CHAPTER 15 PERSONAL ORGANIZATION AND SELF MANAGEMENT

CHAPTER 15 Personal Organization and Self Management
ACT!
	"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of." - Benjamin Franklin

Herbert Hoover	About the time we make ends meet, somebody moves the ends.
John Ciardi	The day will happen whether or not you get up.
Yogi Berra	It isn't over till it's over.
Benjamin Franklin	Remember that time is money.
Alexander Rose	half the agony of living is waiting.
French proverb	People count up the faults of those who keep them waiting.
Napoleon Bonaparte	You may ask for anything you like except time.
Abraham Lincoln	You can't escape the responsibilty of tomorrow by evading it today.
Thomas Edison	Everthing comes to him who hustles while he waits.
Victor Kiam	Procrastination is opportunity's natural assassin....
Anonymous	Don't wait for your ship to come in; swim out to it. Someday is not a day of the week If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would get done.

ATTITUDES TOWARD TIME
Lakein's first question to ask:	"What is the best use of my time right now?"
Time cannot be managed.	Activities can be managed
Personal Organization and Self Management involve	Self Management or Self Discipline Planning and Organizing Automation systems and techniques
84,000 seconds per day to use	How will you spend your time? How will you invest your time? How much to business, service, family, leisure? How much for yourself?
We have the ability but what about the desire?
Lack of organization is a major contributor to failure
Organization must become a habit

DEVELOPING A TIME MANAGEMENT ATTITUDE
Mental preparation - takes lots of practice
Some suggestions	List activities that you want to complete this week Keep a detailed, hour by hour, record of what you do with your time Audit yourself at the end of each day and week List five habits that are your biggest obstacles. Write out a plan to correct
Detailed time analysis twice per year

NEED FOR ORGANIZATION

Organize to prioritize and process information received

Three Basic Mental Tasks

Stimulating Recall

Unaided recall is 40% maximum

Stimulated recall can be 100%

Reminders must be in plain sight.

Handling Incompletions

Incompletion: anything that needs additional action before it is put to rest.

To avoid frustrating thoughts about incompletions

Do it now if possible

Delegate and forget

Put a reminder someplace that will work

Thinking Creatively

You need to make time for creative thinking

Get everything else under control and this time becomes available.

PROCEDURES FOR GETTING ORGANIZED

David Allan's Getting Things Done

Types of Time Abusers People Pleaser

Wants to please

Fears authority

Perfectionist

Unrealistic standards

Can't delegate

Procrastinator

Put off, put off

panic

Remove the Clutter

Even neat piles must go.

Clutter in sight is a mental burden.

Collect the Clutter from everyplace

Get into one location.

Sort the Clutter

Time critical

Someday

Trash

Deal with Priorities - Time critical material

31 day folder system

David Allen's 43 folders

computerized reminders

Set Up Working Categories for the Rest
(Someday material)

Reading

Projects - separate folder for each project

Handle Interruptions

People
Interruptions Paper
Interruptions Environmental Interruptions

Superior: you can respectfully ask for a delay

Associate

Subordinate

Customer: consider it a contact not an interruption

Notes

Memos

Correspondence

Periodicals

Messages

Projects

Telephone Calls - try to hold and return

Visual distractions

Comfort factors

You might need a hideaway

Email

If an interruption is part of your job then you need to decide whether it is more important than your current task

Tasks handled by interruptions take longer

AN ORGANIZING SYSTEM - two simple tools

The Master Calendar

A simple pocket calendar backed by

1-31 files or

a computer

Daily to-do List

How its done

2000Write down tasks

Rank them in order of priority

Attack them in order

Forces you to attach time to each task

The Integrated System

Forget about incompletions until they arise

Start a fresh to-do list every day

Identifying Priorities

The (Vilfredo) Pareto principle
aka
the 80/20 rule The 80/20 Rule means that in anything

a few (20%) are vital and

many(80%) are trivial.

