How To: Master The Time Management Secrets of CEOs in Six Steps

As you start moving up into your career or building your business you soon find time disappears quickly. Mostly as we grow, we find that we become more reactive. This is detrimental to growth and irresponsible management for your business. It can also impact your life outside of work. The key to increasing your productivity at work is as simple as following 6 simple steps. Most successful CEOs are able to keep their work at work by being proactive and taking control of their time management. Following the advice below will help you to become a more complete leader in all areas of your life.

Making that shift to a more proactive mindset can be done with a couple of easy adjustments. These adjustments are ones that I learned from Chet Holmes’s book “The Ultimate Sales Machine.” Which not only will help you in sales, but it also will help you to run your business, instead of your business running you.

One area that was enlightening is the “got-a-minute” people. This is what really throws you off of your game. Having the “got-a-minute” syndrome will completely kill your productivity on important business matters. You will feel completely worn out with busy work and nothing was accomplished.

By creating a time management strategy that is dedicated to “got-a-minute” meetings it allows you to focus completely on those items. In these meetings you should map out an agenda that list: ideas, issues and suggestions. You should never accept a meeting if there isn’t an agenda attached. It becomes a time-suck and it allows you time to work those items on YOUR schedule.

Chet offers that theses shifts can be done in six easy steps to managing your time wisely. The difference between a good and great leader is pigheadedly maintaining the six steps on a consistent basis. This is the secret to how successful CEOs manage their days. They have the same amount of time in the day as you do. They just manage it better.

Step 1, Touch it Once:

• Touch It Take Action: As soon as you open an email or touch a file you are committed to doing whatever that task is. Once you follow this one step you start to realize you become more focused on tasks. As you do this more and more, you learn to eliminate distractions.
• Accurate Subject Lines: When emails come in, make sure that the subject line accurately depicts the content. So many times, tasks, items and people fall through the cracks because of conversation threads that lead to an action that has no relation to the subject line. Time Management Tip: New question or conversation = New email with subject.
• Don’t Read It, If You Can’t Do It: This leads us to another point. Parsing your time out to focus on an incoming email is the death of good time management. Stopping to read an email every time you get an alert requires concentration. Think of how less effective you become when your concentration is divided.

Step 2, Make Lists:

• Lists, Lists, Lists: List keep you organized. There’s something about having your tasks written out in front of you to keep you organized. This increases productivity and keep you focused on high priorities. Just doing this will effectively double your productivity.
• No More Than 6 Tasks Per List: Having to many items on your list can adversely have a negative effect on your psyche. Not being able to cross items off of your list can demotivate you. So, get an enormous boost by simply trimming down your daily list. You’d be amazed how much more accomplished you’ll feel.
• By Hook Or By Crook: The list of six things you need to do will be done at all costs. This doesn’t mean keeping a side list of items that just get put on the back burner constantly. I understand that there are larger items that can’t be done in a day which should be part of scrum. This is for you to get more granular and map out your day to be the most productive possible.

Example:

1. Work on client proposal
2. Email Contract
3. Schedule meetings
4. Conference Call
5. Work on Marketing Plan
6. Work on Email Campaign

Step 3, Make Time:

• Plan Out How Much Time For Each Task: The key is don’t think about when to do the task. Think about how long it will take for you to do the task. This is also a foundational part of Agile Methodology which is essential to better time management.
• How To Eat An Elephant: This is my dad’s favorite line… One bite at a time. Breaking your tasks into manageable chunks helps to focus on the tasks that lead up to the larger project.
• No More Than 6.5: Your tasks should not take up any more than 6.5 hours of your day. This keeps your time more realistic. Sometimes you go over, sometimes you go under. A good rule of thumb is that your tasks should take you about six hours.

Example:

1. Work on client proposal – 0.5 hour
2. Email Contract – 1.5 hours
3. Schedule meetings – 0.5 hour
4. Conference Call – 1 hour
5. Work on Marketing Plan – 1 hour
6. Work on Email Campaign – 2 hours

Step 4, Plan Your Day:

• Be Specific: Create an exact time slot for absolutely everything. Including the 6 tasks on your list. Include times to check and respond to emails.
• Don’t Get Lost In The Miscellaneous: There should only be two periods where you have miscellaneous and “got-a-minute” meetings. Now that you have periods dedicated to the miscellaneous this is your time to be reactive to issues that may arise. Two half hour periods are suggested to effectively manage your time

Example:

8:00-8:30 - Send client proposal and check email
8:30-9:00 - Review employees’ time management lists
9:00-10:30 - Review, Revise and Email Contract
10:30-11:00 - Miscellaneous meetings (scheduled got-a-minutes), check email
11:00-12:00 - Review marketing plan
12:00-1:00 - Lunch with client
1:30-2:00 - Conference call
2:00-3:00 - Got-a-minutes, miscellaneous, check e-mail
3:00-5:00 - Direct mailer letter
5:00-6:00 - Check and respond to email

Step 5, Prioritize

• Determine Desirability & Do-ability: So, for me, this is a simple chart that I create where I give a value to each task, I run a scale of 1 to 5 for the category Desirability & Do-ability. This helps me prioritize items. See diagram.
• Get The Hard Stuff Out of The Way: After determining the items rating on the D & D scale, I do the tasks that have the lowest score first. The longer you put off the hard stuff the more you will dread doing it.

Step 6, Chuck It

• Can This Be Thrown Out: It’s time to Marie Kondo your professional life. It’s said that 80% of all filed or stored information is never referred to again. So, ask yourself “Will it hurt me to throw this away?” Would you be able to get to that information if you needed it? i.e. declutter your emails.
• Categorize It: Emails for example, when they come in it’s always best to organize them into a folder so that you can find them when you’re ready to “Touch It.”

With these 6 simple tips you’ll be surprised at the difference it makes. Stay focused and proactive and take control of your days. However, if you are feeling overwhelmed with business development GOMINGO has many solutions to help with Marketing, Sales & Client Success