Delegate Don't Dump

Delegation is a great way to increase your productivity and achieve more, especially if you have limited time available.

By delegating you handover or outsource tasks that someone else is better qualified, more skilled or can do quicker than you.

However, there is a tendency to 'dump' tasks rather than delegate. These are more likely to be the urgent tasks, you've left to the last minute or possibly, for a similar reason had 'dumped' on you.

Think about the following points when you delegate or handover work to someone else.

What is the task being delegated? Work this out before you delegate a task. Give as much detail as needed and be clear and specific. Don't assume they know or you'll set them up for failure from the start and waste time when you don't get the outcome you want or expect. Confirm they understand what's expected.

Why is this task important? How does it fit into existing objectives and outcomes. What is it's priority and importance compared with anything else they might have planned.

When does this need to be done by? Give them a date, time when you need this task completed by or milestones reached. Allow plenty of notice so the person can plan it into their schedule.

How will it be done? What systems, processes, actions are required to complete the task and in what way. What resources do they need? Avoid being too prescriptive or seeing only 'one way' to do the task. There may be better ways if you allow some flexibility and creativity and focus on the end result not the specific method of achieving it.

Who is going to do this task? Do they have the time and skills to complete it in the time available. Are they the right person for the job?

Keep these in mind and you'll successfully delegate more of your tasks and free up more of your time.

BLAB: Best Practice For Meetings

Organising and managing your time around meetings. (A few technical glitches but hopefully you get the gist and a few useful tips).

Charity cycle ride from Brighton to Paris for the Blind Veterans.

Unlocking the UK's Daily Savings Time (Workfront.com)

Additional tips for meetings:

• Always late for meetings?
• Bad habit - cancelling meetings at short notice.
• How to manage your meetings.

Get in touch if you want to chat about your own challenges and issues.

More Ways To Control Your To-Do List

Your to-do list can quickly become overwhelming.

Here are a few more ways to help you keep control of your list.

Apply the 80/20 rule. You’ll get 80% of your results from 20% of your activity. Remember this when prioritising your list. How will this task contribute to your end goal?

Use an App - there are a number of apps out there which help you keep control of your to-do list (free and paid). Wunderlist, ToDoist, Any.Do.  Many apps integrate with your calendar, sync across multiple devices or have plug-ins for email and your browser, making it easier to add, update and keep track of tasks. Find an app you like and stick with it. Allow time to get used to it and make it work the way you want.

Keep it simple. Some apps are great, some are more complex or do some of what you want but not everything. Decide what you want first then find the app or method that works best.

Use pen and paper. There’s nothing wrong with old style list making. It’s far more organic and satisfying to have the touch and feel of pen on paper, flicking through pages, crossing off tasks, creating templates than typing things in on a screen.

Bullet-journalling. Start with a blank notebook and tailor it to the way you work - following a few basic guidelines. Add as much or as little as you need, include personal goals, checklists, track progress, see your year/month at a glance. It’s a more flexible and organic option to a daily dairy or organiser.

For repeating tasks - add them to your calendar, phone, app as a reminder that pops up a few days in advance - paying bills, updating your accounts etc. Block out the time in your dairy.

Delegate - you may not have time to do everything on your list but someone else might. They can help you out, have more time available than you, be more skilled at getting it done. It’s not part of your role or responsibility.

Manage the flow. If you’ve got more coming in than you can physically or mentally manage in a day, look at how you can reduce the flow in and increase the flow out.

Reduce what comes in:

• Push back
• Say ‘no’ more often
• Unsubscribe

Increase the flow out:

• Work on the Important before it becomes Urgent
• Set time limits
• Delegate - what tasks can/should someone else do?
• Increase resources

Automate - the right systems and processes can streamline communications, keep you on track and make your life easier overall. Especially when it saves you time with repetitive tasks or prevents re-inventing the wheel each time.

Overwhelmed by your to-do list? Get in touch and let's talk through a few options to bring order to your list.

See also:

How to Make Sense of Your To Do List

BLAB: Take Control of your Inbox

Plenty of tips and techniques on how you can manage your Inbox more effectively.

The report I mention is:

Unlocking the UK's Daily Savings Time (Workfront.com)

Guidelines on using email:

• Email Do's and Don'ts
• Writing Effective Emails

Unlock Your Daily Savings Time

New report: Unlock the UK’s Daily Savings Time - UK workers lose hours every day on inefficiency, but what if they could get that time back?

