We all say we have too much to do. Even my 84 year-old in-laws claim they’re too busy to get everything done in a day. I think the question is: do we have too much to do, or are we mismanaging our time? You have customers and prospects that need to hear from you today; yet, the majority of you reading this will not reach out to everyone you said you would by the end of the day. Having the best of intentions doesn’t work. Thinking about doing something doesn’t work. The only thing that truly works is having a plan and executing it, and that includes how you intend to use your time.
Watch this video to learn how have better time management:
You have little chance to make the most of today unless you took the time yesterday to prepare for today. The phrase I love to use is “tomorrow begins today.” Unless you take the time today to make preparations for tomorrow, you won’t do it. The process is simple.
First, start with the big outcomes you want to accomplish over the next year. Yes, I said the next year. If all you do is focus on what you need to do tomorrow, you won’t accomplish your bigger goals. Your goal each day should be to do something that will move you a little closer to achieving at least one of your big goals.
Second, look at what you need to do that would best be done by someone else or with someone else. Don’t look at yourself as working alone. Always view yourself as a part of a team. Also, your job is to not just use your team, but elevate them. The bane of time management is thinking that you are the only one capable of accomplishing everything. The most successful people always surround themselves with others.
Your third step is to allocate your time into concise blocks of 15 minutes to 90 minutes to work on whatever task you need to do. It is amazing how much our work expands to the amount of time we have, unless we force it into a set block of time. Think about how many things you check off your list the day before you leave on vacation. Why is that? It’s simple! More is accomplished, because a far more attractive activity is waiting for you the next day. You know you only have one day left to get whatever you need to do done.
Fourth and finally, at the end of each day, evaluate what you did. Then, do two things: celebrate your successes and with a critical eye, assess what you could have done differently. It’s only when you successfully use your own time that you’re be able to fully achieve what you are capable of.
Copyright 2019, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Result
