Time Management, The Law of the Vital Few
Managing your time is all about managing yourself.
Often we think it’s about managing segments, little chunks of time measured in hours, half hours, quarter hours or less. Then our attempt at managing our time happens like this:
- We develop a volume of things that we need to do.
- We divide the day up into more and more little segments.
- We search for better positioned segments so we can shove more things into them.
- Meanwhile, we divide all the things to do into priorities.
- Then we put 70% of the priorities in the top priority list and try shoving those in the new little segments we just made.
What we’re really doing is going faster and faster and shoving more and more in. After all, almost everything in our life is a priority, isn’t it? Then for all our efforts we slide down the slippery slope or stress, overload and burnout.
We really ought to manage ourselves and ask, “What are the vital few things that are the truly important?” Those are the things I will get done. It’s not seven out of my list of ten important things to get done. It’s only two. Maybe it’s only one. Start and do those. The others will disappear, fade in significance or step in line to take their turn as one of the vital few later on.
Until we start acting on this for ourselves, we’ll be caught in this race. Somewhere we have to break the cycle and say, “This is where it stops.” Practicing that Law of the Vital Few will make us much more satisfied, thorough and successful.
Often we want to squeeze more and more productivity out of a given period of time, so we shove other things aside, things like renewal and relationships, fostered primarily through pausing. We continue to accumulate a greater volume of things, and our body is saying, “No, I can’t handle this.“ Stress, tiredness, soreness, muscle pain, dissatisfaction and a sense of a lack of well-being become our lot in life.
Adopt the practice of timely management from the Law of the Vital Few. Take your personal best 20% as your springboard for building the future. Where in the past did I have my most success? Identify that small amount of time and duplicate it for today as much as you can. Say, “These are the vital few things that I must do now, and while I am doing those I will delegate, hold to a more appropriate time or give away to others the things that I am not able to do.”
If you are dealing with volume of time commitments placed on you from the outside, then you have to work with the issues of boundaries as well .You may have to set boundaries around people imposing on your time. Let the voice mail get the telephone after certain hours and raise a personal standard that says, “I am not going to work after this hour.” If it’s sheer volume you may need to look at ways to do it more efficiently. On the other hand you may need to frankly talk to others about helping you. They may be in positions of authority or control to make some changes for you.
It’s not just about time management but timely management of you.
This may be one of the most common areas that executives and leaders wish to work on during our coaching engagements. We live in a world that pushes almost every leader and professional into a crunch for time. There are solutions. They don’t always come easy. People often fear doing what is required thinking they will lose ground and fall behind. But once solutions are put in place and traction is being experienced, leaders find that in fact they can achieve more, do better and actually begin to thrive.
Really, you can read all you want about time management and you can feel the stress until the cows come home. But until you make a major decision to do something about it, you will only amass literature and dissatisfaction. Take action today.
Gary Wood
G.E. Wood and Associates
Personal Effectiveness Coaching for Leaders and Executives since 1998
As an Executive Coach, I feel very grateful. I have once again received notification that renewal of my Professional Certified Coach accreditation (PCC) has been approved.
As an accredited member of the International Coach Federation, we are required to go through a vigorous process of renewal application every three years. Meeting requirements ensures the coach will have continued to develop professionally over time. Here’s what the document says.
The International Coach Federation is honored to confer upon Gary Wood the designation of Professional Certified Coach. The designation is earned by demonstrating knowledge and proficient use of core coaching skills through a comprehensive application and exam process designed to ensure high standards for the coaching profession and the clients it serves.
Why is this all important?
- Proficiency
- High standards
And above all …
- Serving clients.
Leadership Focus 2012
Contributor: Doug Poll-Results Coach
As 2012 looks us square in the face, we are challenged with many obstacles as leaders in both our personal and professional lives. In their classic book, “The Leadership Challenge,” James Kouzes and Barry Posner encourage us to look back before looking ahead. They write when we first gaze into our past, we elongate our future. We enrich our future and give it details as we recall the richness of our past experiences.
With that in mind, here’s a brief look at leadership lessons I learned in 2011 and a focused approach for 2012.