As a result of poor time and work management, UK businesses lose literally millions of pounds per year. This only gets worse as the digital workspace becomes more complex and cluttered. Fortunately, there are ways to reverse this trend. In this ebook, time-savings expert Clare Evans provides invaluable tips to get your team’s time back, including:

• Which productivity-killers are most costly to your team
• How to reduce the number of time-devouring meetings your team attends 
• How to ensure that your team’s time is focused on the most value-generating activities

Download and read the report - Unlock the UK's Daily Savings Time (Workfront Inc.)

Six Hours For A More Productive Work Day

Sweden have introduced a six-hour work day to increase productivity and make people happier.

Considering only 60-80% of our day is actually spent being productive, it makes sense.

When you have less time available you're more likely to focus and less likely to get distracted. 

With shorter working hours, you have more time to do the things you enjoy or spend more time with your family and friends.

Even if your not able to work a six-hour work day, set a fixed start and end time to your working day, minimise or reduce your distractions and only spend time on productive tasks. Avoid time wasters, stay focused and you'll at least reduce your working hours.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/sweden-introduces-six-hour-work-day-a6674646.html

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Are you good busy or bad busy?

One of the first things I frequently hear from clients, when we check-in at the beginning of a session, is they’re busy.  I ask whether it's ‘good busy’ or ‘bad busy’?  "What’s the difference?" they ask.

Good busy is when you’re focused on doing good work, being productive, working on high priority tasks, have plenty of clients and customers to work with and you’re not wasting time on less important tasks.

You feel the buzz of being busy, you’re motivated and in the flow.  Nothing phases you and everything gets managed, prioritised and slotted in.  You get to the end of the day with a sense of accomplishment when you see how much you’ve done.

Bad busy is when you’re ‘too’ busy.  Too much to do, too many people making demands on your time, rushing around from one thing to the next and not being particularly productive in the process.

You feel disorganised, overwhelmed and you’re chasing your tail. You’re pressured into working late and giving up your weekends to get everything done, you’re constantly trying to catch up and feeling stressed.

Which one are you?

Find out how you can be more Good Busy and less Bad Busy - get in touch and arrange a time for a free chat.

Start Your Day With A Morning Routine

Whether it's a daily ritual of your morning tea or coffee, reading the papers, meditation or a morning run, how you start your day is important.

A good morning routine will help you to be more organised, more productive and more focused for the rest of the day.

Here are a few ideas to get you off to a good start.

Start with a good night's sleep.  Few of us are able to burn the candle at both ends or survive on only a few hours sleep, without it coming back to bite us at some stage - physically, mentally or emotionally.

• Lay out your clothes ready for the morning - shirt ironed, shoes polished.

• Put your exercise kit out - you'll have less excuse if it's out, ready for when you wake up.

• Make breakfast the night before.  Bircher muesli can be prepared in advance.  If you want a really healthy start - try a green smoothie!

• Make lunch - take the time to prepare a healthy lunch and you'll be less tempted to snack or grab a sandwich at lunch time.

Get up early.   Many successful CEOs and business owners are up at 5.00am to get a head start on the day.  I often talk to people who don't have time to exercise, don't have time to read, don't have time for breakfast?

Set the alarm half an hour or an hour earlier, when it's quieter and there's less disturbance ... use the extra time for yourself - NOT to check your work email!  Leave that until later in the day.

Plan your day.  Either the night before or first thing in the morning.  What do you need to get done, what's important for a successful, productive day?

You can't do everything, prioritise what's important and delegate as much as you can.

Use your plan to guide your day, don't react or get distracted by less urgent tasks (especially email).

Get your exercise in early - if you struggle to find time to exercise during the day, if you're 'too tired' at the end of the day - start early.

Do stretching, yoga or pilates to get your body gently moving.  Go out for a short run or a brisk walk, before you shower and have breakfast.

A place for everything.  Avoid last minute panics as you leave the house - put your car keys, house keys, mobile phone, charger etc.  in the same place, so you're not searching around for them in the morning.

Change one or two things at a time to build your own successful morning routine.  If you need more ideas or want to find a routine that works for you get in touch.

Are you up for a challenge?

What is it about October - it's the month for giving things up.

Stoptober - the NHS encourage you to become a non-smoker.
Go Sober - to go alcohol-free for a month for Macmillan Cancer.

All great reasons to change a bad habit.

