Tags |
|
|
Links |
|
|
Atricle Dump - Managing Your Time - How To Prioritize Your Tasks
I often travel the country speaking to various companies and franchise associations on the topic of great service. While on the road, I try to take those opportunities to visit chains not found near my North Texas home. On two of those trips, I visited Culver's locations in the Chicago area and Mukwonago, Wisconsin.While in the Culver's in Mukwonago, I had the pleasure to meet a server we'll call “Gretchen.” The ordering process was standard, but the service was extra-friendly as two or three people actually said hello to me as I entered the building. It's nice not to be
How Else Could the Task Be Done?
Are You Utilizing Technology
Could an in person appointment be a phone call? Conference calling can rule out travel and save an enormous amount of time.
Could you email instead of calling? Email can be done on your terms when you want. You will have time to articulate better compared to the live telephone conversation. Time can be wasted and sales lost by leaving phone messages for people. Email eliminates phone tag.
Dial one if you have your credit card handy and would like to speak to an intelligent person, in your own country, who can really help you!I've recently have had some incredibly bad experiences when I have tried to phone some very well-known banks in the UK.On the first occasion, I was trying to make an inquiry about my father's bank account. My father is no longer able to look after his own affairs and I have power of attorney which has been registered with his bank.I dialled the telephone number shown on the statement and my call was answered by a very fr
The ability to choose and complete tasks in the order of importance highly desirable and more challenging for some business types than others.
In order to choose tasks you must be aware of as many chores and projects as possible. In order to do this, every planning session must have a list.
You Must Have a List!
List all your tasks, then rate them, and list them again in order. Then you can schedule them. When all tasks and projects are rated, use these additional filters to prioritize:
• Imagine the consequences of eliminating the task. – This exercise will often remove some unneeded tasks altogether.
• Decide if each task should be performed in prime time or secondary time.
• Determine who will be affected by the task.
Now Reduce Your List
Until we can effectively clone ourselves to be in more than one place at a time, most of us need to reduce our workload. Before you start prioritizing, consider these task elimination criteria:
Does This Task or Project Make Sense? Every task you do should first have to pass this benchmark. You have goals, priorities, and objectives. Does every task contribute to your big picture? Estimate how much time each task will take, and then imagine what you would do with the time if the task were cancelled. While not always possible, everything you do should contribute to your objectives.
Why is the Task Urgent? While urgency should be a mindset of business, urgency should also be questioned – ruthlessly.
Is the urgency only appeasing someone else? What has caused the urgency? Many urgent situations have been caused by mistakes. Determining the cause of urgency can eliminate or postpone a task and lead to prevention measures of interruptions and mistakes.
Some seemingly imperative tasks are not urgent at all. Customers might be making demands that are unnecessary. Check with all parties involved.
The Delegation Qualifier Are you the only person that can handle the task? Sometimes you might be, but many times someone else can perform for you. Delegate everything possible to free up your schedule.
How Else Could the Task Be Done?
Are You Utilizing Technology
Could an in person appointment be a phone call? Conference calling can rule out travel and save an enormous amount of time.
Could you email instead of calling? Email can be done on your terms when you want. You will have time to articulate better compared to the live telephone conversation. Time can be wasted and sales lost by leaving phone messages for people. Email eliminates phone tag.
Here is some simple advice from someone that has 'been there and done that'. If you have what it takes to start a successful company, don't wait. Do it now!There are a lot of articles on the Internet that explain what you need to start your own company. Most have a list of resources that are required before you should start your company. All of these lists have a section that breaks down the 'costs' that you will incur when starting your own business. The lists include things like office, phones, stationary, advertising, etc.There are a lot of articles and books th
• Imagine the consequences of eliminating the task. – This exercise will often remove some unneeded tasks altogether.
• Decide if each task should be performed in prime time or secondary time.
• Determine who will be affected by the task.
Now Reduce Your List
Until we can effectively clone ourselves to be in more than one place at a time, most of us need to reduce our workload. Before you start prioritizing, consider these task elimination criteria:
Does This Task or Project Make Sense? Every task you do should first have to pass this benchmark. You have goals, priorities, and objectives. Does every task contribute to your big picture? Estimate how much time each task will take, and then imagine what you would do with the time if the task were cancelled. While not always possible, everything you do should contribute to your objectives.
Why is the Task Urgent? While urgency should be a mindset of business, urgency should also be questioned – ruthlessly.
Is the urgency only appeasing someone else? What has caused the urgency? Many urgent situations have been caused by mistakes. Determining the cause of urgency can eliminate or postpone a task and lead to prevention measures of interruptions and mistakes.
Some seemingly imperative tasks are not urgent at all. Customers might be making demands that are unnecessary. Check with all parties involved.
The Delegation Qualifier Are you the only person that can handle the task? Sometimes you might be, but many times someone else can perform for you. Delegate everything possible to free up your schedule.
How Else Could the Task Be Done?
Are You Utilizing Technology
Could an in person appointment be a phone call? Conference calling can rule out travel and save an enormous amount of time.
Could you email instead of calling? Email can be done on your terms when you want. You will have time to articulate better compared to the live telephone conversation. Time can be wasted and sales lost by leaving phone messages for people. Email eliminates phone tag.
