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THE ONEBIG MISTAKE PEOPLE UNWITTINGLY MAKE WHEN IT COMES TO TIME MANAGEMENT & HOW TO AVOID IT Deborah Labbate www.deborahlabbate.com  Revised Edition Published 2014 by Deborah Labbate ISBN: 978-0-9570178-2-5 ©2014 Deborah Labbate. All rights reserved. First published in 2011 by Star Coaching (Deborah Labbate) ISBN: 978-0-9570178-0-1 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise) without prior written permission of the publishers. For more copies of this booklet please call 0771 8326 765 or email [email protected] Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this booklet, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of this information contained herein.  About the Author Deborah developed her Performance Results System through working with some of the best business experts, coaches and entrepreneurs alongside years of practical business experience. Deborah started her first business straight out of college and has experience of both start up and exit and a lot of ‘stuff ’ in between. These days you will find her working with business owners and their teams across a range of sectors using the tried, tested and proven ideas she has worked with herself. She also works with successful professionals enabling them to develop in areas around time management, networking and presentation skills, confidence and emotional intelligence and other key growth areas. With a no nonsense, straightforward approach using her unique blend of skills and years of practical business experience Deborah Labbate will help you go further, faster! If you’re looking for an improved bottom line, progress in your business or professional career and some work life balance give her a call. That initial conversation could be just what you need. It really doesn’t have to be lonely at the top! Deborah knows what that can feel like – she’s been there!  It’s all too easy to say ‘I’ll get around to that when I have more time’, isn’t it? At last, a sensible, easy to read booklet packed with thoughts and ideas that gives you something practical you can do today to improve your effectiveness in life and in business. The One Big Mistake People Unwittingly Make When It Comes To Time Management & How To Avoid It will transform your thinking about time and suggest to you some simple and uncomplicated ideas to try. This booklet is for everyone who wants to get the most out of their life and their business whatever stage you’re at. This booklet will help you to . . . • look at how you spend your time • develop effective time strategies • see how by implementing just one idea can make a significant difference to your day, your week and even your life!  Think about this for a moment. Everything you are today and everything you become in the future will be determined by the way you think and the way you use your time. Your attitude towards time is a critical factor in all you do and everything you accomplish. Your ability to set yourself clear and accurate priorities on your time determines the entire quality of your life. Take action today and you have taken the first step in achieving effectiveness with your time. To book a place on a workshop or book a 1:1 session and discover how you can increase your profits, become more effective and achieve life and work balance call 0771 8326 765 email [email protected] Visit www.deborahlabbate.com Connect on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahlabbate and facebook - www.facebook.com/deborah.labbate and Twitter https://twitter.com/deborahstar Deborah Labbate has advised over 800 clients on how to manage their time as they have started up their business, grown their business and got to grips with that all important Law of Clarity and how to be efficient and effective. www.deborahlabbate.com  Introduction To achieve all your goals and become everything you are capable of becoming in life and in business you must get your time under control. Psychologists generally agree that a sense of control is the key to feelings of happiness, confidence, power and personal well-being. A sense of control is only possible when you practice excellent time management skills. Chances are that at some point in time you will have taken a time-management course, read about it in books or on the internet or tried to use an electronic or paper-based day planner to organise, prioritise and schedule your day. With all the information available to you and with so many systems to choose from why is it so many people still feel like they can’t get everything done they need to do? The simple answer is everything you’ve ever learned about managing time is actually time itself wasted because it doesn’t work. You must learn what time is before you can begin to manage it. A dictionary definition of time is: the point or period at which things occur. Simply put, time is when stuff happens! There are two types of time - clock time and real time. In clock time there are 60 seconds in every minute, 60 minutes in every hour, 24 hours in every day and 365 days in every year (and one extra in a leap year). All time passes equally. When someone turns 40, they are, exactly 40 years old. No more. No less.  