Perhaps after the Summer holidays people come back with a new perspective on life.  When you've had a change of scenery and done something different for a couple of weeks, you realise what's not working in your life and become more away of the things you want to change.

Many people get the chance to focus more on their activity levels and eating habits while on holiday - both good and bad.

What do these challenges have in common?

• You commit and sign up
• You get daily reminders
• You receive support, motivation and encouragement
• There's a reward - look good, feel better
• They last for a few days or a whole month
• They give you a head-start - the rest is up to you.

You get a chance to raise money for a good cause if you get your friends and family to sponsor you.   Money is a great motivator

The key thing about changing a habit over the course of a month is that you're more likely to stick with it if you can do it for 28 days.

The support, motivation and accountability are there to help you stay focused and on track.

October is a great time of year to change a habit or create a new one.  It's only three months until the end of the year, still time to make a few changes before Christmas.

So what could you achieve in 91 Days?

Why not sign-up for the 91 Day Challenge and find out. Try it free for 7 days and you'll see how it can work for you - details and to arrange time for a chat here.

The Four Day Work Week

We work some of the longest working hours in Europe and this is linked to increased stress levels, sleep issues, reduced productivity and increased sick leave.

According to recent surveys in order to reduce stress levels across the workforce, we need to start working a four day week.

Sounds like a great idea, after all, in reality we probably only work at 60-80% productivity which would equate to four days (or less) in a normal working week.  So, if you increased your productivity you could get the same amount of work done but still be able to work just 4 days.

There's a lot to be said for reducing working hours down from the levels that I see and hear about on a regular basis.  Usually far more than the standard or contracted hours.

The European working time directive says that workers don't/shouldn't have to work more than 48 hours.  Although this doesn't apply to several sectors, where people either have control over their own hours.

Many people work far more than this, I've worked with people who were regularly working 80-100 hours.  Many people in senior positions often work long hours or find themselves working in the evenings and at weekend.

How much time do you waste in the average working week - either because you have too much to do and either spend time switching between tasks or you're distracted or constantly interrupted?

You could decide to work the same amount of hours but in four days and have the fifth day off.  This does result in longer working days but you get an extra day in the week to spend time with your family and friends, exercise and get a decent night's sleep which could all reduce your stress.

Greater flexibility around working hours leads to a happier, more motivated and productive workforce.

Increase your productivity, focus on what's important and you too can reduce your working hours.

Get in touch to find out ways to reduce yours.

Image Stuart Miles / FreedigitalPhotos.net

Is your to-do list full of projects?

Many people add tasks to their daily and weekly to-do lists which are actually a major project in themselves.

This is one of the reasons those particular items often get left.  They're just to big to manage in one go.

• Are you having difficulty prioritising what's on your list?
• Is it difficult to work out what's important?
• Are you putting off larger tasks because you don't have time or you're reluctant to do them?

Think about all the tasks on your to-do list.  Are they actually projects or large tasks that will in reality take longer than two hours?

Break larger tasks down into smaller, shorter steps that you can achieve in less than two hours.

Be realistic about what you can get done in a day.  Only write down as many tasks as you can actually complete in the time available.

You have your day to day work, so there's no point in allocating an additional 8 hours of tasks.  It just won't happen.  In all likelihood you won't get more than 3-5 done.

Allocate time in your schedule to complete these tasks.

If you do have a large project to complete - how important is it in the grand scheme of things, what's the benefit to spending time on it?

Set aside time on a daily or weekly basis to work on this project.  Having a regular time slot for a particular project enables you to make steady progress, without having to find a large chunk of time to do it all at once.

Review your list and break those larger tasks down into more manageable, realistic actions.

African Bush Elephant (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Related Articles:

Create a to-do list that works.

Is lack of sleep affecting your performance?

... and your health?

We all know the importance of sleep but more and more these days, people are getting less and less and feeling the effects.

Whether you're just putting in long hours at the office; running your own business outside of your full-time job; working at two jobs or just have a hectic lifestyle - we can all be impacted by not getting enough sleep.  Working long hours increases risk of heart attack.

We're programmed to respond to a day/night cycle and our internal body clock and our hormone cycles are disrupted when we don't get enough sleep.  As well as affecting our productivity during the day, it also impacts our health and has been linked to heart disease, diabetes, obesity and cancer.

Taking your smartphone or iPad to bed and working late on your computer are bad habits that impact the quality and length of your sleep.  Leave technology out of the bedroom.  Is your smartphone depriving you of sleep.

