Let's Talk About Real-Time Management

Every day we meet people in a hurry, people who do not have time, people who declare themselves defeated in the fight against time. Among us, we are all experts, we also know what the solution is, a better organization of time. Like any problem, however, practice kills us.

1. What attitude should I have in relation to time?

The right attitude in relation to time is one of responsibility. This is the answer you will find in all the articles, in all the books, but you probably knew it too. I don't like the generalities, which sometimes sound so good, but practically they are of no use to you, they don't say anything about what you should do or how you should do it. I admit, that responsibility is important, but staying in this point, your time is not organized alone. Even if you understand this, responsibility alone does not solve the problems.

A difference in finesse that I would like to make: not the attitude towards time is the problem, but concretely, with the things you have to do. Basically, it is not the organization of time that is the problem, but the tasks that you have to do are the real challenge.

Trying to organize the time, from my experience and that of others, I noticed a pedaling in the empty, in the sense that you do not consistently touch this problem. Considering the lack of time, as we call it a problem, the right medicine is not a better organization of time, because you practically did not say anything, but a better organization of tasks.

By organizing your tasks, you are already starting to work in the field of concrete, practically, you are acting directly on the sensitive point, directly on the point that can solve the time problems.

Metaphorically speaking, in order to set up an office, you have to arrange things in that office. Wanting to organize an office, without organizing things in the office, we are basically talking nonsense. Obviously, when we talk about setting up an office, we need to have an overview, but things in the office need to be organized.

2. Where is the real problem?

I'm a disorganized guy, but I have good time management. It sounds paradoxical, but it is true. I started self-discipline, organized my tasks, and faced this challenge. I learned it on my own. I read a book on this subject, it didn't help.

I read something on the Internet, but I felt like I was missing something. I thought a lot and came to the conclusion stated above, namely, that I do not have a problem with time, but with tasks. After reaching this conclusion, I asked myself the question: Good… good and how should I organize my tasks?

There are all kinds of methods. I will introduce you to some of them. That's how I tried to organize my tasks. I organized them, but something didn't work, problems and tasks remained. I also read about time thieves and understood it. It was as if I had taken some steps, but it still didn't work. Let me tell you - it was a scary place.

Same here, as if everything I knew was general. I was making a list of tasks, trying to solve them, but I still didn't feel like I had good time management. What I did was a simple thing, I stopped organizing and I just started self-monitoring.

But I warn you that this self-monitoring, in order to be healthy, you do not have to do it at the beginning of the week or at the end, neither in the morning, nor in the evening, but all the time. What does this mean? Take a piece of paper and write down everything you do during the day.

When you start doing something, write down what you started doing, and immediately after, write down the time, when you move on to something else, write down the time again. You can add another column in which to put the total duration. Don't fall into the trap of leaving things seemingly unimportant unattended. Write down everything you do, EVERYTHING!

You will have a revelation. Try this for at least one day. If you get nervous, even two, three days. The relationship of each of us with time is an intimate one, being things that only we know. Discuss here your speed of work on certain tasks or vice versa, things that consume a lot of your time. Specifically, by doing this self-monitoring, you are giving real answers.

It is the real step towards true time management. The questions to which you will have real answers are:

• How long does it take you to do everything you have to do?
• How long do you read your email?
• How long do you talk on the phone?
• What is the result of everything you do?
• What are your time-consuming tasks?
• How many unforeseen things happen in one day?
• How long does it take you to do these things?
• What are the things you do very quickly?
• How long are your important tasks?
• Do you have fixed tasks that are repeated every day?
• How much time do you spend on them?

The list goes on. By answering these questions, you have a firm idea of ​​the tasks you will accomplish in one day. It was surprising for me to see how many things I did in one day, without really thinking about those things. When you review this list in the evening, it's like you read a story. You will find amazing things, things you never thought of.

The classic time management formula is the one in which you fill in some forms, with what works, with what doesn't work, with time thieves, and so on.

This, with all due respect to those who propose them, are not solutions, because they do not act on the person, they work again with generalities, getting out of sight of many small things that you have to do in one day, things that you do not know. you only realize it if you self-monitor.

You can answer the above questions, what works and what doesn't, but only after you have seriously self-monitored yourself.

You will lie to yourself if you give your opinion without self-monitoring. There may be effects, but only in the short term. Basically, you will try to heal by acting on the effect, not on the cause.

3. How do I organize tasks?

As you know best. That would be the right answer. After those you will have a transparent relationship with your time, with what you have to do in a day, their organization will be a breeze. You will feel in control of yourself, your time, and your efficiency.

After all, when we talk about the time we talk about what you have to do, and about your tasks, and when we talk about tasks, we need to talk about the results you have, their urgency, or their importance.

With a clear vision of the tasks, you will surely be able to organize them. You will also find solutions for each of the problems. You will probably come to the conclusion that you have to delegate some of them, and that you have to give up some of them. For some of the tasks, you will need to find technical solutions, solve them faster, or train yourself to solve them faster.

For e-mail, telephone, web, dating, you will allocate the appropriate time. If you think you're a superman who solves everything, no matter the volume, you're wrong. You will arrive at the hospital, you will click or you will change your job. The solution is, as you can see, not with others. And I'm back for scoring, everything will be in vain if you don't start with self-monitoring.

4. Methods of organization

And here I have an answer. There is no single method, there is no best method. There is the best method for you, there is a method that will definitely suit you. Test constantly until you find the right path. What works for you may not work for you. You will at some point have your own method.

The most used methods from which you can choose which you can modify, or you can mix them are:

• List of tasks you have to do (listing them in the morning)
• Their organization in outlook
• Using software in this regard

Organizing tasks on the following categories: urgent and important; urgent, but less important; less urgent and important; less urgent and less important

Their organization by type of action:

• e-mails
• telephones
• meetings
• address
• writing
• drafting documents
• tasks specific to your job (listed)
• The classic agenda, in which you write down the things you have to do
• Priority table form on a flipchart
• Stickers of different colors to help you get a quick view
• Task on the phone
• An online organizer (google has one) and so on

Analyze these methods and see what is most effective in your case. You can go on a formula, you can go on several variants, you can make a mix or you can start from one of the methods, to adapt it to you and your activities.

Attention, in all this approach of organizing the tasks, the following things are important:

Self-monitoring

Priority number 1: Prioritizing Priorities

Learn to say no!

One more thing I would like to point out if in your self-monitoring you found that there are many unforeseen things that happen, it means that you are not good at planning. In other words, the problem is not the unforeseen but the inability to anticipate, therefore you have to work on this aspect as well!

In conclusion, what I propose in this article is to go from WHAT YOU THINK YOU DO in a day to:

• what are you really doing that day
• how long each thing takes you
• what things are worth doing and what things are not worth doing
• organizing what you have to do/prioritize

The magic question of 1000 points is: Do you really want to have more time, are you willing to make a small effort in this regard? If the answer is yes, good luck! If the answer is no, in 5 or 10 years you will probably have the same problem.