management to Life Goals 25

Understanding Why You Need to Put Your Goals on Paper 26

Establishing Your Fabulous 50 .27

What do you want to have? 29

What do you want to see? 29

What do you want to do? 30

What do you want to give? 30

Who do you want to become? 31

Labeling and Balancing Your Fabulous 50 32

Assigning a time frame to each goal 32

Categorizing your goals 34

Targeting 12 Goals to Start With 35

Narrowing down your list 36

Noting why your top‐12 goals are important to you 36

Pinpointing Your Resource Needs 37

Accruing funds: A capital idea 38

Expanding your knowledge 38

Honing your skill set 38

Tapping into human resources 39

Chapter 4: Putting a Value on Your Time 41

Getting a Good Grip on the Time‐Equals‐Money Concept 42

Calculating Your Hourly Income 43

Boosting Your Hourly Value through Your Work Efforts 45

Making Value‐Based Time Decisions in Your Personal Life 46

Deciding whether to buy time: Chores and responsibilities 47

Making time‐spending decisions: Leisure activities 48

Looking at rewards 48

Factoring in monetary and time costs 48

Staying open to experiences and using time wisely 49

Part II: Establishing a Good System 51

Chapter 5: Focusing Your Efforts, Prioritizing Tasks, and Blocking Your Time 53

Focusing Your Energy with the 80/20 Theory of Everything 54

Matching time investment to return 54

The vital 20 percent: Figuring out where to focus your energy at work 57

Personal essentials: Channeling efforts in your personal life 58

Getting Down to Specifics: Daily Prioritization 62

Blocking Off Your Time and Plugging in Your To-Do Items 64

Step 1: Dividing your day 65

Step 2: Scheduling your personal activities 66

Step 3: Factoring in your work activities 67

Step 4: Accounting for weekly self- evaluation and planning time 67

Step 5: Building in flex time 68

Assessing Your Progress and Adjusting Your Plan as Needed 69

Surveying your results 69

Tweaking your system 71

Chapter 6: Efficiently Working from a Home Office 73

Knowing Yourself and Your Environment 73

Is working from home for you? 74

Weighing the pros and cons of a home office 75

Defining your space needs 77

Selecting the Right Equipment 78

More than a desk and chair 78

Desktops, laptops, scanners, and other tools 79

Managing the lighting and noise 80

Getting the Work Done from Home 80

Fighting the home interruptions 81

Working at home with kids 82

Feeling isolated from the business world 82

Chapter 7: Setting Up and Maintaining a Productive Workspace 85

Streamlining Your Workspace 86

Make way! Clearing off your desk 86

Assembling essential organizational tools 87

Setting up a timely filing system 88

Tackling piles systematically 90

Keeping Clutter from Coming Back 91

Handling documents and papers once 92

Filing regularly 94

Taking notes that you can track 94

Limiting the Paper You Receive 95

Accounting for Ergonomics and Aesthetics 97

Setting up a proper workstation 98

Decorating your space 98

Chapter 8: Fine-Tuning Organization Skills with Technology 101

Plugging into Electronic Scheduling 102

The calendar-sharing benefits of electronic scheduling tools 102

The utility of portable planners 103

De-cluttering Your Computer or Tablet (and Keeping It That Way) 104

Naming files and organizing them with an electronic tree 104

Offloading excess by archiving or deleting 107

Saving new files strategically 108

Managing Contact Info with a CRM Program 109

Looking at software and services 110

Unleashing the capabilities of a CRM program 110

Creating effective client profiles 112

Putting a CRM program on a server or in the cloud to maximize accessibility and backup 113

