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to stress, worry and mistakes. Others takeyou for granted, because you do thesame to yourself Organise your workspaceSort paperwork on your desk accordingto priority, discarding low priority items.Use follow-up files to unclutter your deskand your mind, and if you have readsomething three times and not acted onit, throw it away

CREATE CLEAR GOALS

An effective leader sets and works to clear and established goals. Heres asimple test for you to discover just howclear your goals are:WHAT make a clear statement of thegoal in the present tense. This must be

specific so that you can recognise goodperformanceWHY note your personal reasons forwanting to achieve it. If yourdetermination ever wavers, you can referback to these notes to remind yourselfwhy this goal is importantWHEN note both start and completiondates (without these a goal is simply awish). For complex goals, there may alsobe a series of dated interim stepstowards final achievementHOW note the actions required (by youand others) for your goal to be achieved

ANALYSING YOUR TASKS

The first law of time management isto shift your focus away from simplybeing busy onto getting results. Inother words, prioritise. Concentrateyour work on those items with the

greatest reward. Develop an overviewof everything that you want toaccomplish and organise your goalsaccording to their priority. Think ofpriorities in terms of two dimensions urgency and importance. Urgent taskshave short-term consequences whileimportant tasks are those with long-term, goal-related implications. Worktowards reducing the urgent things youmust do so you'll have time for yourimportant priorities. You should aim toactively undertake important activitiesrather than simply reacting to otherpeople's problems. In general terms, themore time you spend on important activetasks, the more effective you are likely tobe. Heres a simple process you

can use to see how effectively you useyour time, in terms of the things youactually do:

MANAGE TASKS EFFFECTIVELY

Six questions and subsequent actions tohelp you manage your priorities: Is the task I have to accomplish both

urgent and important? Then Illschedule its comple tion as a priority tomeet the imminent deadline

Is the task important with a future,agreed deadline? Then Ill schedule itscompletion to comfortably meetthe deadline

Is the task important but with nospecific deadline? Then Ill set a realisticdeadline and complete the task

to meet it Is the task routine but important?

ThenIll allocate time, but not as a priority,to complete this task when I need to

Is the task routine but unimportant?Ill allocate time, but not as a priority, tocomplete the task when I can

Is the task routine and unnecessary?Im not doing this any more

DEAL WITH DEADLINES

There may be deadlines set for some ofyour tasks and duties. Here are someinvaluable tips that will help you to dealwith these: Dont simply accept deadlines

imposed on you. Analyse the reasonsfor them and look for alternativeswhere appropriate

Dont work to other peoplesdeadlines set your own, taking

others into account Make sure others know your deadline

and ask for their help wherenecessary

Develop the skill of effectiveestimating many people under oroverestimate the time needed forany task

Dont set artificial deadlines eg I must finish this by 4pm for nogood reason

Do set realistic ones eg I mustfinish this by 5pm because the reportis to be submitted by lunchtime thefollowing day

Set manageable stages for morecomplex tasks in this way you cansee yourself making progress

HANDLING INTERRUPTIONS

One key time-killer is interruptions.Here are ways of dealing with suchmoments: Let your colleagues and teammembers know how you plan yourday. Establish set times when it's bestfor people to come and see you Deal with people who routinelyinterrupt you for repetitive reasons.There may be a need for clearer goalsetting or training Use end of discussion bodylanguage eg closing a file toindicate it's time for them to go

Have the interrupter agree to takeaction but state it in an action-decided way eg fax theinformation to me is better thancould you..., which invites furtherdiscussion Apologise for not being interrupt-able at the moment make anappointment for a mutuallyagreeable future time to talk Limit interrupting phone calls byplanning your calls in writing, get tothe point assertively, listen actively,and time limit your calls The way you begin a call affects theway you end it. You can start a phonecall by stating, "Hi Susan, I only have 5minutes to talk, but I wanted to letyou know that......

Time is a dressmaker specialisingin alterationsFaith BaldwinA man who dares waste one hourof time has not discovered thevalue of life!Charles DarwinTime is what we want most, butwhat, alas, we use worstWilliam PennTheres never enough time to do itright, but theres always enoughtime to do it overJack Bergman

KEY TIME-KILLERS

Gordon Veniard

is a specialistmanagement trainer.For more informationon how to useyour time moreeffectively andother managementskills visitwww.venworks.co.uk

COOL QUOTES

YOU CANT BUY TIME,SAVE TIME OR STOPTIME ALTHOUGH WECONTINUE TO USE THESETERMS. YOU CAN ONLYUSE IT WISELY

OR OTHERWISE

SKILLSFILE03TIME MANAGEMENT

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If you find that there just aren't enough hours in theday, you could probably be using your time moreeffectively. By organising your life slightly differently,you could lower your stress, achieve your goals andhave more time to do what you want

JUST AS A WELL-RUN BUSINESS SHOULDCAREFULLY develop a strategy todetermine how to spend its money, aneffective businessperson should learn toplan how to use his time effectively. Mostmanagers will say, I dont have the timeto worry about managing my time. But ifyou were to ask the same people if theywould like more hours in the day, guesswhat their answer would be?

EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT

You cant buy time, save time or stoptime (although we will continue to usethese terms). You can only use it wiselyor otherwise. Consider this: if you couldfind ways to save 30 minutes per day at

work, youd have over four extra days tospend throughout the year or over sixmonths extra in your working life.

KEY TIME-WASTERS TO AVOID

Here are a few of the most commonways that many managers and leaderswaste time: Calling or attending meetings heldthrough habit rather than necessity Spending time constantly fire-fighting,rather than planning effectively Succumbing to unnecessary orrepeated interruptions Suffering from a lack of priorities Attempting to do too much, especiallywhen many of the tasks could bedelegated to others Working in a disorganised way A lack of self-discipline An inability to say no to others

FIVE THINGS TO CHANGE

Say no to yourselfAvoid overload where necessary. Changethe emphasis from whats available? towhat do I really need? Break a habit every dayAlways consider why you do those thingsyou regularly do. Is it habit? How mightyou do it better? Or quicker? Or not at all? Isolate yourselfMake some time every day when you canfocus on one thing only, without anydisturbances Dont take yourself for grantedTrying to do too much and being seen asthe person who can always handleeverything may be great for your self-esteem in theory. But in practice, it leads