One of the hardest lessons an executive must learn is how to use their time effectively. Time is the one thing we can’t make more of. Once it’s spent, it’s gone.
Therefore, the executive must learn what to do with the limited amount of time they have each day. The question is…what do you do with your time? The answer is the specific tasks that will best lead you to the desired results of your organization.
This requires the executive to first know what results are desired, and then design their day to complete the tasks that best accomplish those results. Ticking tasks off a to-do list is fine, but only if they’re the right tasks.
Too often executives (including myself from time to time) finish their day and look back wondering where the heck their day went. More often than not, this is the result of not setting up their day appropriately. They end up completing tasks, but not ones that move the needle. As a result, they’re results are ineffective. Don’t let this be you.
At the beginning of each day (or even preferably the night before) it’s crucial for the executive to list down the 5 or so results oriented tasks they want to complete for the day. I prefer to write these in my journal first so I can change around the numbering, as I often come up with more important tasks as I go along in this process. When I’m done, I transfer these tasks to a list on my computer, in spreadsheet form, for a running list.
I limit these tasks to five because in reality it’s harder than you’d think to get very many great results oriented tasks done, especially the further you move up in an organization. I’m fact, Gary Keller, realtor extraordinaire and founder of Keller Williams, writes in his book the Power of One that you should focus on ONE thing each day in order to move the needle.
My method of dove is a bit of a compromise, because I honestly find that usually I can complete more than one major important task daily. However, I often find that something comes up and I don’t complete all five. That’s fine, because these unfinished tasks simply roll over to the next day. I also write down tasks that are important, but not on my top five list. I write them down because I want to keep a set of tasks to add when I can get to them. Sometimes you’ll find periods when work calms down a bit, and it’s nice to have a bank of tasks you may have forgotten about, but can perform now.
According to Stephen Covey, you should analyze tasks on your daily list according to both (a) urgency and (b) importance. Covey writes that tasks can be on of four things:
- Urgent and Important
- Not-Urgent and Important
- Urgent and Not-Important
- Not-Urgent and Not-Important
The tasks that are actually important are the ones that get results, as far as the executive is concerned. Therefore, you must find ways, through delegation or saying no, to avoid tasks that are not important, whether they are urgent or not.
Tasks that are urgent and important must naturally take a high priority, and you must have time available in your day to complete them, and do a good job. If you don’t complete these, you aren’t effective. That’s pretty clear and easy.
The category most have trouble with is the not-urgent but important. This category consists of tasks that are more strategic in nature, and have long term effects on your organization. They’re difficult for most executives because if they don’t get done in any given day, or even a month, it’s no big deal. But when you look back over the course of a year, these tasks left in completed can make you ineffective.
The executive must really think and know what these not urgent but important tasks are, and set aside time in their schedule to get them done, because they determine the ultimate results of an effective when it’s time for the annual review. They also determine how high an executive will ultimately progress in their career.
Think hard about what tasks you need to complete in your day. Write down the dove most important tasks, and plan your day to provide sufficient time to allow you