Time is the substance I am made of.
Time is a river that sweeps me along, but I am the river;
Time is a tiger that can rip me apart, but I am the tiger;
Time is a fire that can consume me, but I am the fire.
~Jorge Luis Borges

I don’t believe there is any one secret system for everyone to effectively manage all the activities that make up our day.  But I do believe if there is one “secret” to effectively managing our time, it’s the fact that we are time itself.  What we choose to do every minute of the day is a product of ourselves, and hence, a direct reflection of our person and performance.

The quote above serves as an excellent reminder that it is ourselves who can overwhelm our “self” with activities, or streamline production.  In essence, Time Management is Self Management. 

To be successful, we need to get a lot of things done, fast.  Furthermore, the things that we “do” need to be done right (the first time)!  That’s why we need time/self management!  No one is exempt.

Here are a few suggestions to begin developing your unique system to effectively manage yourself:

• Make a list of your biggest dreams:

Seriously, what do you want to do in your lifetime personally and professionally?  Think in terms of life categories: social, physical, mental, career/financial, and spiritual.  Prioritize these “wants” and set S.M.A.R.T (specific, measurable, attainable, realistically high, and trackable) goals to track and measure your progress toward achieving your dreams.

If we don’t spend the time in our life reaching for our dreams, we will be unhappy, guaranteed.  To manage yourself and your time around your goals and dreams is step 1 in effectively managing your time.  To not do so, limits your potential for results.  What is your opportunity cost if you ignore your dreams?

Remember, someone is always willing to tell you what to do with your time.  Make your time yours; helping others with your unique skills and abilities in alignment with your passions and dreams is your time well spent, while serving those around you.

• Include your goal-oriented activities in your daily task list:

First, start using a daily task list.  If you think you’re too busy or important to keep a task list, you are probably feeling overwhelmed, disorganized or are oblivious to the inconvenience you cause others with your mismanagement of time and resources.  Good luck to you!

If you are one of those who is using a daily task list, save a line item for a task that will help you achieve a personal and professional goal everyday.  Do this, and you will undoubtedly achieve your goals.

Take a glance at your task list right now.  Is there anything on there today that serves you and your company in aspiring towards greatness?

• Spend most of your time in production (creating or providing your product/service), sales, and marketing:

I actually had a business owner tell me, “I have plans for marketing, but I’m just too busy to deal with that right now”.  Hold the phone!  None of us should ever be too busy to market our businesses, products and services or ideas on a daily basis!

A valuable insight I learned during a teleseminar hosted by Stephanie Frank, author of “The Accidental Millionaire”, is that 7-figure companies spend most of their time in sales & marketing-related activities, while 6-figure companies spend most of their time in production-related activities.  Those companies earning less than 6 figures were consumed with administration. This logic makes a lot of practical sense.

Take another look at your task list.  Which of your activities are indicative of someone operating or working for a 6- or 7-figure organization?  What is your Sales/Marketing : Production : Administration ratio?  What will your new ratio be?  Start your new activity ratio ASAP and reap improved results!

• When you fall off schedule or task, start over:

The beauty of creating a personalized self/time management system is that it is a “system”.  Systems can be modified, obliterated, and recreated according to need and circumstance.  And a good system can always be resorted to, even if you have a bad day.

I’ve fallen off schedule many times in a week as a result of a distraction or an emergency.  What saved me every time is having a system to go back to, and then picking up where I left off.  Without a system, an interruption or crisis can disrupt your productivity and results for weeks!

A good system consists of key categories according to days of the week, times of the day, etc.  Depending on your job functions, determine the appropriate categories for you, and segment your activities accordingly.  Don’t forget sales, marketing, and production should be integrated throughout!  Even if your role is administrative, you have ideas to sell and personalized products to create and produce.

What is at least one way you can improve your self-management today?

Tweet This Post

Over the course of my career in biopharmaceutical sales, I’ve learned much about people, leadership, success, failure, sales, management, problem solving, teams, and growth!

To kick off my first post on the Roxx Consulting blog, I’d like to share a few of the many lessons I’ve learned about my passion, organizational effectiveness, during my tenure in the biotechnology industry. 

Business lessons I will not forget:

1.  Customer Loyalty: Customer loyalty is to your business what vitamin D is to your body: you have to go out of your way to get it, and without it you cannot survive.

The pivotal words here are “go out of your way”.  Maybe it’s just me, but I’m easily dazzled when a business goes out of their way for my convenience.  I tell everyone in my circle about the fantastic experience I had as I complement the management there. 

