I attended a seminar recently and came away totally inspired. I was amazed that I could attend a free seminar and listen to so many inspiring speakers. I think I will have to try to steal some of them for my next event!
The speaker that I wanted to tell you about today was Angie Spiteri https://www.timeequalsmoney.net.au/.
Angie spoke about “How to escape the unrelenting treadmill of ‘busy’ and gain control of your lives”
I was so impressed with her that I bought her book “The Secrets of Mastering Time” and have begun to work through the exercises. I am thinking that once I have finished the book I will get her out to see if she can fine tune me in my office some more.
I am halfway through the book and I complete the exercises as I go.
The most notable exercise was going from 900 emails in my inbox to just 27 within four hours. I’m not letting that train get away from me again!
Let’s test this. The points that I have taken away are listed below:
- Don’t multitask. The time taken to stop a job, do something else, then get back to your big job is not worth it.
- Batch jobs. Look at your to-do list, group similar items together and then do them at the same time.
- Sick of working after hours in your business? Then schedule your jobs into your calendar (if they take more than 15mins) so that they get done during the day and you don’t have to take them home. Think there is never time for that? Well once you schedule your own work in you will start to say “No” to that person that wants to show you something interesting or you will start getting better at delegating tasks that come in and are not on your list.
- Turn off your email bubble thingy. Don’t kid yourself, it does distract you and take up time.
- Get your outlook to open to the calendar first so that you are planning your time.
- Only read your emails at max three times a day. If it’s a quick reply / answer email, then do it – but remember to only touch the email once and delete. New tasks that come in are dragged into a folder to be booked in your calendar (if more then 15mins – see step # 3).
- Okay I haven’t read about how I deal with the less then 15min items yet but I’ll get there!
Do you ever feel like you go to work and get nothing done?
You are fighting fires all the time and you never even get to your list of tasks?
I often wondered if I was just exaggerating this and that I did get tasks completed but was never sure. On the days that I tried to track my To Do list, I would only get say four crossed off in a whole eight hours!!!!
I have been testing Angie’s techniques this week and so far, as I work from my calendar, I am finding that I can see the tasks that I tick off (not using my scribbled to-do list). I can also see big jobs that I have achieved as the calendar shows time; I can see where my time has gone.
I feel more comfortable knowing that I have all the important things that I want to complete booked into my calendar. I know now that I will get them finished when I want them to be finished. That’s because I have a reminder plus a space of time allocated to them.
So that is my take on it. I hope I have things correct so far Angie. I have included Angie’s details below for you so you can check this out for yourself. I really suggest that you at the very least purchase the book and read it; she can come out to you as well to see the way you work and make suggestions.
See Angie’s tips in her blog https://www.timeequalsmoney.net.au/blog/
I would like to add a big “thank you” to Sondergaard Accountants https://sondergaard.com.au/ for the amazing seminar.
My productivity and work/life balance have significantly improved in just a few days following Angie’s instructions!
Until next time,
Cheryl
