This approach to time management has nothing to do with colored labels or organizing the files on your hard drive. It’s about ruthlessly protecting your time so you can get more done faster. These ideas will offend some and inspire a few, but that’s ok–there’s a reason only the minority are highly successful.
Why do so many feel overwhelmed most of the time? Many years ago, I was running ragged trying to work a full-time job while running two business and juggling a family with a newborn. I couldn’t keep up and had to slow down and figure out what the heck I was doing and where my time was going. I realized I was “busy” most of the time, but I wasn’t really accomplishing much.
My days as a detective started out like the movie in Groundhog Day. I got to my desk at about 7:15 AM–not because I was most productive then, but because my boss showed up at about 7:30 and as long as I beat him in, I was good. Everyone else worked on the same premise.
I would fire up my computer and just stare at it for a good fifteen minutes. It was much like a scene in the movie Office Space. When my boss walked in, everyone gathered around and talked about nothing for an hour or two. When I say nothing, I mean absolutely nothing, but my boss liked it, so we complied.
No one else had anything to do that early either, but somewhere it said we had to start work at 7:00, so we did, even if it would have been more productive to come in later.
