Time Management Secrets of Billionaires
Master The Time Management Basics
Personally, my days are most productive when I follow the tips from Time Management Secrets of Billionaires. While I do apply this concept of scheduling, I also sometimes waver. When this happens, I remember what my father taught me: “Mastering something is not about doing 4,000 things — it’s about doing 12 things 4,000 times.”
Remember, it shouldn’t be only you who follows your schedule. If you have people who are reporting to you, you have to train them as well. Tell them, “You know that there are specific times each day when I check my messages, so adhere to that.”
Your staff will listen to you for the first three days, but they’re prone to return to old habits. Next thing you know, they’ll be asking for “got-a-minute” meetings again. That’s why you have to continuously train them by reminding them that you don’t have a minute. Ask them if their concern can wait until your scheduled meeting, and if it can, leave it for that.
My father even used to give his staff yellow notepads where they can write all their questions during the week. Then they will discuss those inquiries during their scheduled call.
All these take pigheaded discipline and determination to achieve. You have to manage your own time and not let anybody else do it for you. Remember, great time management shouldn’t take a lot of time. You need to apply consistent pigheaded discipline and determination to stick to your time management plan.
Tip #1: Touch It Once
The first tip from the Time Management Secrets of Billionaires is touch it once. We waste a lot of time rereading emails and documents and not taking action on them. The first tip you need to apply is if you touch it, do something about it.
If you read an email, respond to it right away. Otherwise, at least bookmark it for later action. The important thing is that you do something about it.
The organizational system you will apply is up to you. What I do is ask my assistant to remind me to take action on items, or I leave some emails unread as a reminder. One task may not be in my top six to-do list today, but it could be tomorrow.
Tip #2: Make A To-do List
The second tip is to create a list of things you need to do each day. You can do this every morning before you start your day, or the night before. Then from that list, figure out which ones are the most important. Being able to prioritize tasks will help you a lot. Pick the top six most important items on your list and concentrate on those for the day.
Tip #3: Plan How Much Time You Will Spend On Each Task
Next, plan how much time you will allocate for each task. You can say, for example, it will take you one hour to finish a report, two hours to follow up on prospects, and one hour to answer emails. Set a time for each item on your to-do list so you can also be more realistic about your list.
Tip #4: Plan When You’re Going To Do Each Task
This means finding time to work on tasks that will take you a lot of time to accomplish.
If you have a big project that will take you five hours to finish, you can break down your time for it into one hour each day. This way, you won’t sacrifice other important tasks just to cross off one item from your list. Keep your big project in your to-do list as long as it’s still ongoing. Work on it one day at a time.
You can have your top six items in your to-do list, and add in an organized and consistent time frame for your larger tasks. You can also leave a certain time in your day open so you can respond to reactive situations. This is a way for you to be proactive about the reactive things coming up.
One of the time management success stories I witnessed is how my father managed to write a book. People pushed him to author a book, but he thought he did not have the time to do it while running 12 companies.
Eventually, he used his own time management methodology. He set himself to write his book every Monday night from 7PM to 8PM. For two years, every Monday night, he wrote his book for one hour. That’s what created the legacy that allowed me to take over and continue to run it.
Tip #5: Prioritize Your Tasks
Prioritizing is key in managing your time effectively. Some people put in six items in their to-do list which they can easily cross off. They only want that euphoric feeling they get when they cross off items from their list. The question is, did they cross off the most important tasks?
Make sure the tasks included in your list are the most important ones for the day.
Tip #6: Throw Away What You Don’t Need
The last tip is to throw away anything you won’t need anymore. This is for the hoarders out there. We file away a lot of things that we never refer to again or revisit. Those only end up becoming a waste of space, so throw away what you can.
When you apply these time management secrets, they can change your life. You only need to have pigheaded discipline and determination to achieve successful time management. We hope this guide has helped you understand more about how to improve your time management skills and maximize its benefits for your organization.
How do you manage your time? We’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.