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What’s Ohio got to do with Time
Management?
Lots!!
OHIO
is one of those seemingly simple, minor
ideas that you have probably heard over and
over again in regards to Time
Management
but haven’t really taken it to heart.
You should.
O
Only
H
Handle
I
It
O
Once
I say this too much, but I will say it
again in regards to OHIO; if you only add
just this one piece of the Time Management
puzzle to your daily routine, you will be
miles and miles ahead of where you were
without it. Not utilizing OHIO on a regular
daily basis will drain your time away as
nothing else can. We have all done it,
repeatedly, moved the same piece of paper
from one side of our desk, back and forth,
doing nothing to it but just moving it
around. It’s the piece of paper that has a
task on it that we don’t really want to
do. Our
solution is to just move it aimlessly,
again and again. Sound familiar?
Whether it’s a real piece of paper or a
document, email or file on your computer,
its all the same; wasted time, effort and
thought. It’s impossible to estimate the
time we all waste on this process. The fact
we ALL do it, some more, some less, it
clearly is a massive drain on our limited
resources. The fact that it deals with the
movement of information, this faulty
process permeates virtually every waking
moment we have. Is hard to think of when
OHIO does not come into play.
Unless your job or business involves you
sitting motionless, in an isolated sealed
room without any outside influences at all,
OHIO is a constant presence. Not only is it
a constant presence, because it deals with
the movement of data, communications,
paper, electronic transfers of all kinds,
in order to function, at any level we have
to deal with the concept of OHIO, willingly
or not.
Some Short Answers
We deal with OHIO in more detail in the
Power Time System but here are some great
short cuts to get OHIO of the ground for
you now.
1. Dump It.
This is something we don’t do enough of.
Dump it means just that, dump it in the
trash bin, the delete file, get rid of it.
If you have had this “ thing “ sitting on
your desk, your computer for enough time
that it has been there long enough to be
moved repeatedly, just how important is it?
In more cases than not, its not critical to
your function or success, it should
seriously be considered for the dumpster
(recycling bin if its paper).
I have a theory that works extremely well
for me and the majority of people who are
on the same track, if it really is
important and it gets dumped, 98% or more
of the time, it will resurface. I’m not
suggesting you throw out you tax return
because you don’t want to do it but I
believe we all have a feel for what we are
talking about here.
2. Do It
That’s a novel approach, but it, at some
point has to be done. Try this little
trick, it works. Once a day, take just one
of these pieces of paper that are causing
this logjam and do it. You are only going
to do one so we should be able to force
ourselves to knuckle under and get it done.
Be sure you only do one, knowing there is
an end to the process helps. You will be
amazed at the end of the week, 5 of these
stumbling blocks, time wasters; will be off
your radar.
Realistically, when I suggest doing these,
you should only try to get the small ones
out of the way; set a time limit of 5 to 10
minutes max for the ones you try to get rid
of on the spot. Depending on the volume of
this problem, you may want to Time Activate
a larger block of time per day to clear up
this backlog.
3. Give It To The Right Person
Depending how your office, workplace,
business is structured; there could be a
clearing house problem. You could have
become a clearinghouse for data and
communications and the problem is your lack
of delegation. With a closer examination of
you clutter, there could very well be a lot
of material that rightfully belongs
somewhere else. Get it off your desk and on
to the desk where it belongs. I’m not
suggesting dumping your problems on to
someone else, but if they have done it to
you, intentionally or not, you have to
defend your turf and your
time.
4. Back
Burner
Prioritizing and Time Activating
activities, jobs, task is the heart of the
Power Time System. Back Burner task are
ones that you still want on your radar, but
you know they are not going to get done
now, there is no use having them there,
stressing you out, get them on the back
burner and off your visual radar. We
have places where they should go and
in the proper spot, have a chance to
actually be addressed and get done. Life
List, Activity Funnel, A-B-C Priorities,
Day Planner; these are the places that
activities should get to when you feel
that, "yes, I want to do this but I can’t
or don’t want to do them
now."
Activities don’t drive your agenda,
you do.
5. The
Dreaded F Word, File It.
Filing something unfortunately usually
translates into another way of just getting
rid of something without actually
processing it. Our filing systems have just
become depositories for data and material
we can’t or don’t want to deal with.
One of the functions of filing is storage.
We want to keep something so we can
get it at a latter date. There are
many reasons we want to get at it at a
latter date, one of them should not be
activities, data, communications, tasks
that we are not willing to process and we
just shove them into a file so they are out
of site. This type of behavior is counter
productive and seriously inhibits are
ability to properly function, let alone
prosper and flourish.
However, files do serve an important
function, lots of them in fact. One of them
is storage and retrieval. There is nothing
wrong with a having a file for filing. Some
of this material that is floating around
should be in a file marked, To Be Filed.
This file HAS to be cleared and filed on a
regular basis, if not, it becomes yet
another dumping ground for unprocessed, not
prioritized material, destined to rot there
for an undetermined length of time.
Just a few ways to deal with the mountain
of data, communications,
material that crosses are paths on a daily
basis.
Activity
This one is easy. Just one piece a day.
Don’t try to deal with the mountain, just
eliminate a small molehill a day. Take one
piece of paper or information that has been
nagging at you for a while and process it
to its conclusion. That conclusion can
be any of the following;
1. Dump it.
2. Do it.
3. Pass It On
Try just these three first. The goal is to
reduce the “things“you find pressing
down on you. That’s why these three are the
best to start with. Any of these first
three will enable you to get some space and
breathing room.
Stick with just one a day until it becomes
a habit, then ad a second a so on. One a
day may seem an insignificant
accomplishment but done on a daily basis,
it becomes a powerful weapon in your
arsenal.
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