More productive in 2011

1. More productive in 2011 Christo Bothma 28 January 2011

2. Agenda • Choose the most important tasks • Close to the revenue line • Capture all your to-do’s in one place • Remember the 3 Q’s and 4 D’s • Create the time to get things done • Avoid e-mails for the 1st hour of the day • Beware multitasking • Stretch time by planning

3. Choose the most important task

4. Close to the revenue line • Top – down prioritizing • Find what creates the revenue for your company i.e. billable hours, most products sold • Allocate a number to your To-do items – 1 being closest to your revenue line and 3 being furthers • When prioritizing be conscious of your revenue generators and perform them first (i.e. no 1’s) • Why start with the most important tasks • This will give you a sense of accomplishment • Give you some breathing room • Doing the workplace dance • Look at the time allocation to perform a task and try and balance time consuming and non time consuming items

5. Capture all your to-do’s in one place • Keep a complete list of all your To-do’s • You can only plan and prioritize properly by having a complete picture of what you have to do • Keep it all in once place • Find a suitable medium for your To-do list i.e. Paper, electronic or both. This should suite your personality • Keep track of all your To-do’s • By keeping a complete written list will keep you conscious of where you spend your time

6. To Do matrix Example of a matrix

7. Remember the 3 Q’s and 4 D’s • The 3 Questions • How long will it take • What is the return on investment (ROI) • What is the deadline • The 4 d’s (delete, delay, delegate, diminish) • Delete – will anybody miss a project if not completed / performed • Delay – what projects can you delay until you have proper time to perform what is needed • Delegate – delegate items if someone else can do it better, faster or well enough (leverage) • Diminish – try and streamline regular items • LET GO • It is important to let go of the non important items and not to stress these items

8. Create the time to get things done

9. Avoid E-mail for the 1st hour of the day • Focus on your most critical task for the first hour • Managing email the rest of the day • Keep your email alarm off • Process emails fully during email session • Say what you need in the subject line • Start your email by telling the reader what you need from them • Keep emails short and to the point • Create stock / standard templates for routine requests • Do not substitute emails for Human contact

10. Beware multitasking • Brain power • NeuroImage science journal - you cannot perform 2 tasks to the best of your ability at the same time • Determine your concentration threshold • Determine what your best concentration threshold is i.e. 15min, 30min or a hour • Focus on the completion • Break tasks down in manageable units • Work these units into your concentration threshold units

11. Stretch time by planning • Group similar tasks • Group certain tasks together during pockets of your time i.e. return all calls during one session • Sample daily Patterns • Layout a routine for yourself during your day keeping you focused • Work with your energy cycles • Try and plan your routine to take your natural energy levels into account

12. Doing Your Best Work • I hope your are more productive going forward

13. Resources • Resource – “Never check E-mail in the morning – Julie Morgenstern”www.juliemorgenstern.com/

14. Questions?