Time management: It's a martial art.

If you're being jumped in the alley all the time, you won't have fun with it...If you start developing powerful skills for dealing with these "attacks", it's not necessarily FU , but you feel more confident and energi!ed around it. "e've allowed it, but it F##$% $I&# it's "coming at us" 'ou don't manage time... you can't "manage" ( minutes and come up with si). 'ou can't manage information... it's a specific segment of self*management.... 'ou're managing +,-I. and /0.1#,-%... Information management isn't the issue2 if it were, you'd walk into a library and die. It's the information about which you've got to 3. something that's the issue. 4ow many things have you let come across the transom5 SS6 4ow does one go about evaluating their effectiveness right now5 DA6 It's an inside*out assessment. 4ere's a subtle criterion6 If my head is empty, there's nothing distracting me, I'm okay. If not, there's more to do. SS6 "hat are signs people need improvement5

DA6 7%+6 7nawing %ense of +n)iety... there's something they feel they should be doing... a feeling in the pit of the stomach that the most important thing isn't being done... 'ou won't know how much you have until you start getting rid of it. SS6 "hat makes a personal -8 system work5 DA6 #)ternali!e what you've got going on in your head. /sychic 0+8 has limited space and it's a terrible office... you've got post*its around your mind. It doesn't solve everything, but it's an a priori condition for getting it under control. SS6 4ow do you go about that5

DA6 "eekly review. ot your life purpose. 1ust the stuff that's out there in your head... -he commitments and ideas you've had... -hen you can walk away from it and go have a beer... rather than the beer you have to run away from the mess. "e feel best the week before our vacation. 'ou can only feel good about what you're not doing when you know what you're not doing.

5-Phase Process to managing the things that are actionable I. Collect the things that are actionable. $ow*tech to high*tech... 8anage your in*basket. /eople say "if it's not that important, it's not that important" but if it's in your head, it will keep banging on your mind and e)hausting you. 7et it out onto a big list. 3ump it out of your head. 3o it anywhere, as long as it's into one place. "hat around your office is .- supplies, decoration, e9uipment... :permanent;5 "e pick up the papers and non*permanent things and put them in an in*basket. -hen we clean out the brain. It takes up to si) hours for the typical professional. 1ust dump it all out. 3on't analy!e it. -his is just the start... you'll do that later. 3ump out every single thing you're holding on to.... "hat you really need to capture is every single thing you think is incomplete... from world hunger to the plant that died last week that you walk by every day and think "somebody oughta water that thing<" II. Clarify whether it's actionable or not... If it's not permanent in your office, decide whether to toss, file, 3., or tickle. 8ake a clear distinction between things that are actionable and not. -oss, -ickle or File. If you're a pack*rat, keep e)panding your hard disk, and there's nothing wrong with that. .ne of the biggest bottle*necks for e)ecs is a good, accessible system... purge it once a year... you can keep all you want, so long as it's organi!ed. It drains no attention from you. It's just a library, it's not action*oriented. -here are no shoulds in there. If It is Unactionable: . !. #. Throw it away. * don't need it now, never will. "ile it. * reference * I may want to see this later, but I won't have to take action on it, ever. Tic$le yo%rself with it later * there might be action later, I need it to resurface automatically... hold and review... "someday maybe".. let me see it later. In*basket * put it on the list to do soon.

III. I+.

&hen there IS action on this' as$ yo%rself: Does this signify some o%tcome that I ha(e a commitment on) Does this re*%ire action now) &hat ,oes this actionable thing re-resent) +nything on your desk... Focus on one specific thing that doesn't belong there permanently.... "hat would be the =#0' #>- action on this5 Is it a phone call5 + purchase5 +n e*mail5 +nswer the 9uestion very granularly. +ssuming it's something I have to take action on....

+.

.Ds: D%m- it or ,o it) 4ow long would it take to do it5 If it's less than two minutes, do it right .", even if it's low* priority... It'll take it longer to stack it and track it than to take care of it. ,an it be delegated5 +re you the person who should be doing it5 If not, you want to hand it off immediately. 'ou can track -4#I0 action, but delegate it. If it's more than two minutes and you can't delegate, -4# you organi!e it, put it in some sort of list that reflects the actions you need to take. -hat's the reminder list to work off.