In Pareto's case it meant

20% of the people owned

80% of the wealth.

Industrial Engineering

20% of the defects causing

80% of the problems.

Project Managers

20% of the work consumes

80% of your time and resources.

Sales Managers

20% of salespeople produce

80% of sales

Sales People

20% of customers produce

80% of your income

How It Can Help You

The value of the Pareto Principle for is that it reminds you to focus on the 20 percent that matters.

Of the things you do during your day, only 20 percent really matter.

Those 20 percent produce 80 percent of your results.

Identify and focus on those things.

When the fire drills of the day begin to sap your time, remind yourself of the 20 percent you need to focus on.

If something in the schedule has to slip, if something isn't going to get done, make sure it's not part of that 20 percent.

"A" Priorities

pressing and related to your goals

"B" Priorities

something that can be done anytime within a day, week, month

"C" Priorities

Nice to do sometime

Time Goals

Parkinson's law - work expands to fill the time allowed to do it

Record time next to each item

Maintaining a Positive Attitude Toward Time

Set Deadlines and beat them

Place a time limit on meetings

Take advantage of your peak time

Learn to say no

Make Decisions

Overtime is another bad habit

Delegate

Write it down (or type it into ACT!)

Nurture helpful relationships

Stay Balanced

TIME-EFFECTIVE TELEPHONE TECHNIQUES

Benefits of Planned Telephone Time

Telephone saves you time

Schedule and confirm appointments

Controlling Telephone Time

Get Organized to Make Calls

List topics for discussion

Have reference material handy

Have your calendar handy

Limit the Time for Making Calls

Some socializing is necessary

Give a time limiting preface

Setting Goals for Telephone Control

Techniques for Telephone Time Problems

Ego Needs Don't get upset if they can't talk when you call.

Socializing

Minimize.

Remember priorities

Lack of Awareness of time spent. Keep track of time spent on each call

Easy availability Set a quiet time to make and take calls

Facts not available Don’t leave the caller hanging while you look,

Fear of offending The other person needs to hang up too.

Self-discipline It takes practice to do all of the above.

Too much time given to a call.

Preface call "I'll just be a minute…."

Preface termination "Before I hang up … "

Computerized Mapping Systems

Computer software that displays numeric data on maps

Trip Maker - Plans trips and tracks expenses

Strategize prospecting calls

PDA

AvantGo Software for your phone

Features of most mapping programs

Color maps fully annotated

Zooming capability

Routing information

Hotel Data

Restaurant Data

Car Rental Data

Toll Free Numbers and URL's

Expense Tracking

Custom Printouts

Global Positioning

The system uses satellites to locate the position of anything with a GPS receiver, like a car.

Rick's GPS

You always know where you are even in a bad storm or heavy fog

GPS will become standard equipment in cars

Lock your keys in your car, no problem; use your cell phone to call a toll-free number and the satellite system will beam down a signal that will unlock your car door.

Web Sites

Rand McNally

Delorme GPS for PDA

Copilot - AlkTechnologies

Maps On Us

Mapquest

GeoQuery

Garmin

Google Maps

Yahoo Maps

MANAGING TRAVEL TIME IN THE SALES TERRITORY

Prioritize customers A High Volume repeat customers

B Moderate volume reliable customers

C Cost you time and energy and yield little profit

Territory Routing Patterns

Cloverleaf

Starting and ending point are the same

Each leaf represents a cluster of customers

Hopscotch

start at the farthest customer and call on clients on the way home

Circular

Straight line

Without a plan much time is wasted

SUMMARY

Time management is largely a matter of attitudes.

Time is life

You can control your life only by controlling time,

Professionally, time is money.

The necessary elements of an effective organizing system.

The 1-31 reminder file

The master calendar.

