The Bucket List Principle: Time Management in the Workplace

The Bucket List

Time. It seems like we never have enough in a day and are always rushing to complete a million different tasks. But, a simple restructuring of your day can can help you master time management in the workplace.

What amazes me is that the average person, the average criminal, and the average millionaire get the same amount of time in a day, and yet, they are all worlds apart. What gives? Is it circumstances? Maybe, but rather than allowing circumstances to dictate how our time is spent, we can take the time to transform our circumstances to better our time management in the workplace and see it’s positive effects.

Ever seen The Bucket List?  It’s a 2007 comedy-drama featuring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as two men dying of cancer. In the face of death, they both realize that life is short and decide to compile and complete a list of “things to do before they kick the bucket.” The basic premise is this: time is precious.

Part of effective time management is being able to keep your focus on specific tasks you need to accomplish on any given day.

If you can’t stay focused, nothing will get done and you’ll spend too much, or too little, time on tasks. Time management in the workplace (for better or worse) can make or break a business. Time is one of business’ most valuable resources, and how it’s spent will dictate future circumstances, there’s no doubt about that. You get out what you put into a situation.

There are two major principles when it comes to time management:

• Preparation
• Process

Tips to Improve Your Time Management Skills in the Workplace

Preparing yourself for daily success is crucial. Again and again we see small business owners lament about not having the time to do what is necessary in the day. One of my first questions is “What were your goals for the day?” and most replies are something like “to just make it through the day.”

Well, there can be more to life than just trying to keep you head above water. Running a successful small businesses is an all encompassing task, so you need to approach it with a targeted plan each and every day.

Like an professional athlete trains for years to make it into the Olympics, you need to institute rigorous time management strategies into your workday everyday. Once you do, you’ll start seeing the benefits. We’ve all heard cliché, “by failing to prepare, we prepare to fail”, right?

Process brings goals into reach. Like a morning routine, a work routine will give you stability, predictability, and consistency. Better yet, a solid, repeatable process allows for you to develop a broader perspective of what you want to accomplish, so you’re not just flying blind. If you know, as a salesperson, that making 20 phone calls will result in scheduling an appointment, why wouldn’t you do it?

1. Make it Regular: Having a routine on a list makes doing things a little easier. Add everyday things like going to meetings, and phone calls to the list. Not only will it keep your day in check, you can have that incredible feeling of satisfaction, like I do, when you cross something off the list. Just make sure your list isn’t full of stuff you already do.

2. Break it down: One of the most efficient ways to use a list is to improve the quality of your work. Make the list more detailed. Turn “work on marketing” into: “Improve xxx product page,” “call John about spam,” and “add contacts to email list.”

3. Specify: If you check emails every day, make one of the to-dos “check and answer 5 emails.” A number gives tangibility to vague jobs.

4. Purge it: Ever notice that there are things on the list that never seem to get done? There are two things that you can do with these: Get rid of it or break it down. It might seem like just taking it off the list isn’t a good idea, but the reason it’s on there is because it’s so difficult that you don’t want to do it, or it’s honestly unnecessary.

5. Celebrate and repeat: Get everything on the list done? Buy yourself a latte and make a list for tomorrow. Repeatable process gets results, but the habit takes time. Commit to creating lists and don’t dwell on failure, because inevitably there will be days when it’s impossible to get it all done.

If you keep your larger goals in mind, you can set your daily tasks accordingly to see what is most important to you. Go back to your business mission statement and make sure your goals and tasks are always revolving around it. Ultimately, the more you practice a specific habit, the better you’ll get at it and the more it will effect your workday.

In Conclusion

Functional and effective business processes are formed with preparation and dedication over the long term. However, as painstaking as it might seem, putting in the effort to master time management in the workplace will come back to seven-fold!