If you did that whole drill of gathering all your actionables, then put it into the system... most people have ?@@*(@@ hours worth of work, and A@*(@ projects. -hat's the gist of your action reminder system. "hat's creating the 7%+ is that people have not put their objectives into a bulletproof system... we feel overwhelmed by all the stuff. +sk yourself if you have a flashlight with dead batteries. %ure... 'our mind tells you about that at the dead battery, though, .- at the batteries in the store. 'our mind is a great servant but a terrible master. +sk yourself, since you woke up, have you thought of anything you needed to do that you still haven't done5 -hat's a total waste of time. ot only are you wasting energy thinking about it, you're sending to)ic chemicals into your system from the stress syndrome. "e're giving our mind a task it can't handle very well... sort of half*way... that part of psychic ram we put this into, it has no sense of past and future. It forgets immediately after reminding you of something. Ultimately, this is %./ about how you handle things for the rest of your life. If you haven't done this yet... put up a firewall and get on it, maybe in sneakers and jeans, in non*work time. 'ou probably won't be able to sufficiently shut the world out during work hours. $et me ask you6 4iring someone... what's the ne)t action5 "hat is she going to do on 8onday when she comes in... + job description, what we e)pect, and what she can e)pect... 3o you need to gather anything before you create that list, or could you do it right now5 4ow long would it take you5 I would draft something on the computer. It would go on my "at computer" list... I'd have 8onday as the deadline on that. +s a safety*net. -he only time I'd double*enter something would be if I needed to jerk my chain to trigger "have I done this yet5" -hat's only one action amongst the rest of the actions you could do. "hat are all the options of the actions I could do this afternoon5 "hat are all the phone calls5 +ll the at*computer things5 $ook at things you ,.U$3 do in the office. .- home stuff, not errands... o matter how important something is.... put it in ,. -#>-. If the phone isn't working, don't worry about it.... st Criterion: Conte/t6 "here am I5 "hat things can I do right here5 !n, Criterion: Time6 4ow much time do I have to do this stuff right now5 #r, Criterion: 0nergy: +re you fresh or are you toast5 'ou can change your conte)t and change your state, but only to a certain e)tent. "hen you're in dummy condition .th Criterion: Priority: "here do you get the most value, given options... it's intuitive. -hat's a spiritual 9uestion. +B, priorities don't work. "here ever you are time/space/energy wise, you want to have options that will make you optimally efficient 7I=# your conte)t. ow I have the kind of energy I had when I had a widget job... those are so psychologically healthy.

If my life or my habits or my standards let me know to do something, it doesn't go on the list. But if it's something my brain would have to remind me to do, I'll write it down. I write on anything handy, even napkins or a legal pad... I have my "evening module" :wallet; with a pen and paper. I have a %ony dictating thing... I don't like to use it2 it's inefficient. I'd rather write it. 8y /alm III is a better organi!er than collection tool. Bring things into the I file, then divide between actionable and file*able. It's absolutely appropriate to send yourself voice*mails so you'll remember. -hat's e)actly right. 16 /hone calls or people showing up at your desk... how do you integrate those5 DA6 -hat's the fun, elegance, and interest of what people are doing... "e're not doing the outside things, and that's what adds insult to injury. -he lists hold places for the things that have longer outcomes. "hen you've e)ternali!ed and organi!ed that and your head is empty, -4# you can be present and peaceful with the people who walk in and phone calls that come in. +ctions come up from conversations... we can put -4.%# into the system. 3o those things discretely2 immediately. T20 5 P2AS0S 3" 4A5A6I56 ACTI35 . !. #. .. Collecting * e)ternali!e the to*dos, the incompletions Processing 3rgani7e * organi!e so you can review 8e(iew * what do I need to see as a trigger5 "hen5 4ow often5 "hat will die if I don't do it today5 0eview the calendar several times today. If you have discretionary time, you look at the action list. -he weekly review puts your eyes on everything once a week. Do * a good choice about what to do now.

5.

TIC9:086 C*?C and 1anuary through 3ecember