- Do the hard thing. What does that look like for you? Switching jobs, firing a “C” player on your team, setting new boundaries with relationships that drain you, or maybe pressing the reset button on your marriage? I did several of the aforementioned and started my own company in 2011 during an economic recession in Southwest Florida and also made some necessary, but difficult decisions in my marriage to win back my wife.
- Be accountable and teachable. One of the traps we fall into as leaders is the tendency to lose our ability to listen and receive instruction. We are looked to for the answers. Be the decision-makers. That’s how we’re wired. I have chosen to surround myself with several men who I’ve given permission to speak into my life both personally and professionally when they see things I am missing. It has helped me immensely in making decisions about business, marriage and family issues, spiritual matters and the like.
- Learn to connect with your family. Yes, I know the saying that our families need our “quality time.” I have learned this year that really means connect with my kids and my wife in the way they desire. With 4 kids, that becomes a difficult charge! I bring them on errands with me, turn off the laptop (fill in the media device here) to be present with them, laugh with them and listen to them. I took my 15-year-old son out for lunch during school on a workday which shocked him. I simply asked, “Are you happy?” It opened up a bright and colorful conversation and after 20 minutes we had truly connected. Try it with your family!
So, what’s ahead in 2012? Start with what matters most to you. What are your values? Mine are Family, God’s will, Hope, Accomplishment and Purpose. Next, plan to step away from the daily grind of emails, phone calls, financials, troubleshooting problems and find a place to think, pray, reflect and write. Start with 2-3 hours and work your way up to half or full days away. I will typically sense a word or two that becomes a theme for my upcoming year like Serve, Purpose or Focus. This coming year the word is Growth. The key is solitude-get away to reflect back and plan ahead. All the best in 2012!
Doug Poll is a Certified Professional Life Coach (CPLC) at his company called The Doug Poll Group. They specialize in coaching executives and leaders and also work with non-profit clients helping them raise money through a unique turn-key golf marathon event. He can be reached at doug@dougpollgroup.com or on his LinkedIn profile as well.
A Few Simple Things for the Emerging Leader
So you are an emerging leader … ready to jump in there and give it your all?
Let’s talk about joining up, starting up, volunteering, letting you name stand, registering and preparing. As a young leader you may be caught up in a whirlwind of activity. You want to be involved in everything and miss nothing. You’re eager to contribute and available to help out. But, should you be involved in everything or have you bought into a schedule and pace that is less noble than it may at first appear?
There is no doubt that we need workers. And good solid leadership is essential. But being spread too thin may do more harm than good. I think there is a better way. Do you remember Jesus parable of the talents? The master said to the servants who had made a good increase on what he had given them to do, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.” There are a few things, important things to take care of, not everything, but just a few for those who will be given more responsibility later.
As a seasoned leader I look for young men and women who stick to a task assigned and do it well. They pull together the people to make it happen. They follow through and give it their best. They aren’t off in all directions but remain focused on what they have been given to do. These are the emerging leadership who will be able to handle increasing autonomy. They will make good executive team contributors. They will be some of the best leadership of tomorrow.
What are those few things that would be best for you to put your full attention to? If you are willing many will want to shove you to the front for all sorts of responsibilities. You may need to resist that happening. I have coached many older leaders who are in overload. They share several things in common and need to make similar shifts in their thinking.
a. They find it hard to say “no” often enough.
Shift from thinking you must respond to every need to realizing you can’t do everything for everybody who asks.
b. They subtly start to believe they are indispensable.
Shift from thinking no one else will be able to do it as well as you to trusting the abilities and giftedness of others, and allowing them the space to grow.
c. They buy into the thought that constant activity and busyness is a sign of higher commitment.
Shift from trying to prove something to others to passionately doing well those few things you feel are of highest importance for you to carry out.
Leaders who make things happen do so because they have developed an effective individual pace and over time proven the benefit of clearly knowing what they need and need not be involved in. They practice priority management (which is really all about self-management isn’t it). They don’t major in busyness.
