The art of working in 15 minutes blocks and not hours
During my years as a manager and as an entrepreneur I have learned that it is all about time and that time is money.
In this post I will share some of the things I have learned so far so that you can become more effective in your day-to-day work and hopefully produce more for the project you are on and become a greater asset for your company.
– My first advice is that your work with a clear and tangible task-list that you either print or write down by hand. Once you have created your list then work according to priorities.
– Nothing takes 1 hour: Many of the things you have on the list are 5 minutes task but you make them sound bigger than they are. Please allow me to list things that can be done in 5 minutes or less:
a) Send a letter to a solicitor (3 minutes).
b) Set up a keyword tracking report for a SEO client (4 minutes).
c) Assign priorities to a client list (5 minutes).
e) Phone up and ask for an approval for a keyword map (3 minutes).
f) Send out an update to a client on work that has been done (5 minutes).
– Sort out all the 5 minutes tasks (which probably are the ones that keep the organisation going forward) and save the time consuming tasks for later. If these are task that prevents you from doing you main duties then you better do them during the following hours: Before work, during lunch break or after work. .
– Think in 15-minute blocks: You need to push yourself forward in a laser focused way so that you obtain the most of each block. Regardless if you are a field surgeon, Digital PR, Sales Rep or SEO technician this advice apply.
– Always improve your performance: Just because you did something today consuming a certain amount of time doesn’t mean that this is your max performance. You can probably do the twice amount of things you thought you where capable of and four times the amount of things your mother thought you could do. Always push for better performance.
– Time track yourself: See where you lose time and where you can improve. Stay focused and be honest with yourself on how you invest your time so that you can become more productive.
– Come in 30 minutes before to work and leave 30 minutes after closing and I ensure you that with this little sacrifice together with tips above you will become more 330% more productive compared to 90% of the worlds population regardless of what industry they are in.
Remember: we don’t have time… we make time!
Tick Tack
Niklas Lindahl