In real time, all time is relative depending on what you’re doing. Enjoying what you are doing, chances are you will feel time passes quickly. Conversely, if you’re not enjoying what you’re doing, chances are time passes slowly. Which time describes the world in which you really live? Clock time or real time? There are lots of time-management gadgets and systems on the market that don’t work simply because they are designed to work to clock time. You’re living in real time. In a world in which all time flies when you’re having fun and drags when you’re not. So what about this real time? Real time exists in your head. You create it. And, anything you create you can manage. Regardless of the type of business you own or the job that you do there are three ways you spend your time: º in thoughts º in conversations º in actions  How to use this booklet The aim of the booklet is to be thought provoking and to help you maybe think a little differently about time. The following pages contain 10 useful ideas to help you become a master of your own time. There are, of course, loads more ideas, but it would take too much time for me to list them all here and for you to read them.  My mission for you is simple and uncomplicated Take an idea - try it - test it. If it works for you keep doing it. If it doesn’t, stop then try and test another. One of the key things is choice. And it’s choice that comes next. Your choice. Yes, you. In any given moment you have a choice. You can . . . º think about it º talk about it º TAKE ACTION!!! The choice really is yours. However, if you don’t take action you will have simply spent some time reading about time management and thinking about it. If you’re with someone else maybe you will even have a conversation about it. Where will that get you? If you only choose one idea from the following suggestions that in itself is great. That in itself, is the start of taking action.  Idea One Carry a schedule and record all your thoughts, conversations and activities for a week. Notice how much you can get done during the course of a day and where your precious and valuable time is going. How much time is delivering a result? How much time is wasted on unproductive thoughts, conversations and actions. Idea Two Schedule time for interruptions. Interruptions will happen. Plan time to be stopped from what you’re doing. There cannot be a crisis today; my schedule is already full. Henry Kissinger  Idea Three Managing interruptions: Put a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on your door. Put your phone to voicemail. Turn off your email, social media etc. (unless these tools genuinely generate you business). Schedule time to come back to anything important you have missed. (this might be a good opportunity to notice if you missed anything important or whether the majority of it can actually wait or even be ignored). Idea Four More on email . . . who’s in charge? Do you essentially need to be contacted by email immediately? If not, and you want to be unchained, read on . . . Try this, check your email first thing in the morning then close your email programme (hard I know, but unless it’s essential who’s in control?) At a scheduled point in time open your email programme and see how many ‘urgent’, must read now and must do now emails have arrived. What have you learnt? Close your email programme and repeat at scheduled times. Technology is a great servant, but a terrible master. Stephen Covey  Idea Five Take time at the beginning of your day (or the evening before) to plan your day. Don’t start your day until you complete your time plan. Then, after each task, take a moment to re-prioritise what now needs to come next. Idea Six Take five minutes before every task or call you need to make. Be really clear what result you want. Do this so you know what success will look like before you begin. Then take 5 minutes to determine whether the desired result was achieved. Reflect. If the desired result wasn’t achieved what was missing? Learn from this and plan for the next call or task accordingly.  Idea Seven Make a list of everything you would like to be, do and have in the months and years ahead. Review your list and choose the items that will have the greatest possible consequences in your life. When you have your master list break this down so you can create a Do List for every day. Prioritise the daily list. Do the first item first. Then, before moving to item two check the priority. Has anything changed? Continue through your day working to your Do List.  Idea Eight Don’t confuse busyness with business. Know your ROI (return on investment). Know what you’re worth. Know what earns you money. Busyness is what gives you the perception you are doing your work but really what you are doing is simply empty work. Things like doing the not urgent and not important things on your Do List when you should really attend to the urgent and important, important but not urgent and the urgent and not important things first.  Idea Nine Other challenges and things jockeying for your time and attention. º unexpected visitors º phone calls º interruptions like ‘can I just ask you a quick question?’ º Clutter - in your mind and in your physical space Still feeling like there’s too much to do? What can you delegate or outsource?