What does your upcoming agenda look like? The leader who carefully and respectfully declines requests while passionately committing themselves to “a few simple things” will most likely be able to sustain a level of commitment that contributes to success and satisfaction.
Key Questions:
1. If you made tomorrow’s to-do list right now, what would the “few simple things” be, that if attended to tomorrow, would actually result in the greatest gain?
2. What are the “few simple things” that you feel compelled to be involved in for this next season? Are they in line with the things you really feel passionate about?
3. What items on your to-do list have become “a few complex, energy draining, and unfulfilling things”? What will you do about this, starting today?
Benefits of Dealing with Burnout
I suppose it goes without saying, but there are many benefits of dealing with burnout. Every week I am working with leaders and professionals who are experiencing significant stress. Either they are in overload and overwhelm and on the verge of burnout and disillusionment or they are in fact … experiencing burnout.
Carefully I walk them through my three part program to deal with burnout.
- Resolution – Deal with their immediate situation to reduce some of the stress so they can think straight and design a game plan for moving forward.
- Transition – Find and adopt new strategies for the days to come. You can’t very well solve problems by continuing to do the same things over and over. And finally …
- Continuity – Make sure the client has made transitions to new ways of thinking and behaving AND that those new strategies have taken root and become the norm.
What do clients get by walking through this simple but profoundly changing step by step process? I’d like to suggest some of the following as reported benefits of dealing with burnout that I have heard. I don’t need to make much comment on them. They are fairly self-explanatory. And they are benefits that everyone experiencing this significantly painful time in their lives would like to have. Here are just a few.
Physical Realm
- Able to start exercising again
- Back aches stop
- Weekly trips to chiropractor stop
- Panic attacks reduce to zero over time
- Get to sleep easier
- Get a better sleep – waking up more relaxed
- Have more physical energy
- Sporadic and strange aches and pains drastically decrease
- Skin irritations stop
Time Realm
- Feel like they get weekends back
- Feel like they get weeknights back
- They once again have choice about what they want to do
- More time to work on projects they care about
Relationship Realm
- More positive relationships begin showing up
- Their mind isn’t preoccupied when with their spouse – totally present again
- Their mind isn’t preoccupied when with their children – totally present again
- Time to enjoy good friends once again
Everyday Living Realm
- Feel more relaxed
- Able to enjoy a hobby if they have one
- Made some long-needed and healthy decisions
- Brought their life into line with the truths they believed
- Discovered or made more personal space – some time to recharge
Opportunity Realm
- Dreaming about possibilities again
- Got to take what they are learning and help others
- Regained the excitement of God opening up new doors
Emotional Realm
- More contentment with their circumstances
- Brighter outlook on life
- Feel like their emotional energy was being renewed
- Sense of regaining control
- Relief from the pressure of worry
Spiritual Realm
- Created the time to connect with God in prayer and the Word once again
- Began to see people (often the source of burnout) through God’s eyes
- Once again connected with God’s people in healthy and enriching relationships
- Developed a core of people who prayed for them daily
- Allowed space for God to work in grace
I think you would agree with me that these benefits of dealing with burnout were worth reaching for. I want to encourage you. Please take the fourth step in my Beat Burnout Plan … Prevention. Prevent the slippery slide into the ways of thinking and behaving that can lead to burnout in the first place. Pursue health and personal and professional effectiveness. Be proactive in the first place and you will reap the benefits that so many leaders, executives and professionals long for this very day.
Some Helpful Resources
Take my Beat Burnout Assessment.
Get and use a copy of my Guide, Beating Burnout, Where to Start.
Participate in a Beat Burnout Call.
Call me directly to discuss and get coaching around your situation.
You Can Make a One Percent Improvement
You can make a one percent improvement. Making a 1% improvement doesn’t seem like too much to ask, does it? I mean, it’s one percent. It sounds achievable. And who says 1% isn’t significant. It may be modest but it is a step forward. We live in a culture that seems to idolize big things. But a whole series of 1% improvements achieved over time, add up.
In coaching engagements, our clients typically realize considerably more than a one percent improvement almost immediately. The point is … they are moving forward, momentum is building.