Part III: Using Technology to Leverage Your Time 117

Chapter 9: Leveraging Your Time with Technology 119

Timing Is Everything: Taking Charge of Your Time 120

Making choices about technology 120

Automate rather than replicate 120

Communicating Effectively through Technology 121

Social media options to consider 122

Using FaceTime, Skype, and other video communication systems 123

Engaging through online meeting platforms 123

Organizational Technology Tools 126

Building your system to find what you need fast 126

Protecting your technology from catastrophe 127

Clouding, Dropboxing, and storing your stuff 127

Creating a Digital Brain with Evernote 128

Getting your notes, ideas, and thoughts into Evernote 129

Remembering and finding things you need 130

Chapter 10: Controlling Email Overload 131

Managing Email Effectively 131

Setting up filtering systems 131

Separating Your Work and Private Life 132

Managing multiple email addresses 133

Organizing and storing email 133

Responding to email using less time 134

Employing an email response system 135

Automating your responses 137

Chapter 11: The Facebook Balancing Act 139

The Time Advantages of Facebook 139

The black hole of time in Facebook 140

Which to use personally and professionally 141

Using your personal page to create business 142

Leveraging your Facebook business pages 143

Keeping Contacts with Facebook 144

To friend or not to friend that is the question 145

Posting from public to private 145

Getting people to share your posts 146

Using the list feature to manage interaction 147

Communicating through groups 148

Chapter 12: Twitter: Time Saver or Time Waster 149

Deciding Who to Follow 149

Those from which you can learn 151

Those with which you can have fun 151

Those with whom you can profit 151

Those you can teach 152

Preventing a Twitter Takeover 152

Chapter 13: Creating Effective LinkedIn Strategies 155

Creating a Link‐able Profile 155

Creating a personal profile 156

Sharing your experience 156

Picturing yourself on LinkedIn 157

Defining LinkedIn Goals, Objectives, and Connections 157

Establishing Your LinkedIn Schedule 158

The two‐check system 159

Meeting weekly to check for success 159

Part IV: Confronting Challenges to Time Management 161

Chapter 14: Communicating Strategically to Get Results — Fast 163

Choosing the Right Medium for Your Message 164

Communicating face to face 164

Vocalizing your message over the phone 166

Putting messages in writing: The joys (and perils) of email, text, and instant messages 167

