Found An Old Time Management System - It is Really Good
I found one of my early time management systems buried in my computer. Turns out it works quite well. It uses a spiral notebook. I have posted it below. Enjoy and if you want an alternative, try the one at the link on the left, enjoy.
The Simple Guide to Time Management
Productivity in a Spiral Notebook
Using the R A W Method
Copyright 2008
Introduction
Welcome to the Simple Guide to Time Management. We hope this guide helps you efficiently and effectively handle the things you need to in your life.
Time Management
Time management is a subject that has been written about and taught over the years by countless authors, gurus and consultants. With today’s fast paced, information overfilled world there are many frazzled and thinly stretched people looking to “manage” their time. The reality of the situation is that time management is a misnomer. Time can not be managed. Time progresses at the same rate for all of us. Everyone’s minute has 60 seconds, hour has 60 minutes and day has 24 hours. We all play by the same rules. So in essence time management is really self management.
People are trying to make the most of their time and use it in the most efficient way. Invariably when some people realize they are overwhelmed, they turn to technology to “fix” the situation. The latest device, gadget or system is secured and used usually for a short period of time until they declare that they don’t have the time to use the system. Time management systems are like any other system, the more complex they are the harder they are to maintain.
A word about priorities. Several authors in their writings take the tact that in fact most people do not have a time management problem, they have a priorities problem. That is, if they got their priorities in order, that would free up their schedules and they would have enough time for the important things they need to get done. Unfortunately, many of us live in worlds where we do not set all of the priorities, this is known as OPP (other people's priorities). We work for companies with priorities we disagree with and think are out of whack, yet must strive to achieve them.
This guide is not about helping you set your priorities. We assume you have already set the priorities you can control and eliminated as many of the OPPs you can. So, your life is full of the things you need to do.
This system is purposely low tech in nature. It can’t be broken, run out of batteries or fail. The one catastrophe that can take place is that your “system” is lost. If this happens yes, you may be screwed, however, even this can be avoided.
Time or self management like most things in life follows the 80/20 principal. 80% of the improvement will come from 20% of the changes. So for instance if a fairly disorganized person looks at all of the time management options in the universe but focuses on three changes. This hypothetical person begins to write everything they need to do in one place, begins religiously using a calendar and commits to spending 10 minutes an evening planning their next day. They may get 80% of the benefit that fully implementing the most complex time management system would give them, while saving hours learning a complex system. If this 80% makes them say 40% more efficient, but due to its simplicity they stick with the system for 10 years versus the more complex system which in this example makes a person 55% more efficient, but can only be used for a year before the complexity overwhelms and it is given up, the total productivity is obviously much greater with the simple system. So simplicity coupled with consistency works in my book for greater long term productivity.Chapter One Characteristics of a Good System
There are several gurus promoting a variety of time and self management systems. Several of them are quite complex. Some systems are attached to planners, PDAs, software, course and/or coaching services. Yet, a good system does not need to be complex nor require a large investment to have a dramatic impact on your life.
A good self management system possesses the following characteristics.
It is simple to learn and easy to implement.
It is self contained so you do not have lots of places or things to monitor and think about.
It is easy to use, so you will continue using it. Most complex systems are difficult to maintain and as a result are abandoned as time moves on.
It is portable. Portability ensures you will use it consistently and not try to circumvent it.
The system we will teach here is all of those things.
Chapter Two
A Word on Calendars and Contact Managers
Please note this system assumes you already have a calendar and a contact manager, previously known as a Rolodex or address book. These can be either paper or electronic. Work with what works.
In this system, there are only two things that go on a calendar. The first is appointments you have made for yourself. This being the places you need to be at a specific date and time. The second thing is time sensitive reminders.
Examples include a two week reminder of birthdays, anniversaries or upcoming meetings for which you will need to begin preparing. So a calendar entry may look like - Jan's birthday in two weeks, marketing meeting in one week, 20 year anniversary in two months etc.
Chapter Three
The "Things" We Need to Track - R A W
In self-management there are really only three main things to be concerned with. Virtually everything in life will fit into one of these three categories. You will soon see that once you fit your time or self management into these three categories you will become much more productive with the side benefit of being much more relaxed.
The three categories are:
Results
Action Items Waiting For
We will explore these three categories in more depth below.
