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 

1. Priority setting – how to identify high value, single-task (vs. multi-task) opportunities that drive better results
2. Attention management - the ability to consciously direct and maintain attention, be proactive and maintain control
3. Task switching - decisions on when (and when not) and how to transition between tasks
4. Delegation - assigning roles, responsibilities, boundaries and accountability
5. 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

1. Identify your top priorities 
2. Narrow the list to the top-priorities that are time sensitive
3. Further narrow the list to priorities that require your full attention
4. 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

1. Identify times where distractions are limited
2. Share with your team the times you intend to focus of single task priorities and ask for their support
3. Clarify what interruptions are warranted
4. 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