Basic Communication Skills: Being Direct and Succinct 169

Cutting out the clutter in your language 170

Including the essential stuff 170

Fostering Camaraderie When Meeting in Person 171

Corresponding Clearly and Confidently via Telephone 172

Writing Effective Emails 174

Crafting a clear and targeted subject line 174

Keeping an eye on composition 175

Reviewing your writing 177

Preparing for the send-off 178

Asking Targeted Questions to Get Results 178

Determining what sorts of answers you need 179

Starting the flow with open-ended questions 179

Narrowing the focus with closed-ended questions 180

Pinning down maybes and other conditional responses 181

Achieving a positive tone 182

Preparing to listen 182

Chapter 15: Defending Your Day from Interruptions 185

The Fortress: Guarding Your Focus from Invasion 186

Protecting your domain from interior intrusions 186

Scheduling time offline 189

Screening interruptions before letting them through 191

Secondary Defenses: Minimizing Damage When Calls Get Through 193

Delegating the responsibility 193

Shortening or condensing the conversation 194

Rebooking discussions for a better time 194

Handling Recurring Interruptions by Co-Workers 195

The colleague with nothing to do 195

The colleague who just doesn’t want to work 196

The employee who’s wrapped up in his world 196

The person who treats work as her sole social outlet 197

Dealing with Interruption-Oriented Bosses 197

The seagull manager 198

The verbal delegator 198

Working with Intrusive Clients 199

A little attention goes a long way 200

Setting clients’ expectations 201

Chapter 16: Overcoming Procrastination 203

Staring Down the Source: How Procrastination Takes Hold 203

Calling on short‐sighted logic: “I have plenty of time” 204

Avoiding the unpleasant: “I don’t want to think about it now” 204

Triggering your fears: “What if I screw up? And what if I don’t?” 205

Paralyzed by perfection: “I’ll wait till the time is right” 206

Sabotaging at mid‐process: “I’ve earned a break” 206

Looking for thrills: “I work best under pressure” 207

Knowing Whether to Put It Off 208

Poor procrastination: Considering the costs 208

Wise procrastination: Knowing when to hold ‘em 209

Laying the Groundwork: Altering Your Mindset and Instituting Discipline 211

Motivating yourself with the carrot‐or‐stick approach 211

Recognizing excuses and shoving them aside 213

Give me a break: Putting off procrastination 215

Conquering Dreaded Tasks with Sandwich Tactics 215

The eat‐the‐crust‐first approach: Starting with the tough job 216

The Swiss‐cheese approach: Poking little holes in the task 216

The salami approach: Finishing it one slice at a time 217

The discard‐the‐garnish approach: Getting it off your plate 217

Maintaining Your Motivation as You Press Ahead 218

Chapter 17: Coping with a Time-Wasting Boss 221

Fulfilling Your Objectives to Help Your Boss Meet Hers 222

Maintaining Personal Boundaries 223

Preparing to Discuss Your Concerns with Your Boss 224

Identifying concerns and gathering supporting evidence 225

Reflecting on your boss’s behavior style 226

Initiating and Fostering a Win‐Win Discussion 229

Irreconcilable Differences: Knowing When to Move On 231

Chapter 18: Mastering Meetings with Co‐Workers 233

Devising Objectives, Listing Attendees, and Crafting an Agenda 234

Clarifying the purpose of the meeting 234

Creating a guest list 236

Holding informal, preliminary mini‐meetings 237

Putting together the agenda 238

Scheduling the Time and Place 240

Finding a good time slot 240

Considering the location 241

The Day Of: Running the Meeting Well 244

Arriving early for setup 244

Launching the meeting 245

Keeping the meeting moving 246

Assigning action items 247

Summarizing and concluding the meeting 248

Following Up for Maximum Productivity 249

Part V: Maintaining Efficiency When Working with Others 251

Chapter 19: Time Management for Administrative Staff 253

Recognizing Common Pitfalls 254

Keeping Your Eyes on the Goal: Your Boss’s Lead 254

Boosting your admin image: Ask and you shall receive 255

Getting face time with the boss 255

Dealing with a meeting‐phobe 256

Working for a meeting‐phile 257

Asking the right questions 257

Adopting Strategies to Stay On Track 259

Starting with a few simple steps 259

Protecting peak productivity periods 260

Getting your priorities in order 262

Seeking clarification about your objectives 262

Creating and qualifying a comprehensive task list 263

Chapter 20: Time Management for Salespeople 265

Breaking Your Time‐Investment Portfolio into Three Categories 266

The money‐makers: Direct income‐producing activities (DIPA) 267

The prep work: Indirect income‐producing activities (IIPA) 268

Administrative stuff: Production‐supporting activities (PSA) 270

Letting the numbers scare you straight 270

Tracking Your Time to See Where You Stand 271

Recording your activities 272

Evaluating your time‐tracking sheets 273

Looking back at your day 273

Reflecting on your week, month, quarter, and year 274

A DIPA success story 275

Planning Your Day around DIPA 275

Picking time for DIPA and using that slot wisely 275

Getting off to a good start 276

Giving priority to prospecting 276

Leaving time for following up on leads 277

Blocking out time for sales presentations 278

Planning for personal development 278

Continuing education: A lifelong journey 279

Role‐playing: Getting ready for prime time 280

Evaluating your sales presentation performance 281

Scheduling your DIPA time 282

Incorporating IIPA into Your Day 283

Using IIPA time to review sales results 283

Keeping IIPA in check 284

Decreasing Your PSA Time 284

Questioning the way it’s done 286

Chapter 21: Time Management for Business Owners and Executives 287

Stepping Back and Observing Your Time Investment 288

Increasing Time on Growth Activities 290

Responsive Tasks: Decreasing Your “In” Time 291

Solidifying your organizational chart 292

Crafting clear job descriptions 293

Creating room for growth with supplemental task lists 295

Devising a management plan 296

Empowering your staff 297

Organizing Daily Priorities 298

Planning Ahead: Balancing Your “On” Time 298

Setting aside daily and monthly “on” time 300

Performing a quarterly and yearly review of “on” time 301

Chapter 22: Coaching Others to Manage Time Effectively 303

Finding Out Who’d Benefit from Training 304

Using the four probabilities of success as a gauge 304

Tapping into an employee’s motivation 306

Establishing Goals 308

Incorporating Tools and Strategies 309

Fostering Partnership and Encouraging Success 311

Setting up benchmarks and check‐ins to instill accountability 312

Being consistent 313

Fulfilling your role as a mirror 314

Dealing with a Lack of Progress: Can This Employee Be Saved? 315

Accepting them, warts and all 316

Giving it one more try 316

Saying sayonara 317

Part VI: The Part of Tens 319

Chapter 23: Ten Time‐Wasting Behaviors 321

Failing to Stop and Think 321

Multitasking 322

Working without Breaks 323

Demanding Perfection 323

Worrying and Waiting 324

Hooking Up to the Tube 324

Surfing the Web 325

Getting Caught in Junk Mail Undertow 326

Killing Time in Transit 328

Spending Time with Negative People 328

Chapter 24: Ten Time‐Efficient Habits 331

Start Your Day Early 331

Plan for the Next Day 332

Take Care of Your Health 333

Eating for optimal performance 333

Exercising for energy and stamina 333

Sleeping for rejuvenation 334

Set Aside Downtime 334

Plan Meals for the Week 335

Delegate Almost Everything 336

Say No More Often 336

Always Use a Time-Management System 337

Simplify Your Life 337

Begin Every Day at Zero 338

Index 339