Landscape Management, October 2012

BUSINESSPLANNER2013 By Phil harwood any business owners executives and managers struggle to manage their time well Despite their best efforts theyre unable to stay on top of everything coming their way Some even have trouble deciding what to do what not to do and when to do it Most busy people have tried various time management or organizational systems Some have given up because of the complexity of these systems or the weight of the burden they place on a person A good time management system is simple easy to use and results in less stress and anxiety Busy people who have many responsibilities are prone to becoming overwhelmed by worrying about everything in their lives They cant concentrate and be productive because of the noise in their heads constantly reminding them about all the things they need to do Albert Einstein said A happy man is too satisfed with the present to dwell too much on the future Notice he doesnt say we shouldnt think about the future or plan for it because we need to live our lives When the burdens of tomorrow overwhelm you so much that you cant focus on what you need to accomplish you can become paralyzed LANDSCAPEMANAGEMENT NET OCTOBER 2012 32 confused and depressed Jesus said Do not worry about your life what you will eat or about your body what you will wear Life is more than food and the body more than clothes An effective time management system will reduce your tendency to worry about things you shouldnt In the mid 1990s I was introduced to a time management system outlined in the book Getting Things Done The Art of Stress Free Productivity by David Allen Before this I was dutifully using Franklin Planner tools with limited success For the frst time I could envision a comprehensive system for organizing and keeping control of my personal and professional life using a simple easy to understand methodology I embraced the system and began to implement it immediately See Web Extra at the top of page 33 As youll see the system is simple the entire system diagram fts on one page Being easy to understand allows easier implementation and use The beginning point of the Getting Things Done system is with our stuff everything in our lives we need or want to deal with Stuff comes to us differently We receive phone calls emails mail memos packages text messages Facebook messages and LinkedIn messages Additionally we have reoccurring and one time tasks to accomplish We have personal and business stuff We also have stuff we should be doing that isnt written down or doesnt appear in our inbox We want to spend more time with our children parents and neighbors volunteer on a committee vacation in a special place and accomplish everything on our bucket list All of our stuff needs to be captured and entered into a system which seems like a huge undertaking but isnt Once committed to a system you capture stuff and enter it constantly In a relatively short time all the stuff will be dealt with The beauty of the system is it helps capture and organize stuff and enables us to not waste time on stuff we shouldnt be wasting time on Without an effective time management system its too easy to waste precious time and energy Much of our stuff doesnt require action e newsletters advertisements catalogs etc When stuff isnt actionable we have three options 1 eliminate it immediately 2 fle it away for review at a later date or 3 take action when no action is required We become distracted and stop what were doing We drift off mentally and lose focus because we dont have a clear sense of our priorities Better manage your time QUIck tIP All of our stuff needs to be captured and entered into a system which seems like a huge undertaking but isnt Once committed to a system stuff is constantly captured and entered