Time management experts (including me) stress the importance of having a “To Do” list {Link Getting Organized with a “To Do” list}. This list, updated and prioritized daily will help you identify and execute the most important things but it will not help you identify the things that you should eliminate from your day. |
The problem is that owners do the things they like, the things they feel comfortable doing. Many of those things are, quite simply, tasks that they should not be doing in the first place and yet they are comfortable, easy and not very challenging. They are beneath the CEO’s capability and not worthy of that level of executive time.
There are a number of ways to eliminate such time wasters from your day {Link Urgent and Important Grid), but it all boils down to creating a list of the things that you not allow yourself (or others) to make part of you job {Link Delegation and the monkey syndrome}.
To do that, it is important to develop a “To Don’t” list. This is a formal, written list that you produce every day; a list that sits alongside your “To Do” list as an overflow valve; a list where you transfer all of the things that you should refuse to do.
Each day as you produce your “To Do” list and prioritize the top 5 things you want to accomplish, identify some things that are candidates for your “To Don’t” list and transfer them there. Once there, take that list and figure out how to have other people do them. It takes a little time and discipline…but much less than doing it yourself.
Please also visit our Fan Page on Facebook…. 
It’s TIME to Manage. We are creating a community of people who feel that they could use their time more productively. We’ll post ideas and invite people to share things they do that work for them. Become a fan and check back regularly to see what’s going on as this will be a great place to find and contribute ideas and techniques for improving your time management skills. http://tinyurl.com/sd-timetomanage