Many business owners will nod their heads in agreement regarding “focusing on the customer” and, “improving the customer experience”; yet, they take minimal to no action! This is a far cry from going out of their way. Think of the missed opportunity for free advertising and gaining an edge on your competition!

Sadly, I know too many companies right now that are slowly dying because of their inability to implement effective customer management
systems. They are aware of the problem (poor customer service), they say they must do something (how about a new marketing campaign?), and then they do nothing to address the real issue. Big mistake. Eventually, their organizational ineffectiveness will consume them from the inside out (although it appears to be from the outside in).

2.  Time Strategies: Time strategies are the ultimate litmus test for top talent.

Time management is always a hot topic for discussion, as well as popular measure for performance. For as much attention as it gets, why is it not the star interview question or the first category on a performance appraisal?  It really should be. 

Effective time management reflects one’s ability for hardcore problem solving.  Because, as enjoyable as life is, each day presents it’s fair share of creative problem solving for our enhanced enjoyment. By now, we’ve all had the opportunity to “show our stuff” in this key area.           

So take a close look (and I mean a really close look; spend some time on this one) at that interviewee’s time strategies, or your
employees’ level of performance as it relates to navigating through daily problems.  I bet you’ll find that your top talent (you know, those who always seem to get results come hell or high-water) is a master time strategist aka problem solver.

If a position requires lifting heavy problems, hire a master time strategist!

3.  Sales and Marketing: It’s an entirely new ecosystem.  Adapt!

I come from the land of Sales Force Oz where big marketing budgets reign supreme and the sales force is treated like bronze (platinum in the earlier days) and handed expensive, yet typically ineffective, tools for sales conversion (although every now and then we would get a “winner” tool my teammates and I would jokingly ask, “Where’s the magic wand?  Can we expect that in our next quarterly shipment?)

It’s very different now. An expansive (and expensive!) sales force with elaborate brochures and a fancy pitch is no longer as effective as it once was more than a decade ago. Marketing and sales have officially converged online where information marketing – on the customer’s terms – is a basic requirement.

Here’s the good news: you can save sales and marketing dollars AND successfully grow your business!

4.  Team Leadership: Create many specialized “organelles” within your organization.

I think of teams much like the specialized organelles within a cell. Their job is to carry out advanced functions for the optimized performance of the whole (the organization and the cell, respectively).

What’s important to your organization?  Innovation?  Customer management? Fresh marketing content?  Put together a specialized team for each goal category verses suffering through organization-wide communication problems due to a lack of accountability. 

Create each team to function as an independent whole with a qualified leader, manager, and roles and responsibilities for each member as it pertains to that unit.  Measure performance and reap targeted results!

5.  Management:  Practice superior quality control by obliterating ineffective management early!

I’ve witnessed in awe how bad management slows results.  Awe because little-to-nothing is often done about it – bad managers are allowed to run rampant!  This is way too costly for an organization to tolerate.  Only the best people shouldbe managers.  “Best” meaning healthy-minded individuals with superior leadership ability.

If you know someone has an obnoxious ego or presents with a personality disorder, don’t promote him/her into management!  It will only get worse. You’ll reduce organizational effectiveness for achieving goals. 

Bad management is an insidious disease.  Cynicism is the side effect to look for in your people.  Identify and obliterate. The growth of your company depends on it!

6.  Leadership:  If leadership is results, then by all means…culture it!

Highly effective organizations ooze leadership.  It is developed from the top-down on an ongoing basis so that no matter what a person’s position or function, they can be depended upon as a leader in their unique role for producing results.

Some organizations take leadership development lightly or not at all.  Another mistake.  The truth is, leadership begins with the founding culture of the organization. That culture needs to be infused throughout the company through strategic development and used as a filter for hiring and retaining the right talent.

Continuously develop your people’s potential for leadership and you will optimize results and organizational growth!

7.  Executive Leadership: The marketplace has an affinity for effective organizations.

The more effective your company is at all the various business management functions, the more attractive you will be to the market. 

A top scientist seeking employment will experience an aversion to organizations known for high employee turnover.  Investors will be leery to invest in an organization with no real vision and true purpose to guide its people toward achieving critical milestones.  And no one will want to partner with a company that has bad managers chronically debilitating performance and results.

A word to the wise: your best marketing will not attract the market if your management is less than stellar.  Bad management will show up in you measure of customer loyalty and your slow demise will begin.

Improve effectiveness; increase attractiveness!

Tweet This Post