Getting the right things done on time

18 minutes - Get the Right Things Done

View more presentations from Vishy Poosala

Is this for you?

• Do you feel that you are busy most of the time?
• Yet, you don’t have time to get some of the important things done on time?
• And, sometimes you just stop and wonder “where did all the time go”?

I won’t tell you how important time management is to get the right things done, to have “free” time, and to lower stress in life. You know that already. I’ll simply list down what seems to work for me.

All we need is some P & T: Plan & Track.

• If you do nothing else, just Make a Daily Morning Plan (Step 3) and you’re on your way!
• If you are short of time, go over my powerpoint (above)
• But, best if you can go through this entire article

1. Annual Plan
1. Do this today and then on every 1^st of Jan
2. Think of 4-6 priorities for this year for you where you want to spend much of your time. E.g., play with kids, retain customers, learn photography, grow business in APAC, help son get into Ivy League
2. To-Do List
1. Pull up your favorite Task App. Even a spiral pocket notepad will do
2. Copy your to-dos (from mind, bills, emails, etc.) into the Task Pad
3. Assign a Start Date to them based on when you need to really attend to it (everything need not start Today)
4. Set up a filter to only show tasks starting today or before
5. Whenever a new task arrives (e.g., as a an email): Delete / Do / Delegate / Defer, i.e., add to the To-Do List
3. Daily Morning Plan
1. Do this first thing in the morning, before you reach for your emails
2. Look at your To-Dos and make sure that some of your annual focus areas (from 1) are covered
3. Mark as High Priority the items that Need to be Done Today
4. Copy the high priority items to your calendar and schedule them for specific times
4. Hourly Action
1. During the day, do One Thing at a Time. No Emails during Conf calls, No Blackberry at Dinner table.
2. Every hour, take a minute to pause, reflect on how the time is going, chill the mood, take a walk, and look at what’s coming ahead for the next hour.
3. When a task is done, mark it so in the To-do List. And see if you want to move some more items from the To-Do list on to your calendar
5. Time Tracker
1. (optional, but my personal favorite) At the end of the day, take your TimeTracker Excel Sheet (available upon request, free) 
2. Auto-move your calendar entries into it
3. Add any other missing entries manually
4. Enjoy what the Plots say about how you are using your time and hitting those annual focus areas

(Thanks to the wonderful books like 18 Minutes by Peter Bregman)

Best of Luck! Vishy