Results
Results are very simply the finished product. What you would like to see happen, the end outcome or the completed project. Life at it's most basic level is about getting results. Those that get results are successful, those that don't are not usually successful. Hence the term "results oriented" Meaningful Results can not be completed in one step or one sitting. Things that can be completed in one step or sitting are Action Items, which are described below. The successful completion of a series of Action Items leads to the Result. Examples of Results include:
Build a 4,000 foot home in the mountains.
Increase sales by 20% to $10,000,000 per year. Launch a new product.
Reduce expenses by 30% to $2,000,000 per year. Get into XYZ College.
Run a 10K race in 50 minutes.
Be careful here to state the Results as the finished outcome. You are writing it like it is done. I believe this has a nice psychological benefit on your brain. You start to think in terms of completion and achievement when you write your Results this way.
If you want to learn why focusing on as few as three major Results at a time actually leads to getting much more of your Desired Outcomes finished, please see my e book Desired Outcomes Implementation Technology. How you get it is described at the end of this e book.
Action Items
Action items are simply the things you will do in order to achieve the Results you desire. Action Items are thing you can complete in one step, or in one sitting, or given amount of time. Examples which are tailored to the sample Results include:
Call Mountain High architects to get a bid on designing the house in the mountains.
Interview the five sales candidates you are considering hiring to increase sales.
Call a meeting to brainstorm about new products for the upcoming year. Review the income statement to determine which costs can be reduced. Write a draft of the essay you will submit to XYZ College.
Design your training schedule for the upcoming 10K race.
Waiting For
Waiting For Items, are simply the things people owe you, are sending to you and are doing for you. It is imperative that you track these items closely, as in life most accomplishments happen with the cooperation of other people. Yet, many people are not good self-managers, so it is put on you to do it for them. I found my productivity increased greatly when I started tracking very closely my Waiting For Items. This tracking allows you to keep the schedule you have for your Results on track. Waiting For items Include the tasks you have delegated to people explicitly, as well as the things and tasks people do not yet know you need, like a call back or response to an email. Examples again tailored to the sample Results include:
Return call from ABC Design regarding their services.
Proposal from Main Street Executive Search regarding their engagement to hire five sales people.
Emails with available times for the meeting to brainstorm on new products from you staff.
A draft of the 2008 year end income statement from Ted in the accounting department to review.
A book you ordered from Amazon.com on how to write college essays that gain admission.
A call from the local running store to let you know that your new running shoes they ordered for you are in.
While many of the time management programs and authors espouse many different schemes, categories and lists, by sticking to this simple formula, we avoid making our system too complex and unruly. This approach allows us to easily use our system and benefit greatly from it, while reducing the "overhead" of a complex system.
Chapter Four
A Word on Planning Your Day
Planning your day is actually a somewhat controversial topic in the field of Time Management. Many of the respected authors in the field do not agree on its relevance. The Getting Things Done method espoused by David Allen does not actually create a daily to do list. Instead you are constantly reviewing your next action lists to see what context you are in and what time you have available and then making a decision based upon those factors. In the Do It Tomorrow method devised by Mark Forster, a key component is the "Will Do List". This is a list of the things you have committed to getting accomplished. In this method you look to schedule or defer as much of your work until tomorrow in order to create an ordered approach to your work and allow yourself enough time to accomplish what you schedule for tomorrow.
I personally think either method can work well. In fact, I believe certain personality types are best suited to these authors methods. Additionally, from a practical standpoint there may be days you need a daily to do list to make sure you get certain things accomplished and there may be days you want to go with the flow and let the day unfold.
In the methods we will describe below, you will have the option to work with a daily Action Items list if you so desire.
Chapter Five Setting Up the System
This system's main tool is a regular spiral bound notebook, like we all used in high-school and college. Why? They are easily available, cheap, portable and adaptable. Furthermore, almost everyone already knows how to write, so additional technical skills are not needed to quickly get up to speed and have this system make a major difference in your life. We will describe two ways to use this tools to greatly improve your productivity.
There are two ways to set up this system. The ways are the Daily To Do List Method and the Tao Method. The systems are virtually identical with the exception of the inclusion of the Daily Action Item List in the first way.
