Time Management and Productivity for Busy Professionals
We asked StarGarden’s Sales Consultant Matthew Colclough the following question about time management:
Working in a small business means we need to manage time especially well and be as efficient as possible, since we wear several hats. With that in mind, what’s your best time management strategy – a tip that helps you be more productive and efficient?
15 Minutes to a Better Work Week
Matthew: “I know a little about the subject after having spent 8 years at Franklin Covey, the world’s largest and most respected organizational effectiveness firm. They are simply the best source for this kind of information. Since you’ve asked for just one tip, I would suggest as they do that the one thing that above all others that will increase personal efficiency (and organizational efficiency, if done by everyone) is to spend 15 minutes a week PLANNING. Behind this one tip are many steps, but simply put:
- Have a written list of all of the things that need to get done, research shows that just by having things written down that it increases the chance they will be accomplished by 60%.
- Plan annually, quarterly, monthly, weekly.
- Once a year, determine what you need to accomplish. Include personal and business goals because you need to achieve both to be happy and effective.
- Quarterly, revisit and correct the plan: assess how you’re doing, adjust, add, delete, etc.
- Monthly, do the same.
- Weekly, either on Sunday night or Monday morning, take 15 minutes and determine what you’re going to do in the upcoming week.
- Daily, review what you need to accomplish and do it. Be ruthless, and shut everything else out unless it is an emergency or an organizational priority dictates.”
StarGarden encourages you to give Matthew’s tip a try and share with us what your #1 productivity tip is at: connect@stargarden.com.
Matthew Colclough is the Senior Sales Consultant at StarGarden Corporation. Matthew has over 15 years of experience in business development, and creating strategy that drives sales for continued growth.