Make sure that working late and stressing over your workload aren't keeping you up at night.  Get in touch if they are and find out how to get a better night's sleep.

Related articles

• 'Arrogance' over need for sleep
• Body Clock: What makes you tick?

Sleep Like A Baby (Photo credit: peasap)

Work Life Balance - how's yours?

New working practices have been introduced in France and Sweden to improve the lives of workers.

In France it's now illegal for workers in the digital and consultancy sectors to respond to emails after 6pm.

That would probably see most UK employers breaking the law on a daily basis, as so many people these days seem to spend long past the 6pm cut-off working, never mind tackling their emails when they're at home or late at night.

Not responding to your work emails out of office hours is good general practice - although making it a law is perhaps a step too far.  You need to create boundaries around your work day and just because you can be contacted and read your email outside of work hours doesn't mean you should.

When you do, you set a precedence.  Set customer/client expectations and clear boundaries.  In reality, what difference will it make whether you respond late in the evening or the following morning?  (Unless, of course you're working on a time critical project but this should be the exception not the norm.)

I've heard many stories of people being contacted late at night, over the weekend or even when they're on holiday and there's been little they can actually do because it's 'out of office hours'.

In Sweden they're trialing a six hour work day - 30 hour working week, on the basis that productivity decreased the longer employees work.

True!

The longer you work without a break, the less productive you become - especially if you're working long hours and getting more and more tired and inefficient.  You'll probably get as much done with focused effort in six hours as you would with interruptions, distractions and a lack of focus in eight, nine or ten hours.

What do you do to maintain a good work life balance?

Balancing Act (Photo credit: Digitalnative)

Related articles

• Work-life balance: what changes could help improve yours?
• These Countries Are So Much Better Than America When It Comes To Work-Life Balance

You really want to do this ...

... but you're just too busy.  You'll call in a couple of months when you've caught up ... cleared this backlog ... finished working on this project ... have more time (!) ...

Whatever the reason, you really need or want to make a change but you're so caught up with everything that's going on that you simply feel you're too busy to do anything about it  'right now'.

While it might seem a precious waste of time to take a break when you're feeling overwhelmed or have so much to do, it can actually be just what you need.

How would it feel to be more in control, to be able to see the wood for the trees, your desk beneath the piles of paper?  Would you like to have more clarity, focus and direction?

How would it feel to have a structure that means you can have a better work life balance while working more productively and effectively?

Unless you decide to take action at the time you're actually having the problem you'll carry on in crisis mode and keep repeating the pattern of behaviour.  Once you get over the crisis you quickly forget what you went through last time, you think it will be different.  But if nothing has actually changed, it will happen over and over again.

If you need to make a change, don't put it off.  By taking action sooner rather than later, you could save yourself time, money and wasted effort in the future.

To move from crisis to calm or to turn your overload into productivity - why not get in touch take the first step to making that change.

Just click the Contact Tab at the bottom and let's talk.

Overwhelmed (Photo credit: puck90)

Increase your company's productivity

What do you need to change or do differently that will make a big difference to you or your organisation?

What are the key habits your company needs to adopt which will increase your overall productivity and enable everyone to work better and more efficiently?

While I often work with individuals I also run workshops for teams and organisations. There are habits and key practices that many organisations could implement that would have a positive impact on the productivity of the whole organisation.

Two key areas which are a great source of time-wasting are email and meetings.

You can read the rest of this newsletter article "Increase your company's productivity" or subscribe to the free monthly newsletter.  Get "7 Essential Time Tips For Instant Results" when you register.

Eating lunch at work is bad for you

Yet more research on the detriment of not taking a proper lunch break.  Especially if you're one of the 54% of office workers who work through your lunch break.

We have a culture of working long hours - there's almost an unofficial competition as to who can work the most hours, get in first and leave last.

In some organisations there's undue pressure to be seen to be working at all times or your job could be at risk - that means either skipping lunch or eating it at your desk.

One in thirty feel under pressure to eat their lunch at their desk or feel self-conscious if they go out for lunch.

We all need to take more breaks during the day.  It doesn't take research to realise that sitting at your desk all day is bad for you.  Not only will your posture suffer but keeping still for long periods doesn't help the circulation or concentration.

Take a break from your desk - try a change of scenery and preferably get out and get some fresh air.  If you have the option of getting some exercise - then do so, even if it's just a walk around the block. 