A one percent improvement is very achievable, even for busy people. One percent a month over ten months is a ten percent improvement. Ten percent is significant, isn’t it? I certainly think so.
Cast in point: The Power of Three
Imagine starting, working on without interruption and moving through to completion, the three action items each week that would make the most significant impact on moving your goals forward. This month you stay focused and practice the Power of Three for a modest one percent monthly improvement. You have managed to achieve the absolute most important things each week for a whole month.
You continue this new habit for 10 months and you have made a 10% improvement in starting and finishing the highest priority items that will make the biggest impact each and ever week. What would that ten percent add up to in new revenues, lives changed, time and resources saved and bottom or top line results?
My Challenge to You
Here is a challenge I’d like to give you. Make a 1% improvement this week. And then continue a simple 1% improvement each week for the next month.
What is important enough for you to make one tiny improvement on, starting now?
A project you are engaged in?
The way you go about handling a certain routine?
Relationships that need attention? (Harder to measure, but do-able.)
Your office systems?
You get the idea. Small steps build up over time. Ten weeks means ten percent, and a ten-percent improvement in anything gets noticed.
If you should choose to take me up on this, don’t leave it to chance. Track yourself. Be definite. Clarity leads to results. And finally, enjoy it. A small 1% improvement isn’t heavy and burdensome. Celebrate it.
Best Strategy for Burnout – Stop to Move Forward
What may be the best strategy for burnout? Stop to move forward.
It’s a valid tactic.
Sometimes we have to have someone tell us to stop. I have told men and women I work with to ‘Stop.’ In the past, I have been told to ‘Stop.” We get in such a state of overload that we almost can’t see how we can get off the treadmill. It seems that everything must be done and done yesterday. And we keep on either allowing others to add more or layering it on ourselves. We often need someone from outside our situation to make that critical observation and intervention.
But you say, “I can’t stop.” Sorry, but yes you can. There are very few occasions when something cannot be done to address the problem of ‘too much’. You may not like the options, and you may choose to ignore the options, but it doesn’t mean they aren’t there. And it doesn’t mean that you don’t have a choice. You always have a choice.
God brought a Jethro to Moses when he was overloaded, morning till evening, spending long hours involved with people and their daily concerns and needs. Jethro wisely observed “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone.”
In other words, STOP. See with clarity what you are doing. Understand the consequences of continuing to operate this way. Find another way. This is not God’s agenda for you as important as it all may appear and as pressing as the need may be. It can be done another way. There are options. But it is a matter of choice.
I would like to ask you to pause right now and think about your own situation. Is it possible that you are doing way too much for your own physical, mental, emotional and social well being – in short your spiritual wholeness? You have to pause to think about this. Unless you take the time to reflect you will not understand the implications of what you are doing.
Do you need to STOP?
Why Clarity is Important
If we understand why clarity is important, we can move forward. It sounds simple but it is true. Clarity rules.
- Clarity will determine whether a company responds to changing conditions or falls further back.
- Clarity will determine whether an individual takes the steps to move forward or flounders in mediocrity.
- Clarity will determine whether the population of a country will stand up for their rights or be suppressed by an iron fist.
- Clarity will determine whether a newly married couple will move forward in harmony or devolve into dysfunction.
Clarity, is at the heart of my coaching engagements. You need to gain increasing clarity about yourself and your situation so you can take the right actions to get where you want to go and not keep getting tripped up all the time.
The Definitions:
“Free from obscurity and easy to understand; the comprehensibility of clear expression”: Wordnet, Princeton University
“The quality of being clear and easy to understand”: Cambridge University Press c. 2004
“Clearness” Roget’s New Millenium Thesaurus c. 2005
Synonyms: accuracy, brightness, certainty, cognizability, comprehensibility, conspicuousness, decipherability, definition, directness, distinctness, evidence, exactitude, exactness, explicability, explicitness, intelligibility, legibility, limpidity, limpidness, lucidity, manifestness, obviousness, openness, overtness, palpability, penetrability, perceptibility, perspicuity, plainness, precision, prominence, purity, salience, simplicity, tangibility, transparency, unambiguity, unmistakability – Roget’s New Millenium Thesaurus c. 2005
Antonyms: distortion, fog, fuzziness, haze, obscurity, opacity, unclearness – Roget’s New Millenium Thesaurus c. 2005
Three Levels of Clarity
- Absolute Truth – Those truths that don’t change, no matter what you decide to believe about them. Biblical truth would be the perfect example. That God created men and women in His own image is an absolute truth.
