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Time Activating is so critical to our System, if you don’t complete this element; I seriously wonder why you would bother at all. There are very few elements that are as vital to the successful implementation of our system as Time Activating.
If You Do Not Time Activate- Why Bother?
What Is It?
What Time Activating ensures is that you will have a realistic idea of exactly how much you have on your plate from day to day. Time Activating is the process where you assign a time slot for all the activities on a certain day. This is a crucial step that most people neglect in their attempts to corral their time and get organized. It is one thing to get all or some of the tasks you want to do, down in writing; the famous To Do Lists, but this is only partially doing the job, and not very well. In the process of Time Activating your priorities for the day, you will have to make decisions in advance, before you have to start to “manage by crisis”, during the heat of the day when you realize there are too many tasks and not enough hours. Time Activating forces us to make tough choices and to re-evaluate what we thought was important. It is a process that makes us move activities, tasks and jobs from today, to tomorrow and into the next few days.
As you keep adding tasks into your Time Activity Funnel, (TAF), your time frame to do these tasks does not increase, at least not on a daily basis. By Time Activating your tasks, you have to keep moving tasks farther into the future because you are assigning actual time slots in your Day Planner for specific tasks. Having a list of tasks and jobs to do is virtually worthless to you unless you have a sense of the amount of time these tasks will use up. It’s only after knowing this will you really be able to start to Prioritize what you have to accomplish.
How To Time Activate
Time Activation (TA) is the process of assigning a specific amount of time to do a specific task, in a specific time slot in your Day Planner
1. Assigning time to do a specific task or job. This is one of the two steps that we, at The Power Time System, are fanatical about emphasizing. The process is simple, the impact is massive. As you are gathering your tasks, jobs, assignments and appointments for the next day, you will be Prioritizing them into A-B-C tasks. (That is another process covered in The Power Time System and one we need not go into for this topic.) Once this prioritizing is done, you will start to assign actual time slots into your Day Planner for the next day. To do this assigning of time slots, you have to estimate how much time each activity will take. Since there is only so much time for tomorrow, you will find, as we all do, more activities than time slots. We are miles ahead in this process because we are able to see what we want to do, what is important to us to do, when we have time and space to do it in and what is left over from tomorrow that still has to be done. Achieving this state of organization and control is what we are all striving for. You will only be able to get to this state if you are Time Activating your activities and entering them into your Day Timer.
2. First you assign a time for each task, then you put that task in your Day Timer to be done. Let’s give a few examples:
u You want to have a meeting with a supplier and it will take 30 minutes. That meeting is put in your Day Timer for 10:00 A.M. to 10:30 A.M.
u You estimate that meeting with your staff regarding production issues will take one hour. That is put in for 11:00 A.M. to Noon.
u You want to work on a report for I hour, that is put in for 2:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M.
u You need time to check emails and handle paper mail; that will take 30 minutes, put in your Day Planner between 10:30 A.M. and 11:00 A.M.
Your day is planned like this. Pre-arranged tasks, that have been Prioritized and slotted into specific time slots through out the day. Unless they are in your Day Planner, they don’t exist. This is the only way you can get control of your time, not the other way around. If you allow yourself to be controlled by the events around you, you will never be in a position to get what you want done, when you need to have it done.
It’s The Process That Drives The Agenda
The agenda we have here is simple, how do we get better, how do we get more productive, how do we accomplish more in the same amount of time? It’s all about getting in the drivers seat and being the one in control. How do we make sure we stay with the agenda and make sure it happens? We put policies and procedures in place that, when followed and applied as they should be, keep us on track and further our chosen agenda. The process of Time Activating our activities gives us the control we want over out time. It’s next to impossible to do all of the functions that are involved in the Time Activating process and not be in control of your time. The Time Activating process is inter-related to the rest of the parts of the Power Time System and in order to do one you have to do the rest. To state the obvious, that’s why we call it a System.
In order for the System to work, there has to be a degree of faith demonstrated by you, the participant. The leap does not have to be huge because you will be seeing benefits very quickly. The more time and effort you spend working the System, the greater the benefits will be. The more work you put into this effort, the greater your return will be. More work, better results. When you have faith in the process and the System, coupled with your effort and commitment, the results will reinforce and confirm to you that you are on the right track.
It Sounds Like A lot Of Work
That is a constant refrain I hear. Yes, it is a lot of work. No excuses, no apologies. It is what it is. If the work aspect of this program worries you, I can’t help you. At some point you will have to make that decision and commitment. I will say that there is a learning curve, as there is in almost in any skill you learn. This is a skill and you will have to learn to do it, and then learn to do it well.
Let’s look what is at stake. If you feel as we do, that proper Time Management is the basis and the platform that all activities and effort is launched from, what could be more important to your future success, in any endeavour than getting this vital resource on your side? By the sheer volume of time, it’s there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you are at odds with time, not having time on your side is a serious blow to your chances of succeeding.
Activity
Time Activating is a skill that will make or break your efforts to be more organized through better Time Management. It may seem like a complicated, time consuming chore but it will become second nature to you the more you do it. The comments from my clients fall into the category of "it was a pain in the beginning but once I got the hang of it, it became second nature". Try this exercise.
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Make a list of the tasks you do on a daily basis. Pick up to 5 tasks.
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Take an estimate of how much time you spend on doing them
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When you do these tasks, make a note of how long you actually take.
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Compare the time it actually took with your estimated time.
Most people are shocked at the time it actually takes to do things compared to their estimate. Keeping working on estimating times, checking the estimate against real time. This isn’t rocket science. A little practice and it will become easier and, eventually, second nature. This exercise alone will help you have clearer picture of the work you have ahead of you. Taking control of your time is dependant upon you knowing how much discretionary time is really available to you. That’s a topic for another day.
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