Three Thoughts on Time Management

Yesterday's post dealt with the idea of tackling big projects and/or huge backlogs of work by chipping away at them for just ten minutes a day. Unfortunately that approach seems in conflict with a time management technique that suggests the most efficient way to do any job is to work it straight through from start to finish. To do otherwise seems quite inefficient. Click here to see our March 1 blog post on that subject.

Fortunately there's another time management technique that may apply here. It's used to help overcome the wasted time of procrastination. When you have a job that you don't want to do, find difficult to do, or just have trouble getting started, commit to working on it for fifteen minutes. Often times, after 15 minutes we get into the swing of things and are able to see the job through to completion. However, if after 15 minutes you find you are getting nowhere, put the job aside for awhile before you commit another 15 minute try.

This 15 minute technique works very well for me when I suffer "writers block." Even though the initial minutes of "forced work" result in lots of gibberish, garbage, incomplete thoughts, broken sentences, partially complete paragraphs and so forth, I often find after awhile that a spark takes hold and off I go. And I don't look back at all when the Great Writing Spirit moves me. I just keep writing on my now-focused train of thought. After all, it won't take much time later during the editing process to delete the early scraps, gibberish and garbage.

So what do we do with these three thoughts on time management. Can we put them into harmony? Yes, I think we can. Here's how I look at them:

1. I still think the best way to do any job is beginning to end, start to finish. Whenever that approach is practical and realistic, then do it.

2. Some jobs are so big that we know they can't be done from start to finish all at once. Indeed, the magnitude of the job makes us reluctant to tackle them. So we put them off. In effect, we procrastinate. So why not budget and commit 10, 15 or 20 minutes a day to just chipping away at it. Not only will you make some process but you might also get a spark that causes you to go beyond where you planned to end. (Just be careful of spending so much time tackling the big project that you end up wishing you didn't because other things suffered).

3. When you suffer a severe case of procrastination on a job or project that needs to get done, bite the bullet for 15 minutes and see if a spark takes hold. If it does, run with it. If it doesn't, back off for a little while and then hit it for another 15 minutes. Continue as necessary until the spark takes hold.

About Pelleyblog. This blog covers topics of interest to managers, particularly those at the first-line supervisor level. Topics include handling difficult employees, leadership, counseling, coaching, problem solving, lean thinking, motivation and time management. We welcome your comments on this post.

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