- Objective Facts – You have refused to talk with your sister for 8 years. We could talk to your sister and verify that as a fact.
- Assumptions – This is where most people spend most of their life. You assume something to be true. You assume your sister never wants to talk to you again. You assume she is impossible to talk to. You assume your relationship can never be repaired. That is not a fact. It is an assumption.
Being clear about what you think and what you do is a critical step in taking responsibility for your current actions. Clarity allows you the freedom to design better possibilities for future action that will get you to where you or your organization wants to go.
Every effort at moving forward must start with clarity. We must start with what is … the truth. The Bible says the truth will set you free. This has been repeated throughout history. When people have heard, seen or experienced the truth, they have surged forward with new ideas, renewed passion and vigor, improved laws and approaches. The truth set them free.
Lies and incomplete truth lead to bondage. They hold us back. They can hold companies and entire nations back.
Always seek to start with truth. See things as they are. Take responsibility as the truth points to you. Be honest about what you think and how you feel. Be honest about your attitudes and areas where you find yourself resisting. Then you will be able to move forward with clearer direction, focus and distinct outcomes in mind.
What is SMART Goal Setting?
What is SMART goal setting? You hear about it a lot when wanting to achieve priorities and while it may not be the perfect goal setting and achieving activity, it is probably the most referred to. Those who use it consistently will probably be achieving far more than those who have no plan for achieving their goals and priorities at all.
SMART goal setting is a necessity for self leadership. When you look at any sample professional development plans or inquire about creating a personal leadership development plan, you will find setting and achieving goals as one of the core practices.
Here is a goal setting activity that if practiced will accelerate you toward your highest and best priorities. Good goals are critical to better time management and execution. SMART is a popular and well used acronym. Moreover, it’s a helpful tool for moving forward.
1. Using the SMART Goal Setting acronym, analyze goals you have made in the past and how effective they have been.
2. Then develop a new set of goals based on the same SMART goal setting criteria.
Working through a goal setting activity like this will make you much more aware of just how you have done in the past and what you need to make the best goals possible for the future.
A lot of us are goal deprived, preferring, more by default than anything else, to just let life happen to us. This is one of the sure roads to stress and burnout. I once read that less than 3% of people put pen to paper and write down their goals. I am sure much the same could be said for many of our organizations. Interestingly, it is the same 3% who accomplish more than all the 97% combined.
Let’s get started with this goal setting activity. Using the acronym SMART, here are the things to aim for when you write down your goals. Check yourself against them.
Goal Setting Activity – S
Specific Well defined Specific goals define the desired outcome, objective or benefit to be delivered. It defines the specific target you are aiming at. This allows you to focus your thinking and efforts.
No ambiguity– Goals are clear to anyone who has some understanding of the organization.
Clear. Clarity in goal setting is critical. Specific goals let everyone know what, when and how much. Specific goals allow you to measure progress toward completion. What – What do you really want the result to be?
Where – Define a location if this is important to the goal.
When – A specific date on the calendar
Who – Who is involved?
Why – This is the motivating factor. Why are you doing this? What are the benefits of accomplishing this goal?
Example: An ambiguous goal would be: “I want to begin painting again.” A specific goal would be “I will submit two paintings to the art show on November 10th”.
Goal Setting Activity – M
Measurable A measurement lets you know when you have attained of accomplished your desired end result. For example, numbers are easily understandable measurements – 8 months, 4 days per week, $100,000 dollars, 60 pounds, 2 paintings.
Progress – When you can measure, you know how much is completed and how much farther there is to go.
Celebration – You have a measurement that allows you to celebrate important milestones on the way to your goal.
