HEADLINES
- Time management is a misnomer
- Your psychological resources are more valuable than time
- Psychological resources include hope, optimism, resiliency, patience, confidence, curiosity, self-control, empathy, etc...
- These precious resources get depleted throughout the day
- How you nurture, preserve, grow and apply these resources is the key
The secret to managing these resources is 1.) focusing your attention, and 2.) managing distractions.
HOW ATTENTION WORKS
- You allocate attention throughout the day on a moment-by-moment basis
- Your attention is focused by conscious & unconscious decisions
- These decisions become habits (ex. The habit of checking your mobile device w/each notification alert😮)
- Attention gets distracted from high value work by other "work”
- Managers often decide to shift attention to unwarranted distractions
5 SKILLS TO FOCUS ON
- Priority setting – how to identify high value, single-task (vs. multi-task) opportunities that drive better results
- Attention management - the ability to consciously direct and maintain attention, be proactive and maintain control
- Task switching - decisions on when (and when not) and how to transition between tasks
- Delegation - assigning roles, responsibilities, boundaries and accountability
- 3rd person feedback - objective and ongoing self evaluation
Coaching point – multi-tasking is a time management myth. Research shows that multi-tasking actual makes it harder to get things done.
Priority setting
- Identify your top priorities
- Narrow the list to the top-priorities that are time sensitive
- Further narrow the list to priorities that require your full attention
- These are your high-value, time-sensitive, single task priorities
Coaching point - A priority that is both time sensitive AND requires your full attention is a "single task priority". These are the priorities that lead to meaningful accomplishments.
Attention management
- Identify times where distractions are limited
- Share with your team the times you intend to focus of single task priorities and ask for their support
- Clarify what interruptions are warranted
- Turn off their social media notifications, turn down the office TV
Task switching
- Break lengthy, detailed work into stages and tackle one stage at a time
- Reward yourself after completed tasks or stages (lunch break, walk, phone break)
- Self-assess at the end of each task - focus on how well you managed your attention.
Delegation
- Delegate non-time sensitive tasks
- Leverage people experienced in the particular task
- Explicitly define the task outcome
- Clarify the responsibility and authority you're providing
- Define the timeframe and touch points
SUMMARY
- Time is precious, but not as precious as your psychological resources
- You get the most out of your time by getting the most out of yourself
- Employees judge your time by how they experience you
- Your decisions and behaviors are a reflection of your self-coaching, not time invested
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