15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management pdfdrive com

In Their Own Words…
Whenever I have a small task that needs to be completed (that takes less than five minutes), I should
complete it now, rather than putting it off. This ensures that I do not have a long list of tasks that I have
to complete later at the end of the day.
–Nihar Suthar is a straight-A student at Cornell University.
‘Touch It Once’ for Email
Most people read each email item as soon as it appears, or they open their inbox,
see a bunch of new messages, and immediately click each message to open it
and read it.
Unless a reply requires only a couple of words, most people close the mail
message to deal with later—when they’ll have to open it and read it all over
again!
The better way is to process every email message immediately. Here’s how I
actually actioned my email this morning, along with the internal debate that
occurred in my mind.
11:00 a.m. My morning health rituals are complete, my kids are off to
school, and I’ve finished two hours of focused writing time. Time to open
my email accounts…deep breath.
The first email is a Google alert that I’ve set up to monitor my own
name. It shows that my previously scheduled blog post went live this
morning. I hop over to my blog to make sure it’s all good and notice a typo
right in the title of the blog post. Damn, I’ll have to fix that in a few minutes
after I scan the rest of my emails.
No! Touch it once, my inner voice reminds me. I quickly open
WordPress, fix the typo, and click Publish.
The next email is from a freelancer giving me his employer identification
number (EIN) so my accountant can prepare a tax document. I’ll have to
send that along with a note to my accountant later.
No! Touch it once. I hit Forward, add a few lines, and off it goes to my
accountant.
Next email is from my lawyer, and an invoice is attached. What?! I

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wasn’t expecting a bill. Double-click the PDF. Yep, it’s correct, I had
forgotten about his work on my trademark question. Ugh, I just finished
paying bills yesterday.
I can print the invoice and place it in my bills-to-be-paid pile for
processing during my normal weekly bill-paying time block, or touch it
once. Do it now! Fortunately my lawyer takes credit cards. I fill out the
credit card information on his website and send it back—it took only three
minutes.
Next email...I recently joined the Pennsylvania Society and sent them my
dues. Somebody needs to know if it’s a nonprofit or not. How the heck do I
know? Who can I pass this on to? Oh sheesh, let’s just deal with it right
now. I open a new tab in my browser and go to their web page. Quickly scan
their About page. No mention of 501(c)3 nonprofit status. Reply to email:
Don’t think so. Send. Done.
Next email…Someone asking about my speaking fee and availability. I
forward it to my virtual admin. Don’t even type anything in it; she’ll know
what to do.
After I either clear out all the emails or come to the end of my 30-minute time
block, I just close my email completely and come back to it again late in the
afternoon.
‘Touch It Once’ and Calendar It
A very powerful tactic is if you can’t take immediate action on an email, just
calendar it for future action. Remember, we want to use a calendar, not a to-do
list.
For example, my sister Debbie just sent me an email. Instead of replying to it,
I’d like to call her to have a more detailed live conversation. But I don’t add it as
a task at the bottom of a to-do list. And I don’t leave it in my email inbox, where
it might get buried or never actioned. Instead, I set up a time on my calendar to
“Call Sister Debbie.”
I use Gmail and Google Calendar, so when an email message is open and I
want to create a calendar appointment for it, I just:
1. Click the “More” button (drop-down menu) near the top center of
the window.
2. Choose the “Create event” option from the drop-down menu.
3. A new tab opens up displaying a new event form in Google

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calendar; it defaults to the current day and time and puts the email
subject line as the event title. The body of the email appears in the
Description field.
4. Adjust the date and time as desired and click “Save.” Voila!
If you’re using Microsoft Outlook as your email client, it’s even easier.
While your email is open, just click the “Schedule” button, or you can even drag
an email onto a calendar date on the right side of the screen.
For more information or to find screenshots of how to do this, just Google
“how to create a calendar entry from email.”
‘Touch It Once’ to Declutter
A messy environment can be mentally taxing, increase the time it takes to find
stuff, and eventually demand scheduled time to “clean the house.” A touch-it-
once mentality can go a long way to keeping your environment tidy all the time.
I’m teaching my three kids to practice ‘touch it once.’ They used to take their
dirty dishes and put them on the counter near the sink. I would eventually have
to go to the sink again, pick them up again, and then place them in the
dishwasher.
Now they know when they’re done with their meal to pick up their plate and
glass, rinse them in the sink, and put them directly in the dishwasher.
Same with their laundry. No more taking their shoes or socks off and
throwing them on the side of the couch to be forgotten. If they take their shoes
off, they immediately take them to their room or put them by the door.
When it comes to laundry, I even put two laundry baskets in my walk-in
closet. One is for dark colored clothes (cold water) and the other is for whites
(hot water). Why pick up and sort all the dirty clothes when the sorting can be
done when I throw it in the closet?
How Does This Apply If You’re A(n)...
If you’re an entrepreneur or executive, would “touch it once” help you to keep
on top of your email inbox?