Time Management (The Brian Tracy Success Library)

by Brian Tracy

Because of the natural tendency for each person to follow the path of least resistance and to...

whatever you start doing at the beginning of the day quickly becomes the pattern that you will follow in the hours ahead.

Get More Important Things Done

With a sufficient incentive, and a decision on your part, you would almost immediately become one of the most valuable people in your organization.

The Law of Three This principle is probably worth the cost and time of reading this book. It is based on an amazing discovery that I have made over the years, working with many thousands of executives and business owners. It is that, no matter how many different things you do in a week or a month, there are only three tasks and activities that account for 90 percent of the value of the contribution you make to your business.

How do you determine your “big three”? Simple. Make a list of all your work tasks and responsibilities, from the first day of the month to the last day, and throughout the year. Then, answer these three magic questions.

1. If I could only do one thing on this list, all day long, which one activity would contribute the greatest value to my business?

2. If I could only do two things on this list, all day long, what would be the second activity that would make the greatest contribution to my business?

3. If I could only do three things on this list, all day long, what would be the third activity that would contribute the most value to my business?

you will clearly see that only three things you do account for almost all the value that you contribute. Starting and completing these tasks is more important than everything else you do.

Here’s an important point: If you do not know the answers to these three questions, you are in serious trouble. You are in great danger of wasting your time and your life at work. If you do not know the answer to these magic questions, you will a...

Pass It Along Once you are clear about your “big three,” you must help all the people who report to you gain clarity about their “big three” as well. There is no kinder or more generous thing that you can do for your staff members than to help them become absolutely clear about the most important things that they do to make the most valuable contribution to your business.

In a well-managed department or organization, employees know exactly what the most important things are that they could do to make the greatest contribution.

At the same time, every worker should know what every other wor...

People who are dominated by “fast thinking” naturally react and respond to the demands and pressures of the moment. They continually veer off track and away from working on their highest-priority

Before you begin work, take some time to think slowly, select your most important task, and then start work on that task to the exclusion of everything else.

Stay on Track “WHAT IS THE most valuable use of my time right now?”

A Lifestyle Principle This selection of the most valuable use of your time applies to every area of your life as well.

The Important vs. the Urgent In terms of your tasks and activities, setting priorities is largely about separating the “vital few” from the “trivial many.”

QUADRANT 1: URGENT AND IMPORTANT An important task is something that has long-term consequences for your career. An urgent task is something that cannot be delayed or put off.

A task that is both urgent and important is something that is “in your face.”

Your most important tasks, your highest priorities, are both urgent and important. This is called the “quadrant of immediacy.”

QUADRANT 2: IMPORTANT, BUT NOT URGENT The second type of tasks are those that are important but not urgent. They can be delayed or procrastinated upon, at least for the short term.

Throughout your life, you are surrounded by important but not urgent tasks.

QUADRANT 3: URGENT, BUT NOT IMPORTANT

You probably have people coming into your office, calling or messaging you, sending you e-mails, but your responses to them contribute little or no value to your business or your work. They represent tasks that are urgent but not important.

These tasks fall into what is often called the “quadrant of delusion.” People think that because they are engaging in these activities during the working day, they must have some value, but they...

QUADRANT 4: NOT URGENT AND NOT IMPORTANT

The fourth type of activity that people engage in at work are those tasks that are neither urgent nor important. These activities fall into the “quadrant of waste.”

all are examples of activities that are neither urgent nor important. They are a complete waste of time. They contribute nothing to your life.

The key to good time management is for you to set priorities and to always be working on what is both urgent and important—that is, your most pressing and important tasks. Once you are caught up with your tasks that are urgent and important, you immediately start work on those tasks that are important but not urgent at the moment.

The tasks that are important but not urgent are usually those tasks and activities that can contribute to your career in a meaningful way in the long term.

Determine Your Key Result Areas

Developing absolute clarity about your key result areas is essential for executive effectiveness and high productivity. Your key result areas are those things that you have been hired to do, accomplish, or achieve. They are your top priorities in terms of the value that you contribute to your business. These are the tasks that, once accomplished, determine whether or not you fulfill your responsibilities to your company and to yourself.

What are the key results that you have been hired to accomplish? Try asking the question another way: “Why are you on the payroll?”

A key result area (KRA) can be defined as having three specific qualities: 1. It is something that you absolutely, positively must do to fulfill the responsibilities and demands of your job. 2. It is something for which you are 100 percent responsible. If you do not do it yourself, there is no one else who can or will do it for you. 3. It is something that is completely under your control. You do not need the assistance or participation of someone else in order to complete this part of your work.

Keep on Track A second question with regard to key result areas is: “What can only I do that, if done really well, will make a real difference to my organization?”

Focusing on key result areas is the most direct way to unleash effectiveness, power, persuasion, enthusiasm, and energy. You always get a tremendous feeling of self-confidence and personal power from completing something that is significant and important both to you and your company. On the other hand, in the age of distraction, you actually experience feelings of low self-esteem, frustration, stress, and often depression when you are doing something that, in your heart of hearts, you know makes very little difference to achieving your major goals.

Define Your Key Result Areas There are seldom more than five to seven key result areas in any job. Each KRA is a specific task that you must do if you are to complete the overall output responsibilities of your work.

As a manager, you have seven key result areas as well. They are: 1. Planning (deciding exactly what is to be done) 2. Organizing (bringing together the people, money, and resources needed to fulfill the plan) 3. Recruiting (finding the right people to work with you to achieve the goals) 4. Delegating (making sure that people know exactly what they are supposed to do, and at what time, and to what level of quality) 5. Supervising (making sure that each job is done on schedule to the required level of quality) 6. Measuring (setting standards and benchmarks, plus time lines, for the accomplishment of important tasks) 7. Reporting (making sure that each person above you, next to you, and below you knows exactly what it is that you are doing and achieving)

90 percent of all of your problems in management, or in life, are from “dropping the ball” in one of these key result areas.

Clarity Is Essential Everyone at every level of the organization should know what his or her key results are. Be sure that all employees who report to you are clear about the most valuable contribution that they can make to the organization.

Delegate to Others ONE OF THE GREATEST time management tools is for you to get someone else to do the task completely.

Delegation is the skill that allows you to leverage your talent and skill and multiply it times all the people who can be given smaller parts of the work.

You always have a choice. You can do it yourself, or you can have someone else do it. High productivity requires that you always think in terms of the latter approach: “Who else can do this job rather than me?”

Concentration means that once you start on your most important task, you resolve to persevere without diversion or distraction.

You could meet every other requirement with intelligence, ability, and creativity, but if you cannot concentrate on one thing at a time, then you cannot be successful.

Earl Nightingale said that “every great accomplishment in life has been preceded by a long, sustained period of concentration.”

Single-handling is one of the most important of all time management techniques and life management principles. Once you start a task, you stay with it until it is 100 percent complete.

these studies found was that each time you put down a task and turn to something else, you lose momentum and rhythm, and you lose track of where you were in doing that job.