The Daily Action Item List Way
Results
In the front of your spiral notebook you will list your desired Results. If you have a relatively simple life, this can be a simple running list of the Results you are trying to achieve in your life and on your job. If you have a more complex life, or your Results are mid to long range type projects, I would suggest you use a page per Result. A page per result is also a good way to separate personal and work related results. The page per result method will allow you to write in
Sub-Results. For example, in the build a house in the mountain Result, you may list as Sub-Results; retain architect, retain designer, purchase the land, obtain mortgage. This groups the Sub-Results with the larger Result. Write at the top of the page something like - Move into 4,000 Foot Mountain House by December 1, 2010 - Result. Psychologically speaking I believe it is important to put the date. This focuses your mind on the Result and imparts a sense of urgency to your work. This dating makes your Results more than just a dream. By placing an expected date of completion on the Result you are more inclined to act in a way that brings it into reality. By having the date in your system and not on a calendar, time is more on your mind and visible to you. Remember, a Sub-Result is something that can not be done in one step or sitting.
After you have listed your Results, leave a few blank pages. These are to add additional Results as they enter your life. As you achieve your Results. you obviously cross them off the list, or line through the entire page if you are using the page per Result method.
Action Items
After the few blank pages, you will create a Daily Action Item List. These are actions you can do in one step or one sitting, meaning is a given amount of time you can complete it. To make this page most effective, you will date the page with today's date in the upper right hand corner. Next you will divide your page into sections based upon how your life is structured. For me, a person with a job, I draw four lines. This divides my day into the five distinct time sections. They are; Before Work, Morning, The Lunch Hour, After Lunch and After Work. Threesegments of time are mostly mine - Before Work, The Lunch Hour and After Work, while two segments of time are mostly devoted to my Job - Morning and After Lunch. This method has a psychological benefit of showing you that yes in fact there is time during next 24 hours that you in fact control and can use to get your personal Results moved forward.
After reviewing your Results and calendar, you will write down the Action Items you need to take on your most important Results in the appropriate sections of your daily to do list page. This system purposely does not break things down into hourly or smaller segments because this system provides enough structure to get the things you need to do done for your job and personal life, while giving you the moment to moment flexibility to handle interruptions and things that come up at the last moment. By breaking the day into the segments you are normally working in, you tailor the actions to the time segments. So Morning is the things you need to get done for work, like; review the ABC proposal, call Joe Schmoe to discuss his quote, ask IT to update my computer software. Lunch is then your time so you would write things like; get car washed, call insurance agent about quote on new car, mail bills at the post office.
You will also review your Waiting For For lists and see if things have been outstanding long enough to warrant an Action Item on your part. For example, you have not received the architect's proposal, so an Action Item is to place a call or send an email to his office to follow up and ask if it has been sent.
Waiting For
After you have listed the Results, if you are using the simple running list method, make a simple running list of all of the things you know people owe you. If you have used a page per Result, and have lots of Waiting For items related to your projects, you may want to create an Waiting For page for each of your Results.
Title these pages something like 4,000 Foot Mountain House / Waiting For. Once again, leave a few blank pages.
Notes
Notes are an extremely important part of this system. It is of critical importance to your success in life that you become a great note taker. Taking great notes has several important benefits. The benefits are;
Most people do not take great notes and instead rely on their memories. By taking great notes, you have a record of the information which gives you instant credibility. Who is going to argue that someone's faded memory is better than your written account of what was discussed?
Writing has a powerful effect on your mind. When you write, it actually improves your memory.
Writing helps you learn. The act of writing actually aids in learning of material and gives you greater comprehension of new material.
It reduces anxiety. Knowing you have the notes and do not have to rely on your memory for everything provides a sense of relief and freedom. Your mind can be used to be creative, solve problems and tend to your Action Items.
There are many ways to take notes. Obviously there is the traditional way we are all familiar with from school. Additionally, people have had success using Mind Mapping, which is a way of using one word descriptions arranged like branches of a tree emanating from a single word in the middle to create logical relationships between ideas and concepts. If you Google the term you will see several examples.
The R A W Method
The R A W Method is a way of quickly noting important ideas and distinctions as you use this system.
The letters obviously stand for the three "things" we need to track.
