X47 Time Management Philosophy

X47 time Management Philosophy: Pragmatic, if you please

Time management today has to be simple, fast, stable, concentrated, efficient, pragmatic and above all mobile.
Disengage yourself from the paradigm of perfection and completeness.
You do not have to be perfect. You do not have to make note of everything.
You do not have to do everything. You have to do what’s essential.

X47 Time Management Philosophy: Make short work of it

Collect and check all tasks that really concern me What doesn’t concern me and what obviously does not make sense belongs in the waste paper basket.
Checking all tasks in fast forward: Can you complete a task in 4 minutes? If yes, do it.
The management of activities should never take longer than the task itself.
Everything that remains should be graded according to importance, not according to urgency.
Importance means: What brings me closer to my objectives? - A precondition is preparatory work: You know your values and long-term objectives, professional and private, and the hierarchy of partial targets you develop from that.
There are three priorities: A – very important in order to achieve a target, B - sensible and C “nice to have". Only record A and B tasks in your timeplan – C priorities belong in your notes. Check which A and B tasks are urgent or when they will become urgent.

X47 Time Management Philosophy: Urgency?

The matrix of urgency and importance that defines the priorities A, B and C defined and presented everywhere (Eisenhower-Matrix)) is not practical.

Can you always analyse the urgency and importance of a task - two completely different dimensions of assessment? And for every activity - that is hard work.

Attention: Even high urgency does not make a B task to an A priority, unless there is impending trouble if you delay.

Pragmatically, that means: If it is important, do it. If it isn’t, don’t (you will make your own exceptions…)

X47 Time Management Philosophy: Practical, if you please!

The age of 1001 forms is over. Naturally, it is easier for a time management beginner to start by sorting all activities, noting everything and evaluating it all logically. But where will it get you? A large investment of your time for this self-administration. And you’ve lost sight of the big picture. With all the activities, there is no way of knowing what is actually important.
In the X47, space is reduced. The basic idea: What doesn’t fit in your calendar, doesn't fit in your day.
Space is limited – like your time.
In order to structure ideas and thoughts nonetheless, X47 provides notebooks and a project book in which you can work on twelve projects.

X47 Time Management Philosophy: Important?

If you are utilising your time to capacity and the usual optimisation potential is already exhausted, you have arrived in the realm of decision making conflicts. You have to decide straight away what is more important.
Precisely the objectives “family life” and “health” are sacrificed daily. If your work schedule is “full”, then a delay at 11am means that Daddy will come home later from work. If your work schedule is “full”, then a talkative colleague at the coffee machine in the morning is the cause for you arriving later at the anniversary dinner you’ve been planning for weeks. And a salesman that is “coincidentally” in the area and just wanted to say “hello”, is the reason why you can’t going running after work. What is your politeness worth? Learn to say “No"!
Deciding means doing without!
Prof. Dr. Bruno Tietz, †1995
(Working) time is money – or free time! The time that you save during the day doesn't extend your work schedule and doesn't set you back any private time. With every activity, especially the time consumers, weigh up: “Is this activity or this conversation or level of politeness so important that I see my children less because of it?”

X47 Time Management Philosophy: Set priorities!

The pivotal question in time management is: “What is important to you?" Here are three approaches to help answer this question:

• Prioritise on instinct.
  The quickest way to make decisions is the spontaneous reaction to your instincts. Some people have a special talent for this and are quick and confident as you can ever be. This instinct is there and you can train it to a certain degree.
  But this gift also has its down side. On the one hand it is pretty rare and very few of us have it to the extent required. On the other hand, instinct can be influenced by external circumstances and is seldomly completely "reliable".
• Prioritise using a value plan
  The second fastest chance to make decisions is by using a value or objective plan.
  The dimensions of a value plan can be found:
  
• Within yourself
• in your corporate philosophy
• in your boss’ decisions.

The following corporate value approaches are common:

• “Client first” - the customer is most important
• “Employee first”
• “Profit first” – profit orientation
• Profit margin, costs, turnover, …

As well as important personal values:

• Children, partnership, family
• Health
• Avoidance of stress
• Friends
• Prioritise the value of money

  The most involved and safest way of making decision occurs on the basis of numbers. Here using monetary units per time unit. It is based on the previously menttioned value plan and refine the value system with monetary units.

