Message of the Day - Smart Planning Saves Time

Good Morning,

 

Some more wisdom on time management. My current read is a time management book originally written in 1990, "If you haven't got the time to do it right, when will you find the time to do it over?" by Jeffrey J. Mayer (http://www.amazon.com/Havent-Time-Right-When-Will/dp/0671733648/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265367796&sr=8-1).

 

Part of reading a 20 year old book on time management is musing over the suggestions as using in boxes and out boxes as well as to dictate letters and memos to your Secretary and there are such technology tools as P.C.'s and Lap-tops emerging on the scene. The book mentions there is email, but from the 1990 perspective. It is actually fun to see what efficient use of time was in 1990 when businesses started doing more with less.

 

Humor aside, this book does have some good ideas which are helpful for today's world. Some strategies just never go bad. One of these is to create a master list of all of our activities which need our thoughts and will take up more than 10 minutes of our time. If find it interesting that when I start these lists, that more and more comes back into focus. That is projects and to do's that I had long since forgot out, since last Tuesday when a wave of new challenges, fire drills and requests arrived.

 

The concept that I think has the most impact for us is placement of activities. If you work in a congested area like in the downtown of a city, then lunch hour is going to be packed. Instead of lunch at 12:00 PM, go at 11:30 AM, when the restaurants and food courts have not filled up yet and get faster service. The crowds have not figured this out yet (and the book was written 20 years ago).

 

If you leave work at 5:00 PM and have a wall of traffic to contend with, rearrange your after work needs to allow you to leave at 5:45 PM you might find less traffic and you get home only 20 minutes later than if you left at 5:00 PM. And have less stress to boot.

 

This applies to scheduling meetings, going shopping. I remember shopping at 3:00 AM one morning at a 24 Hour Store (not on Black Friday), and I was able to search the entire store with very little competition.

 

I remember visiting Epcot Center in Florida where I was able to see the entire center in one day without rushing. There were crowds, but it was considered a very light day for a Sunday. Superbowl Sunday. Just before the fireworks in the lake, the score of the game was even being broadcast. So by going to a venue during that specific time, we were able to do far more in less time.

 

We can be creative in finding ways to save time.

 

Enjoy, and save time!

 

Sanford Berenberg
Sanford@berenberg.net
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