MORE PRODUCTIVE IN 2011

Christo Bothma28 January 2011

Company Logo

Agenda

• Choose the most important tasks– Close to the revenue line– Capture all your to-do’s in one place– Remember the 3 Q’s and 4 D’s

• Create the time to get things done– Avoid e-mails for the 1st hour of the day– Beware multitasking– Stretch time by planning

Choose the most important

task

Close to the revenue line• Top – down prioritizing

– Find what creates the revenue for your company i.e. billable hours, most products sold

– Allocate a number to your To-do items – 1 being closest to your revenue line and 3 being furthers

– When prioritizing be conscious of your revenue generators and perform them first (i.e. no 1’s)

• Why start with the most important tasks– This will give you a sense of accomplishment – Give you some breathing room

• Doing the workplace dance– Look at the time allocation to perform a task and try and

balance time consuming and non time consuming items

Capture all your to-do’s in one place

• Keep a complete list of all your To-do’s– You can only plan and prioritize properly by having a complete

picture of what you have to do • Keep it all in once place

– Find a suitable medium for your To-do list i.e. Paper, electronic or both. This should suite your personality

• Keep track of all your To-do’s– By keeping a complete written list will keep you conscious of

where you spend your time

To Do matrix

Example of a matrix

New Em-

ployee

1 yr 2 yr 3 yr

Remember the 3 Q’s and 4 D’s

• The 3 Questions– How long will it take– What is the return on investment (ROI)– What is the deadline

• The 4 d’s (delete, delay, delegate, diminish)– Delete – will anybody miss a project if not completed / performed– Delay – what projects can you delay until you have proper time to

perform what is needed– Delegate – delegate items if someone else can do it better, faster or

well enough (leverage)– Diminish – try and streamline regular items

• LET GO– It is important to let go of the non important items and not to stress

these items

Create the time to get things done

Avoid E-mail for the 1st hour of the day• Focus on your most critical task for the first hour• Managing email the rest of the day– Keep your email alarm off– Process emails fully during email session– Say what you need in the subject line– Start your email by telling the reader what you need from

them– Keep emails short and to the point– Create stock / standard templates for routine requests

• Do not substitute emails for Human contact

Beware multitasking

• Brain power• NeuroImage science journal - you cannot perform

2 tasks to the best of your ability at the same time• Determine your concentration threshold

– Determine what your best concentration threshold is i.e. 15min, 30min or a hour

• Focus on the completion– Break tasks down in manageable units – Work these units into your concentration threshold units

Stretch time by planning

• Group similar tasks– Group certain tasks together during pockets of your time

i.e. return all calls during one session

• Sample daily Patterns – Layout a routine for yourself during your day keeping you

focused• Work with your energy cycles– Try and plan your routine to take your natural energy

levels into account

Doing Your Best Work

• I hope your are more productive going forward

Resources

• Resource – “Never check E-mail in the morning – Julie Morgenstern”www.juliemorgenstern.com/

QUESTIONS?

Company Logo