  It is important to note that each employee lives by two monetary value systems:

• The value system within a company, based on full costs per hour
• the private value system, based on net wage per hour.

This often leads to conflicts between objectives. While an employee thinks: “I’m just going to take a 5 minute cigarette break, that’ll just cost me a cigarette”. His boss is thinking: “He’s smoking again and there goes another five minutes, that costs me 5 Euros (because the full costs per hour for his position costs 60 Euros)".

More on this topic in the book “Use Time Optimally”.

X47 Time Management Philosophy: Value of free time

What is a additional hour of free time worth to you?

As an employee, you can't really improve your net income by working more within your company. It is therefore clear, how high your net earnings are per hour. Imagine, you could BUY more time for your family, friends or your hobby. How much is an additional hour of free time worth to you? A little brainteaser: Imagine you are working as a freelancer and are paid by the hour without a time budget, eg. 100 Euros per hour of work. What does that mean to you? What could it mean?

• 1. A journey with your own car for one hour, which you can’t invoice on, costs you 100 Euro plus additional costs for the car. A train ticket would be cheaper; you could work during the journey.
• 2. Cleaning your apartment, which you need three hours for, costs you 300 Euros! For that you could get someone to clean for you for 30 hours!

If you revalue your own time with an hourly rate and disregard the “fun factor”, you would get the following time-money-substitute:

• 1. Shop from catalogues, the internet or by telephone.
• 2. Get your groceries delivered rather than go shopping yourself.
• 3. Shop expensively, but quickly, rather than searching for cheaper offers.
• 4. Use other types of transport (taxi, bus, …)
• 5. Use household helpers or personal secretaries (even a couple of hours a week help enormously)
• 6. Use professional service providers.

X47 Time Management Philosophy: Priorities consistencly

Prioritise consisently means ...

• ... that B and C priorities may get put off again and again... that the wrapping up of a meeting may get put off in favour of another A priority.
• ... a B priority meeting may be cancelled at short notice.
• ... that tidying up may not take place for a while.
• ... that you cancel something five times.
• ... that you allow errors sometimes (especially in emails). (but you “cope” with it)… that you talk in short sentences, rather than chat pleasantly.
• ... that you cancel a C deadline.
• ... that you smile pleasantly in the corridor, but don’t stop for a chat.
• ... that you cut a meeting short at the appointed time.
• ... that you note your answers to a fax by hand (better quick and pragmatic as perfect and not at all).
• ... that you don’t take a flight that has already been paid for.
• ... that you are not perfect for once.
• ... that you aren't polite all of the time

X47 Time Management Philosophy: Unpleasant To Dos?

An important criteria when analysing To Dos is: Is it easy or does it give you butterflies? Unpleasant To Dos (U To Dos) are the biggest bottlenecks! They hinder, delay and spoil your day. The faster these To Dos are done, the more fun you have at work. The following tips when dealing with such problems:

• Deal with one U To Do every morning!
• Use the energy of a new day
• The completed item frees you for the rest of the day
• You don’t have to procrastinate about the task
• The completed task doesn’t have put pressure on you anymore!

Look for a partner!

• Together you have more momentum
• Create a deadline with a colleague!

Overcome the starting block!

• First make a plan
• Read all relevant information through again

Put yourself under pressure!

• Set a finishing date

Promise yourself a reward!

X47 Time Management Philosophy: Time and Money

A quick look in your own wallet shows you that money is becoming a scarce resource.

How do you deal with the scare resource “money”?

You think about what you are spending it on, you save it by not buying something or you try and buy something cheaper. You invest money in savings accounts to receive interest.

Now try and use this approach on the scarce resource “time”:

Dealings with money	Dealings with time
Consider what you buy	Consider what you do
Don’t buy something	Don’t do something
Buy less	Do less
Prioritise expenditure	Prioritise tasks
Save money	Save time
Buy something cheaper	Do something quicker
Invest money (in a savings account)	Invest time (in time management)
Know what you can’t buy	Know what you can’t do