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How To Use The 4 Ds Of Effective Time Management
Defer
To defer means saying, "Not right now" rather than, "Not ever." This could be a new project you want to com mence in a week or two or it could be van idea you want to reflect on before taking action.
But be careful, there's a fine line between deferring and procrastinating indefinitely.
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Do
Simply put, act on your tasks. The 2-minute rule can help with that: If you can complete a task in two minutes or less, do it now.
It's amazing what you can accomplish in just 120 seconds: write an email, make a quick phone call, pull a report and so on.
Delete
You don't have to do much of anything beyond making a simple decision to do or to delete.
If the deleted item is a simple activity that won't bring you results, remove it from your to-do list and move on with your day. The second most pleasing thing after completing a to-do list is removing an item from it.
Delegate
You might find it disconcerting when the results are somewhat different than when you complete the work yourself.
To delegate effectively, create a playbook breaking down a project or task step-by-step and detailing what the outcome looks like.
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The Action Hero
Give them a seemingly impossible list of tasks and they will have them done and dusted faster than a speeding bullet. But in their haste, they can miss things and prioritize...
The Diva
Very sociable and upbeat but with a tendency to procrastinate, they often boast about their nonexistent achievements giving the impression they are more productive than they really are.
Strategy: breaking tasks into tiny steps, scheduling their resolution and setting reminders works well. Email management according to urgency is also crucial considering how much time it usually consumes.
The Workhorse
Thoughtful, cautious, methodical and quite independent in terms in carrying out tasks. They plan and prioritize well, but may be seen as overcautious, while others can be frustrated by their inertia. Their dedication to the job can also lead to an unwillingness to share the burden of work.
Strategy: Choose the most important things you need to focus on and those that only you can do, while delegating the rest according to staff skills.
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Zen to Done (ZTD)
It's a productivity system that teaches how to take a simple approach to improving your productivity, by encouraging you to focus on forming one productivity-boosting habit at a time.
The Minimalist Habits of Zen to Done
- Collect: Get ideas and to-dos out of your brain and onto a list.
- Process: Review your list daily and decide how to act on each item.
- Plan: Pick a few high priority items to accomplish each week and every day.
- Do: Schedule time to accomplish your selected to-dos without interruptions.
The Collect Habit
To clear your mind and improve focus, get your ideas and to-dos out of your mind and onto a list.
Documenting to-dos in the moment lessens the likelihood that you'll forget to do something and gives you a master list of to-dos to reference when you're trying to decide where to direct your time.
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What Time Management Is
Time is our precious resource. It is perishable, it is irreplaceable, and it cannot be saved. It can only be reallocated from activities of lower value to activities of higher value.
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Eat That Frog!
Your “frog” is your most important task, the one you are most likely to procrastinate on if you don’t do something about it.
If you have two important tasks, start your day with the biggest, hardest, and most important task first. Focus on completing it before you go to the next one.
Failure to execute
We tend to confuse activity with accomplishment: we attend endless meetings and make plans, but at the end of the day, no one does the job and gets the results required.
“Failure to execute” is among the biggest problems in organizations today.
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