By Sunny Simon
You’ve just been awarded a leadership role in your firm. By proving yourself as a savvy player who delivers on time and under budget you earned it. After a celebratory night on the town, you walk into your new office smiling and humming a catchy little tune. As you sort through many emails marked “urgent,” and “needs attention” the curve of your mouth turns upside-down and you begin wondering how you’re going to survive your promotion. Sound familiar?
Whether you are an entrepreneur, a manager or a rising star in your company, survival depends on honing your time management skills. Successfully managing your time and your staff is the hallmark of a competent leader. Arranging your calendar to address all attention seeking people and items is an ongoing challenge, but one that needs to be taken seriously.
According to Irma Parone, President and CEO of Parone Group, an executive consultancy organization in Coral Springs, Florida, stellar time management skills are essential. Parone states, “Throughout the career of a leader, there are many lessons to learn, many choices to take, many forks in the road. Few mistakes are fatal, but be very clear about this: Failure to respect the critical role time management plays on success will, without question, always result in failure.”
If you’ve read all the books on time management and you’re still not getting the job done, factor in something the late Zig Ziglar professed. Zig believed “Lack of direction, not lack of time is the problem.”
So is the answer a) time management or b) focus? Both. Before you can optimize time management, you must eliminate the distractions. Make a list right now of distractions keeping you from focusing on the task at hand. Don’t stop until you have at least ten.
Upon reviewing the list you will find most items are under your control. Things like, stop checking your emails every five minutes, ignore the phone, slap a “do not disturb” sign on your office or cubicle for a time block, or put a headset on to give people the impression you are on the phone and cannot be interrupted. Get creative with staying on task. Nix the mini-breaks and quick phone calls.
Think of your day as a long hallway. Efficiently proceed to the end without stopping and peaking in the many doors along the way. Those are the time wasters. With strategic planning and a dose of discipline you will master the time crunch and even have time left over for your exercise regimen.
Sunny Simon is the owner of Raise the Bar High Life and Career Coaching. More about Sunny at www.raisethebarhigh.com
