15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management pdfdrive com

time (unless it’s social, of course). How often do you call
unannounced and get someone’s voicemail? “Hey Jane, just

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wanted to catch up to hear how the sales meeting went; call me
back.” And then Jane calls you, and you’re busy so she gets your
voicemail, “Hey, it’s Jane, just returning your call. Call me back.”
And on and on, like a voicemail ping pong game. Instead, send a
calendar invite or email that just says, “Jane, let’s connect on
phone so I can get debriefed on sales meeting. Is tomorrow at
11:00 a.m. ET good? If not, suggest a few openings on your day.”
Notice “a few” so you don’t end up with email ping pong trying to
find time on each other’s calendars.
9. Avoid busy times out in the real world if at all possible. This
secret will save many minutes a week and many hours in the year.
It’s as simple as shifting when you do things you have to do.
Instead of shopping for groceries on busy Saturday morning, do it
late Friday night or early Sunday morning instead. Don’t schedule
trips to clients close to rush hour drive times. Don’t go into the
bank during lunch hours.
10. Use dual monitors. Adding a second monitor to your computer
setup is one of the easiest ways to gain massive efficiency for
your computer tasks. It completely eliminates that need to toggle
between two different windows. I actually work with one monitor
on one computer and two monitors on another computer, so
technically I have three monitors going at the same time. But
even with just two, you can then easily type in your word
processor while reviewing research material on the Internet,
preview code in one window while debugging in the other, or if
you aren’t on a focus sprint, yes you can monitor email traffic or
view your calendar in one window while being constructive in the
other.
11. Have a stop doing list. The great business thinker Jim Collins
has often said that your “stop doing” list is just as important, if
not more important, than your to-do list. In his 2003 article
(
http://www.jimcollins.com/article_topics/articles/best-new-
years.html
), he talks about how great companies practice this, and
he himself uses New Year’s resolution time to work on his stop
doing list. Simplicity and minimalism can free the mind, free your
schedule, and enable you to do great work.
12. Remind people of the “end time.” There was a time when I
reported to the CEO of a large company and had assumed major
new responsibilities. I quickly started drowning. My CEO’s

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assistant offered to follow me around to help. At the end of two
weeks, she said, “One thing that you need to do is really commit
to the end time. Don’t let people keep you longer than they were
scheduled for.” Great advice. Ever since, I start every meeting,
and especially every phone call, with, “Before we get started, I
see we are scheduled for 30 minutes, and I do have a hard stop
3:00...” This way everyone knows in advance that it won’t be a
casual, leisurely meeting that just runs its own course. This tip is
especially critical if you schedule calls for only 10 or 15 minutes.
13. Hang out with productive people. Seems silly, but so powerful.
If your best friends at work are the ones taking 90-minute lunches
all the time, you’re likely to do the same. If your social circle
routinely does happy hour and discusses what happened on reality
TV the night before, you’re likely to continue doing the same.
Consider upgrading your work friends and your other friends. If
for some reason you can’t find productive time ninjas around you,
hang out with them online. I’ve joined Facebook groups for
entrepreneurs, writers, runners, and on and on. It’s a great way to
“hang” with people who are motivating each other, sharing their
productivity tips, and keeping each other on the path to success.
14. Tell people around you to leave you alone. As the Wall Street
Journal reported in their September 11, 2013, edition, the biggest
distraction to work isn’t email or instant messenger—it’s face-to-
face interruptions. If you work from home, make it clear to your
family that work is work, and they can’t interrupt you. If you’re
in the office, consider hanging a “Do Not Disturb” or “Back at
[time]” sign on your door or running yellow caution tape across
your cube entrance. And if you’re the boss, consider setting aside
a couple hours of day throughout the office for quiet time.
15. Buy birthday cards by the dozen. Do you go out and buy a card
every time a friend or family member’s birthday comes up? Or do
you rush out to buy a condolence card each time you need one?
The next time just go out and buy 10–20 cards—whatever a
year’s worth is—and a roll of stamps and keep them in your desk
drawer so they’re ready to go. Think of how many 15-minute
trips to the store you will save in a given year.
16. Pay bills electronically. Do you pay bills every week or two the
old fashioned way, with checks and stamps? Big time waster. Just
sign up for automatic bill pay—using a credit card whenever

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possible so you can earn points. You do need to leave a little extra
money in your checking account to make sure you never run
short, but it’s worth the slight cash inefficiency to save all that
time.
17. Never answer a call from an unknown number. If they’re not
in your contact list, it’s highly unlikely the call is from a friend,
family member, or big client. The odds are high it’s a sales call or
a friend of a friend who was given your number. And even if the
call is from someone you know, it’s always best to have call time
scheduled on your calendar.
18. Get a business coach, mentor, or mastermind group. This may
sound unusual as time management advice, but connecting with
someone who has already walked the path you’re on can save you
a lot of time (not to mention money and frustration).
19. Release your content through multiple channels. Joe Pulizzi,
author of Epic Content Marketing, offers this advice, “Plan your
content creation in advance. Most people think in content tactics,
like publishing a blog or a Facebook post. It's best to think in
stories, and how many ways you can tell that story—an article, a
blog, a book, a webinar, multiple social media posts, an ebook, a
podcast and more. The time savings are immense if you only plan
in advance.”
20. Know that done is better than perfect. Software developers will
often say, “Shipped is better than perfect.” And the release of
software version 1.0 is quickly followed by version 1.1, 1.2, and
on and on to fix the bugs inevitably contained in the initial
release. As a writer it’s too easy to keep working on my book…
new material, new ideas, better ways of phrasing things. But
published imperfectly is of more value to the world than never
published at all.