Eat - and take time to savour what you're eating rather than grabbing a hasty sandwich and dashing back to your desk or skipping lunch completely.

Don't feel guilty.  You're entitled to regular breaks in your working day.

You'll be more productive the more breaks you take.  The longer you work on one particular task, the less effective you're likely to be.

A happier, healthier and more productive workforce take fewer days off sick and staff turnover reduces, so it benefits the company and reduces costs.

Related articles

• Is eating lunch at your desk bad for you? (bbc news)
• One in three eat lunch at desks, study finds (telegraph.co.uk)

(Photo credit: roboppy)

Snowed under?

Do you find yourself snowed under by all you have to do?

Whether it's the amount of email that arrives in your Inbox every day or the paperwork you have to deal with or the shear amount of work that you have to get through that leaves you working late in the office.

Write it all down.  This is the scary part - working out just how much you have to do.  Once you've got it down on paper you can start making sense of it all.  Grab an A4 sheet and write it all down as you think of it - or create a mindmap of it all.

What's important?  Not everything has equal importance and it's highly likely that you spend most of your day avoiding the important but managing to find time for the small, menial, unimportant tasks.  Take a look at your list and highlight the important versus the relatively unimportant.  How does each of your tasks relate to your business plan or objectives?  Can you group similar tasks together and do them at the same time?

Get organised.  When you've got a lot going on it helps to be organised, so you know what's where, what needs to be done and you can find things when you need them.  Having written down your list, create a system, process and routine that will help you get things done.

What do you need to enable you to be more organised?
- daily planning
- have a routine
- create a structure
- organise your filing system
- put things away
- get up earlier
- go to bed earlier
- plan ahead
- delegate better

Step back.  Sometimes when you're so caught up with everything you've got to do - you actually need to take a break from it all and get some perspective.  Perhaps things won't look quite as bad when you put some space between you and them.  It helps to do something completely different - switch off for a while and then go back to it.

Get help.  You don't have to do everything all on your own - if you've got too much to do, what can you hand over to someone else to do for you?  The chances are that much of your work isn't essential and you're not the only person that can do it.
- clearing email
- booking meetings
- making travel arrangements
- updating your accounts
- taking phone calls
- sending out invoices and reminders

It's important to know where you're starting from, so you can get back in control sooner rather than later.  Take the Time Audit today and see where you need to focus first - just enter your details on the Time Audit form.  Return your completed audit for free email feedback, tips and ideas.

Yield Sign (Photo credit: Rennett Stowe)

Book Review: Mind-mapping - Tony Buzan

One of the best tools I ever learned was mind-mapping.  Years ago I picked up a book by Tony Buzan and read about mind-mapping.  I've used it in my corporate life, while studying and continue to use it in my own business.

I mainly use if for notes during workshops and seminars - it's much easier to create one or more mind maps than have pages of hand-written notes.

Ideally use as large a sheet of paper as possible on which to create your mind maps.  However, I often use an A5 notebook and a series of coloured pens (if I have them with me).

I prefer to create mine by hand but there are several mind-mapping software applications out there now.

Pick up a copy of The Mind Map Book today and learn the simple techniques to create your own mind maps.  There's also a Mind Maps For Business.

Procrastination: epic time-wasting

Came across this article recently:

Procrastination: Readers' tales of epic time-wasting

I'm sure we can all come up with instances of 'epic-time wasting' and those embarrassing moments we'd rather forget due to our own mis-management of time.

It's certainly a challenge that many of us have faced at one point or another and it's a challenge that many people are struggling with.  The topic of procrastination has certainly formed the basis for many newsletter articles.

You're not alone - once you understand the reasons you procrastinate, the impact it has and what you can do about it, you can start making better sense of your priorities and make better choices with your time.

How big a problem is procrastination in your life?  Find out with a Time Audit.

(Photo credit: Reynante Martinez)

Book Review: Getting Things Done

If you've got a logical analytical mind then this is the book for you.  David Allen offers a system to help you get back in control and improve your productivity.

Many people swear by the system introduced in the book it's spawned a whole series of apps and add-ons for devoted GTD'ers to implement in to their lives.  There are some good basic principles in here that will certainly make your life easier and give you a structure to work with.

Some people just can't get to grips with it and find themselves falling by the wayside as they follow it's very step-by-step method.  It's not ideal for those who struggle with checklists and

As with any system - it's about finding and implementing what works for you. 

Get your copy today - Getting Things Done

Previous Book Reviews or checkout other book recommendations.