10 steps to spend more time with family and less at work

Agree that over the past 20 years the world has accelerated globally. What used to take several days, now needs to be completed in 1-2 hours. We didn’t have time to promptly issue an invoice – we lost to a competitor. For a long time they made a product sample – they were left without a large order. And so practically in any sphere of business, especially in Russia.

All this haste leads to the fact that you, as a leader, are forced to accelerate in all matters. If you start to slow down, subordinates slow down. And this is not the best scenario for the development of events, especially today, when the client has become extremely impatient.

As a result, you are overgrown with a huge number of tasks and cases that need to be completed in the shortest possible time. As a result, sometimes you have to live at work, for 16-18 hours without leaving your computer.

I want to tell you how to break out of this circle, become more efficient and really do everything. The technique was developed on the basis of personal experience and the study of time management systems of different authors. Those who adopted it increased their efficiency by at least 20-50%, which, you see, is an excellent result. For the technique to bear fruit, you need to complete 10 steps.

Step 1. Filter tasks

If you feel a blockage in business, I recommend taking a pen and writing out all the affairs, meetings, events in a diary or notebook. This will free your head for more important tasks. The main principle is that the human brain can keep track of no more than 4-6 tasks at the same time. If you exceed the norm, then performance begins to fall. A task that used to take an hour can take up to one and a half.

The first boss taught me this rule when I was still a lieutenant. He always said: “Oleg, if you feel that your brain is exploding and you don’t know what to do, sit down and write down absolutely everything that needs to be done. Select 1-2 main tasks from the list and complete them. As soon as you complete, select the next 2 tasks and start working on them. I remembered this rule for the rest of my life and still use it. Great for unloading the head. The main thing is that you can already see where you need to move.

Step 2. We use modern technologies

Divide all written tasks, cases, events into electronic planners, notepads and calendars. For meetings, trips, events that will be in the future, I use the Google calendar. With this application, you will never forget what you have planned. It will not allow you to schedule multiple tasks at the same time. In the calendar, you can plan group events, add reminders of the birthdays of relatives, friends, employees, regardless of their number. Plus, it’s a cloud-based app, which means you can use it from your computer, phone, or tablet.

I send cases and tasks that are not tied to a date to Google Keep. This is also a cloud application. You can add photos to it, make some comments and notes on them. It allows you to create notes using voice commands, color highlight the category of urgency, draw diagrams with your finger and save them. If desired, the tasks can be painted in detail point by point, as in the checklist. The wife loves the app. She says that for a woman it is the greatest invention of mankind.

When I need to urgently set a group task or remind myself of some event, and I’m driving or I don’t have time, I use the Netmemo application. The service allows you to dictate messages with instructions and send them to responsible persons by e-mail. You can do this with two touches. In this case, the letter with the audio file is duplicated in your mail. You can listen to it later and add the necessary reminder to the desired media.

Using these services and applications frees your head from unnecessary tasks and increases brain productivity.

Step 3. We set tasks correctly

It’s good if the company’s staff is small and a diary is enough for you to set tasks and monitor their implementation. But what if you have 10, 20 or even 50 managers of different levels under your supervision? It is definitely impossible to do without modern technologies. I remember the time when the number of managers in my company began to grow and I stopped having time to control all the tasks that I set for my subordinates. Tritely forgot about them, flipping through the diary a few pages ahead to write down new ideas and tasks.

And so it went on until, at one of the master classes, I heard about the Wunderlist cloud service. I liked the service right away. It made it possible to set a task from anywhere in the world directly from the phone. At the same time, it was possible to select a responsible person in the task, conduct correspondence on it, attach files, record voice messages, set reminders, and determine deadlines. But the main thing is that only I could delete the task, which means there was no risk of losing something.

Over time, I mastered the more advanced Trello service. With it, you can set team goals and distribute long-term projects. And, importantly, it allows you to organize, from my point of view, the most advanced project management methodology using Scrum technologies. But that is another story.