Benchmark – Here’s where I started and what I measure against. Here’s how far I have come.
Deadline – November 10th is a deadline. You can’t be much clearer than that. Target dates assist you to stay on track. It has been said that a goal without a deadline is just a dream. Because you have recorded the goal, you can point to your completion of it as a success. It builds confidence and locks in proof that you can accomplish what you set out to accomplish.
Goal Setting Activity – A
Action-Oriented Action words are clear. “I will submit “ is a whole lot clearer than, “I should submit”; “If I get two paintings done, I’ll submit” or “I would like to submit”. Many organizations I have worked for, have mamby pampy goals (no, make that wishes!) that will likely get them no where. Action verbs get you somewhere. That’s why we call this a goal setting activity.
Measuring something that is being done is easier than trying to measure nothing being done.
A – Attainable Some people set goals that are unattainable. I have nothing against big goals. But if there is no way you can accomplish ‘world peace’ in your lifetime, that is unattainable. Making a brief to a UN forum on world peace to be held next year is attainable.
A goal should be a stretch, just beyond our immediate grasp, or just beyond employees and volunteers immediate reach enough to pull us forward and challenges our comfort zones to accomplish. It provides a sense of excitement, anticipation and desire to reach the goal.
Set right – A goal set too high or too low (less than the normal standard performance) doesn’t hold any relevance. It will be dismissed and ignored. A goal that is set right will start you thinking on how you can make it happen. You begin to increase your capacity for reaching the goal by adding skills, attitudes, experiences and resources (both human and physical) that can assist you to get there.
A – Agreed Upon – All stakeholders agree what this goal should be.
A – Acceptable – If you set the goal, your motivation for reaching it is much higher than something dictated from the outside. It is ‘acceptable’ to you, in line with who you are as a person and how you best perform. Tomorrow we will conclude this goal setting activity.
We cover much more detail in the courses, programs and coaching that we assist our clients with. Those who pay attention move further in a shorter period of time.
Goal Setting Activity – R – Realistic
There are people, resources, information and time to make this happen. It can be a reality. ‘Realistic’ is not a substitute word for ‘simple’ or ‘easy’ and you may have to stretch to make it happen, but it is within the realm of reality to accomplish.
Keep in mind that to one person this may be totally unrealistic, while to another, the thrill of knowing that it just might be possible moves them forward. (I love seeing that light come on with a client.) Many scientific breakthroughs and new product developments have been made in this way. It required a steep learning curve but the end result was achieved. Witness the US program to put a man on the moon in the 1970’s.
Be sure in your own mind that this goal is possible, even if people have to push the barriers of what is now known in order to get there. It was Henry Ford who said, “If you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.”
The key is that you believe it can be accomplished and you are ready, willing and able to do whatever it takes to make it happen. Keep in mind that a whole series of smaller goals can add up to a spectacular result over time. It’s all in the strategic approach you take.
R – Relevant The goal must somehow relate to who you are or who your organization is and where it is going. Will it contribute to furthering your mission and the vision you have of the future?
Goal Setting Activity – T
Time Framed; Time Bound; Time Structured Enough – You have allowed enough time to achieve the objective and not so much time that the goal drifts off into lack of momentum and obscurity.
Set the time – There is nothing like a good due-date or deadline. They are specific, clear and totally capture your focus. Have a starting point, ending point and fixed ‘reporting’ times along the way. Reporting or ‘checking in’ overcomes the tendency to just let life happen and get caught up in the daily ‘stuff’ of life, business or ministry. Example: First painting to be done by Aug 15. Second to be done by Oct 31. Submit both to the Art Show by Nov. 10th.
Break larger goals down into more manageable chunks. As in the example above, two paintings represent two projects.
What have you noticed as you went through this exercise? Maybe you thought your implementation of goals was poor but you discovered your action was off because your goals were ill-defined. That’s a very important point to note. Whatever you learned, take the time to make the adjustments you need to get you on the path to success. And I do wish you every success in setting SMART goals in life, work and leadership.
There you have it … a SMART goal setting activity or methodology to begin using for yourself.