What's the biggest bottleneck in any business? Besides sales, this often overlooked feature of any business could be causing you lost sales and your long term success. Use these tips to reduce the most costly (and annoying) bottleneck with businesses today.Imagine for a moment that you have just spent a small fortune on marketing...you have a sale that you want to advertise and you have produced full page ads in the local newspaper setting you back $20,000 a day, sent out thousands of flyers, produced signs, sent out press releases and you even went on TV.The big de Sense? Every task you do should first have to pass this benchmark. You have goals, priorities, and objectives. Does every task contribute to your big picture? Estimate how much time each task will take, and then imagine what you would do with the time if the task were cancelled. While not always possible, everything you do should contribute to your objectives.
Why is the Task Urgent? While urgency should be a mindset of business, urgency should also be questioned – ruthlessly.
Is the urgency only appeasing someone else? What has caused the urgency? Many urgent situations have been caused by mistakes. Determining the cause of urgency can eliminate or postpone a task and lead to prevention measures of interruptions and mistakes.
Some seemingly imperative tasks are not urgent at all. Customers might be making demands that are unnecessary. Check with all parties involved.
The Delegation Qualifier Are you the only person that can handle the task? Sometimes you might be, but many times someone else can perform for you. Delegate everything possible to free up your schedule.
How Else Could the Task Be Done?
Are You Utilizing Technology
Could an in person appointment be a phone call? Conference calling can rule out travel and save an enormous amount of time.
Could you email instead of calling? Email can be done on your terms when you want. You will have time to articulate better compared to the live telephone conversation. Time can be wasted and sales lost by leaving phone messages for people. Email eliminates phone tag.
In the beginning, Yellow Pages ads were, well, yellow. With black type. Then, in an effort to jump start sales, the clever people who invented Yellow Pages in 1886, the Reuben H. Donnelly Corporation, figured an inexpensive way to add red to the ads. Red borders, red type. Higher rates.With the monopoly broken all over the country there are now Yellow Books, Yellow Pages, McLeodUSA Books and a whole bunch of smaller start ups. Some use new printing techniques making 4-color ads available, in some books. The Yellow Book, the fastest growing independent, does not have ane else? What has caused the urgency? Many urgent situations have been caused by mistakes. Determining the cause of urgency can eliminate or postpone a task and lead to prevention measures of interruptions and mistakes.
Some seemingly imperative tasks are not urgent at all. Customers might be making demands that are unnecessary. Check with all parties involved.
The Delegation Qualifier Are you the only person that can handle the task? Sometimes you might be, but many times someone else can perform for you. Delegate everything possible to free up your schedule.
How Else Could the Task Be Done?
Are You Utilizing Technology
Could an in person appointment be a phone call? Conference calling can rule out travel and save an enormous amount of time.
Could you email instead of calling? Email can be done on your terms when you want. You will have time to articulate better compared to the live telephone conversation. Time can be wasted and sales lost by leaving phone messages for people. Email eliminates phone tag.
One of the leading career choices of college seniors in the past and still is today, to become an entrepreneur. Surveys continue to show that one out of three working Americans want to be their own boss. What’s stopping them? Lack of capital. Capital is the fuel that energizes the business.Money is not difficult to find. Available cash always exists in great abundance, but you’ve got to know where to look for it and the proper way to get it. Most start-up entrepreneurs look to family, friends, or banks to get money for their businesses, but one the best yet often overlookte everything possible to free up your schedule.
How Else Could the Task Be Done?
Are You Utilizing Technology
Could an in person appointment be a phone call? Conference calling can rule out travel and save an enormous amount of time.
Could you email instead of calling? Email can be done on your terms when you want. You will have time to articulate better compared to the live telephone conversation. Time can be wasted and sales lost by leaving phone messages for people. Email eliminates phone tag.
Can the Task Be Dissected? Are there portions of the work that can be delegated, eliminated, or postponed?
What is the Cost of Excluding a Task? There are many jobs throughout the day that are actually not worth the time to do. Applying the dollar figure when considering cancelling a task is another measure of the task value.
The Measures of Task Value
Money – How much is the task worth? Time – How much time will it take? Effect – Completed versus Cancelled Effectiveness – What is the most effective way to perform the task? Contribution to Your Objectives Replacement – (What could be done with the time instead?) Division- Dividing the Task into Parts When – Can the task be performed just as well in secondary time?
One great trick for prioritizing is to give every task a deadline.
Give tasks a deadline.
While many SME owners define a start time for projects and tasks when planning, they do not establish a deadline. Having a clear deadline makes tasks easier to prioritize.
Prioritizing while planning is easy. You have time to think. Prioritizing while working is a bit more challenging.
Prioritizing Interruptions
While most people are familiar with prioritizing tasks, few people prioritize their interruptions. Hence, few people have defined the types of events that interrupt them.
Define Interruption Types
In order to take control of your time, you must minimize interruptions. Many SME owners describe their positions as managers, and define management as ‘putting out fires,’ or solving problems. While having a job definition for yourself is a great start, most owners have not defined or classified these problems. They just catch every ball tossed at them. The tail is often wagging the dog.
Think about how you are interrupted from your OUT or productive work. Make a list of every kind of interruption you have experienced in the last three months.
HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.articledump.net/article/20507/articledump-Managing-Your-Time--How-To-Prioritize-Your-Tasks.html">Managing Your Time - How To Prioritize Your Tasks</a>
BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.articledump.net/article/20507/articledump-Managing-Your-Time--How-To-Prioritize-Your-Tasks.html]Managing Your Time - How To Prioritize Your Tasks[/url]
Related Articles:
How To Prepare A Modern Meeting Agenda
What Are The Legitimate Work At Home Opportunities?
Seven Key Qualities of Successful Entrepreneurs
Bookmark it:
|