A daily "to do" list

NEED FOR ORGANIZATION
Organize to prioritize and process information received
Three Basic Mental Tasks
Stimulating Recall	Unaided recall is 40% maximum Stimulated recall can be 100% Reminders must be in plain sight.
Handling Incompletions	Incompletion: anything that needs additional action before it is put to rest. To avoid frustrating thoughts about incompletions Do it now if possible Delegate and forget Put a reminder someplace that will work
Thinking Creatively	You need to make time for creative thinking Get everything else under control and this time becomes available.

Handle Interruptions
People Interruptions	Paper Interruptions	Environmental Interruptions
Superior: you can respectfully ask for a delay Associate Subordinate Customer: consider it a contact not an interruption	Notes Memos Correspondence Periodicals Messages Projects	Telephone Calls - try to hold and return Visual distractions Comfort factors You might need a hideaway Email
If an interruption is part of your job then you need to decide whether it is more important than your current task Tasks handled by interruptions take longer

AN ORGANIZING SYSTEM - two simple tools
The Master Calendar
A simple pocket calendar backed by	1-31 files or a computer
Daily to-do List
How its done	2000Write down tasks Rank them in order of priority Attack them in order Forces you to attach time to each task The Integrated System Forget about incompletions until they arise Start a fresh to-do list every day

Maintaining a Positive Attitude Toward Time
Set Deadlines and beat them Place a time limit on meetings Take advantage of your peak time Learn to say no Make Decisions Overtime is another bad habit Delegate Write it down (or type it into ACT!) Nurture helpful relationships Stay Balanced

TIME-EFFECTIVE TELEPHONE TECHNIQUES
Benefits of Planned Telephone Time	Telephone saves you time Schedule and confirm appointments
Controlling Telephone Time	Get Organized to Make Calls List topics for discussion Have reference material handy Have your calendar handy Limit the Time for Making Calls Some socializing is necessary Give a time limiting preface
Setting Goals for Telephone Control
Techniques for Telephone Time Problems
Ego Needs	Don't get upset if they can't talk when you call.
Socializing	Minimize. Remember priorities
Lack of Awareness of time spent.	Keep track of time spent on each call
Easy availability	Set a quiet time to make and take calls
Facts not available	Don’t leave the caller hanging while you look,
Fear of offending	The other person needs to hang up too.
Self-discipline	It takes practice to do all of the above.
Too much time given to a call.	Preface call "I'll just be a minute…." Preface termination "Before I hang up … "

Computerized Mapping Systems
Computer software that displays numeric data on maps Trip Maker - Plans trips and tracks expenses Strategize prospecting calls
PDA	AvantGo Software for your phone
Features of most mapping programs	Color maps fully annotated Zooming capability Routing information Hotel Data Restaurant Data Car Rental Data Toll Free Numbers and URL's Expense Tracking Custom Printouts
Global Positioning	The system uses satellites to locate the position of anything with a GPS receiver, like a car. Rick's GPS You always know where you are even in a bad storm or heavy fog GPS will become standard equipment in cars Lock your keys in your car, no problem; use your cell phone to call a toll-free number and the satellite system will beam down a signal that will unlock your car door.
Web Sites	Rand McNally Delorme GPS for PDA Copilot - AlkTechnologies Maps On Us Mapquest	GeoQuery Garmin Google Maps Yahoo Maps

MANAGING TRAVEL TIME IN THE SALES TERRITORY
Prioritize customers	A	High Volume repeat customers
	B	Moderate volume reliable customers
	C	Cost you time and energy and yield little profit
Territory Routing Patterns
Cloverleaf	Starting and ending point are the same Each leaf represents a cluster of customers
Hopscotch	start at the farthest customer and call on clients on the way home
Circular
Straight line
Without a plan much time is wasted

SUMMARY
Time management is largely a matter of attitudes. Time is life You can control your life only by controlling time, Professionally, time is money. The necessary elements of an effective organizing system. The 1-31 reminder file The master calendar. A daily "to do" list

CHAPTER 15 Personal Organization and Self Management

ACT!

CHAPTER 15
Personal Organization
and
Self Management