Step 4. Tidy up

Tidy up your desks. This is your desktop, at which you sit, and the computer desktop, and even the smartphone desktop. No wonder they say: order on the table, order in the head. Organize everything in folders. Set yourself a hard rule:

1. You don’t leave work until your desktop is in perfect order.
2. You do not turn off the computer until you put all the files in the appropriate folders.

Now you can easily find any file, spending a minimum of time searching. This may seem like a small thing to many, but the devil is in the details!

Step 5. Create baskets

Install and configure recycle bins on all desktops. Baskets I call a certain space for storing files and letters, the verification and analysis of which require quite a long time. On the table you are sitting at, this could be a document tray. There is a special folder on the computer. In the mail – a mailbox folder where all the letters that you forward to yourself will go to read later.

These three baskets will always contain information that you will allocate separate time for processing. More on this in the next step.

Step 6: Use the Two Minute Rule

Set up a two-minute rule for processing incoming information. The essence of this principle is that you rigidly segment the entire flow of data and information that comes to you according to the principle:

1. Analyze, reply, execute immediately, if it takes no more than two minutes to process and analyze this letter or file.
2. Delete, throw out if it is not important and does not require your actions.
3. Reassign to subordinates.
4. Add an event, ideas to your calendar or to your to-do list for the future.
5. Send to cart for a closer look at the issue later.

This principle will not allow switching attention between diverse tasks and cases. All you need to do is determine the processing time for the information that accumulates in the basket. These tasks must be performed completely disconnected from the outside world. Then the processing efficiency will increase significantly compared to when you grab everything in a row. I usually do this in the afternoon.

Step 7 Delegate

Write down all your duties and affairs and delegate the maximum part. The problem is that managers and entrepreneurs for some reason think that only they can do most of the tasks. This is the deepest delusion. In order for the employee to clearly understand what he must do, write detailed job descriptions with algorithms and applications. Write down everything, down to what to do if you run out of paper clips or paper.

This event will incredibly unload subordinates from stupid questions and increase the time to complete strategic tasks. In addition, there is no need to be afraid that an employee may suddenly quit. Enough to make a new employee learn job descriptions.

We update these instructions twice a year, and, believe me, this saves a lot of time for managers in the future.

Step 8. Define the Chaos Clock

I often see how owners or managers do not manage to do anything in a day, because they work as dispatchers. In non-stop mode, they answer questions from employees and customers. When to attend to your questions if you are either texting or talking on the phone all day?

To eliminate this endless marathon, I recommend that you rigidly define the “hours of chaos” in the company. As a rule, this is an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. At this time, I connect to instant messengers and answer all the questions that have accumulated during the day. The rest of the time I spend on solving strategic problems.

If you also force the staff to adhere to these windows, then the productivity of the company will increase by an order of magnitude. Believe me, nothing will happen if you answer at the hours you set.

Step 9. Planning

Start your day with planning. Set aside at least 10 minutes each morning to review all the activities planned for today and the coming days. Identify 1-2 tasks from your to-do list to focus on.

Don’t forget to set aside time to work with baskets. Try to rake them as much as possible by the end of the week.

Step 10. Get rid of the addiction

Wean yourself off social media and endless phone browsing. I simply deleted all applications with social networks from the phone, an assistant takes care of them. I only watch them on weekends. During concentrated work, I either turn off the phone or put it on silent mode if I’m waiting for some kind of call. If you call someone back in 2 hours, the third world will not start.

Of course, life is too chaotic. Even a super-systemic approach to planning and time management can sometimes fail. But if you at least try to systematize your work and the work of your subordinates, you will immediately see an increase in efficiency.

You will deal with things faster, and there will be time that can finally be spent on family, parents, friends. All you need to do is try to live systematically and not keep a bunch of information in your head. As David Allen said: “Your mind is designed to create ideas, not to store them.”