R = Results
A = Action Items
W = Waiting For
As you are taking notes or just as new information comes into your life, you use the far margins of your notebook to write preferably in big capital letters (I box them) R A W as needed. So for example, you are taking notes in a meeting about a new product launch for Super Soap. The first note would be - Launch Super Soap with an R in the margin. As the meeting progresses the leader of the meeting says to you, "Distribute the budget for the launch of new Super Soap." So you make a note - distribute Super Soap launch budget with a big A in the margin. Next, he says to another team member, "send everyone of three new box designs for Super Soap." So you write Super Soap - 3 test boxes with a big W in the margin to remind you that someone owes you these boxes.
As you are reviewing your notebook you can simply scan the margins to quickly see what you need to do and what other people owe you. This creates an easy system to track and follow up with. As you have completed your Results, Action Items and received the items you are owed from others you simply make an X through the letters in the margin.
Some things will change later. For example if you have an Action Item to call Joe Schmoe, if you get his voice mail, you can simply cross out the A and write an W, so you know you are owed a return call from him. This simple system allows you to keep up on your R A and W items quickly and without lots of wasted writing.
The Tao Method
In the Tao Method, which I also call the intuitive method, you do not create a Daily Action Items List. You create your Results and Waiting For as described above. You then simple review these lists at as frequently as you need to and do the Action Items you feel you need to do to keep moving towards your Results.
You do take notes and use the R A W method of noting additional Results, Waiting For and Action Items as they come up into your life. In the Tao method you can also keep a list of Action Items as an intermediate method between no Daily Action Item List and using a Daily Action Item List each and every day.
Because of the flexibility of the system, you always have the option of creating a daily list if you occasionally require this level of focus.
Which Way is Right for Me?
Due to the flexibility of both systems, I would suggest you simply pick the one that feels best to you and begin. If you no longer need the daily to do list, drop it. If you feel you are not getting important things done and want to add this discipline, just add a daily to do list and see how it goes for you.
What Happens When the Notebook is Full?
When you have filled up your spiral notebook, you simply purchase another notebook and start over. Clear out the Results you have completed, or no longer deem to be worthy of your efforts. If you have files related to your Results, you may want to tear out the notes and file them in the appropriate file. You should take the opportunity to review the notebook and assess how you progressed over the time it took you to fill the notebook up. What worked and didn't, both in your life and with the system you picked.
Enhancing the System
There are a few simple ways to enhance this system if you like. You can use a three or four subject notebook (four sections for the Daily to Do List Method, three for the Tao Method). If you like the idea of clear dividers between your four sections (Results, Daily Action Items Lists, Waiting For and Notes) you can use a multiple subject notebook to create a physical separation for these items.
Alternatively you can use paper clips or post-it type stickies for the various sections if you like as well. A paper clip or post it flag on a Daily Action Items list is a quick way to find this list in the course of a busy day.
Personally, I do not keep notes in separate sections, as I like to have them integrated into the notebook making everything in chronological order in one big "section". Additionally, if you have separate sections, this can lead to wasted paper. For example if your notes section fills up before the other sections, you end up with another notebook or having to waste paper and start a new notebook.
Additionally, if you are a person who does not like clutter, you can tear pages out of the notebook. This is appropriate when;
You have finished all of the items on a Daily Action Items List and you do not want the clutter of extra pages.
You have finished all of the items on a notes page and want to file the notes in a file folder for an separate Result.
Backing Up
Since this is not a computer system that is stored on a hard drive, if you want to make sure you do not loose access to your information, there is only one way to do it. Yes, make a copy. You can copy as many of the pages as you want.
Sometimes, I only copy the Results and Waiting For Items, as with these, I can figure out where I am and what I need to do. You will need to figure out how much and how often to copy pages in order to feel comfortable that your life would suffer minimal interruption if your notebook was lost.
Chapter 6 Conclusion
We hope you will give this simple system a try. It is our hope that due to the system's simplicity, it can be set up quickly, used easily and create immediate benefits in your life.
Incidentally, if you are interested in productivity and achievement beyond just organizing your day to day life and you wish to learn how to make your Desired Outcomes (your big goals in life) into realized outcomes, get a copy of my e book The Science of Getting Rich Method. This e book gives you simple focused tools to determine your desired outcomes in life and make them realized outcomes as quickly as possible. The discussion forum describes how to get it.
We look forward to hearing from you soon.