Key points in time management

If you work hard eight hours a day, you will eventually become the boss and get the right to work twelve hours a day.

The strongest camel carries the biggest load.
Murphy's Laws of Work
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one

It must be remembered that our consciousness can simultaneously operate with no more than 7 ± 2 objects (the Irwin-Miller number). This concerns the left hemisphere. The possibilities of the right (conditionally, we assume that it is responsible for the subconscious) are much broader. Therefore, complex evaluative decisions need to be given to the subconscious, i.e. develop what is called intuition.

2

When training information passes through the following stages of automation. In the beginning there is some knowledge that we assimilate. After working in the workshops, this knowledge is transferred to the level of skills. That is, when I can not only tell and answer questions on the field of knowledge, but I can apply this knowledge to solve practical problems. When we have solved practical problems several times, skills can be formed into skills. Skills - a higher level of automation, and they are already in the subconscious. What is a skill? When you can complete a task "without thinking", that is, quickly and easily.

Rule of Seven, as applied to learning, says the following: a maximum must be repeated 5–9 times in order to move from one level to the next.

The approximate time to develop a habit is three months of regular effort.

3

The sense of time is an inner voice, able to give answers to the questions of the following plan: “How long will it take to prepare a report on a completed project?”, “How long to go from home to office?”, “What time is it now?”. The sense of time is the physical sensation of its movement. The sense of time is important: for planning activities, managing oneself during work, controlling stress. There are several ways to develop a sense of time: calibration (before starting a business, we estimate theoretically elapsed time, post-factum looking at actual elapsed time and comparing two numbers, well, if at an hour the error is no more than three minutes), timing (for each case we keep records of the start of execution and completion).

four

The main basic components of time management are: goals, priorities, tools and habits.

five

There are four mandatory goal criteria: concreteness, measurability, date, reality. Concreteness: “I want to buy a Peugout 407 in red” instead of “I want to buy a car”. Measurable: we use three reference points - minimum, plan and maxmmmm. Date: “I want to buy a Peugeot 407 by December 2008” instead of “I want to buy a Peugeot 407”. Reality: so that a person strives to achieve the goal, it must be perceived as real by them.
In a conflict of goals, you can use one of the following methods:
1. Abandon one of the goals
2. Priority on the principle - at the beginning it is, then everything else.
3. Priority on the principle of 1,2,3 ...
4. Delegation
5. Detailing goals
6. Planning
7. The goal of the goal is to coordinate the conflicting goals by searching for a larger common goal.

6

In business, every day you need to make choices, make decisions, determine priorities. Decision making consists of two components.
1. Tools - help to calculate each of the alternatives and prepare the information base for decision making.
2. Courage - if you have all the information helps to quickly make a decision. And also in the case when there is not enough information, which is often the case in a competitive market.

As described in the Samurai Code: the right decision is made within 7 seconds. This is possible if you “cook” in your specialty for 5-7 years. Approximately for this term professional intuition is formed. To develop it, you should lay a good foundation. The basis of professional intuition are high-quality tools for setting priorities. Let us highlight the main tools for setting priorities in matters:
- Pareto principle;
- Comparison matrix;
- Eisenhower matrix.

Pareto principle

In order to weed out most of our affairs, a certain criterion is required. The measure is the 80: 20 ratio, or the Pareto principle. With regard to time management, it states the following: 20% of all the cases that we do, bring us 80% of the result. That is, in any area of ​​homogeneous objects there is an uneven distribution. The usefulness of the Pareto rule is a clear ratio of 20: 80. The key part is always about one-fifth of the whole. Knowing this in advance, you can get rid of 80% of inefficient work. Therefore, if we can see these grains and separate them from the chaff, we get a strong lever for increasing the efficiency of our work.

It is important to choose the right criterion that will divide the cases into 20 and 80.
Ask a series of questions before doing a case. If I complete this task, what happens in a day? A week? Month? Year? Having solved this problem, what benefits will I get in a day? A week? Month? Year? If I refuse to do it, what will I lose in a day? A week? Month? Year?

Comparison Matrix

1. Determine the purpose of the comparison.
2. Choose two or more real objects of comparison.
3. We throw quality criteria, 5-7 pcs.
4. We enter the initial data (we fill in the table with quantitative values).
5. We conduct fights on each of the criteria, determine who won.
6. Based on the goal, we highlight key criteria.
7. Based on key criteria, we make a decision.

Eisenhower Matrix

Two parameters that describe any task:
How important is the matter - we denote it as “IMPORTANCE”
How urgent is the matter - we denote as “URGENCY”
If all cases are divided according to two criteria, then four squares will be obtained. Conventionally, we denote the square "important" as "A". Delayed affairs. They need to be done immediately. This square is like a fire requiring your momentary intervention. If the task needs to be done today and it, according to Pareto, falls into 20% of the key cases, then this is the task of category “A”. Imagine that tomorrow you will have 2, 5, 10 cases that need to be done exactly tomorrow and which are quite important. How to name such a day? Time trouble. Abraham The truth is that 80% of all maneuverings is planned by a person on his own. Consciously or unconsciously, we do not take into account the factors and variables, which lead to the fact that we work every day in situations of emergency work. The logical question is how to avoid it? Where do these "A" vrala come from?



Fig.1. Eisenhower Matrix

80% of burning cases come because we do not pay attention to the square "B" - important, but not urgent matters. It is from here that the roots of nomads grow. how
only you have bypassed this square with your attention, it immediately reminds of itself, making nomadic raids - and here you have a force majeure. Work with them. Put out fires.
In the square “B” there are three major groups of cases:
- health;
- training;
- regular tasks (everything you need to do daily, weekly, monthly)

The third square is denoted as “C” - these are urgent tasks, but not important. Dummy. You gave them your time and nothing in return. Like a lottery ticket without a win. What is the danger of such matters? Life, fortunately, is finite, and “C” makes it empty. We should decide in advance who these “thieves of time” are, how they approach us. What they catch us is, because every day we give a piece of our life to such parasites as waiting, queues, traffic jams, empty calls, fruitless Internet searches, “dead” customers.

Square “D” - unimportant and non-urgent matters. Sometimes they are called trash. If the matter is not important and not urgent - forget about it! But they are often pleasant, light in execution. Like a game of beads, recount rosary. Therefore, people are engaged in them. By the way, if you set yourself clear goals, then the defense against "C" and "D" is built automatically. The brain initially blocks the "thieves" of time in the presence of a clear, ambitious goal. Accordingly, goal setting works on priorities, the defense of your work schedule and personal life.

In general, the general conclusions on the Eisenhower matrix.
1. Case A can be reduced by 80% due to the daily emphasis on square "B".
2. "C" - thieves of time, should build a line of defense of their time from such cases.
3. Setting goals helps us to prioritize our work.
4. Only tasks “B” can be planned. "A" come yourself, you do not know how much tomorrow there will be force majeure. "C", if there is protection, you will not interfere.
5. If out of 20 working days for 4 days you stay at work for an hour or two, this is normal. 20% of rummaging is a healthy business pulse. But if you are working 16 days late and only work - this is an indication that it is time to take the square "B".

A. Gorbachev. “Leader time. 24 + 2 ”