September 19, 2025 • 27 mins
Are you trapped in the long-hours fallacy? One host confesses he once wore 12-hour workdays as a badge of honor until a colleague bluntly pointed out: "The last thing I'd do is brag about taking 12 hours to do your job. You're just incompetent." This wake-up call revolutionized his approach to time management—and can transform yours too.
Time management isn't just about squeezing more into your day; it's about strategic prioritization that reduces stress while amplifying results. Through the deceptively simple ABC method, you'll learn to categorize tasks into must-do (A), should-do (B), and nice-to-do (C) priorities. Most professionals make the critical mistake of tackling numerous C-level tasks while procrastinating on the A-level responsibilities that actually move the needle.
Delegation emerges as another cornerstone skill, not merely for offloading work but for strategic team development. When you delegate effectively, you simultaneously free yourself for higher-level thinking while creating growth opportunities that build trust and improve team morale. The podcast delivers actionable strategies for setting clear expectations, providing necessary tools, and coaching team members toward independence.
Digital distractions receive special attention as modern productivity killers. From the Pomodoro Technique (25-minute focused work intervals) to implementing meeting-free days, you'll discover practical approaches to reclaiming your focus in an interruption-driven workplace. One host shares how his organization's meeting-free Thursdays dramatically improved both productivity and employee satisfaction.
Whether you're struggling with meeting overload, digital notifications, chatty coworkers, or your own procrastination tendencies, this episode provides battle-tested techniques from seasoned executives who've mastered the art of accomplishing more by doing less. Ready to transform your relationship with time? Listen now and start working smarter, not longer.
Presented by John Wandolowski and Greg Powell
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Well, hello and welcome to our podcast Success
Secrets and Stories.
I'm your host, john Wondoloski,and I'm here with my co-host
and friend, greg Powell.
Greg, hey, everybody.
And when we put together thispodcast, we wanted to put out a
helping hand and help that nextgeneration and help answer the
(00:35):
question of what does it mean tobe a leader?
Today, we want to talk about asubject that I think supports
that concept, about a subjectthat I think supports that
concept.
So today we wanted to talkabout a subject that is near and
dear to my heart when I was inmanagement Time management.
How do you effectively talkabout using your time well,
(00:59):
reducing stress, increasing yourenergy, achieving your goals
and really trying to do aproductive job?
It will really help you interms of career, because time
management is one of those keysthat a lot of people really
don't understand the strength ofit.
At one point I was working 12hours a day and one of the other
(01:28):
managers told me you know, thelast thing I'd do is brag about
how you're taking 12 hours a dayto do your job.
You're just incompetent.
And my first flash that wentacross my head was what?
But the more I thought about it, he was right.
I was really not using my timewell and it was a hard lesson to
learn.
I thought it was a point of sortof like from the football days,
(01:49):
whenever you hear about thecoach, the last one to turn off
the lights, or the quarterbackwas there working with just the
receivers until the lights hadto come on and they had to scoot
them off the field.
That really doesn't work.
That's not a wise approach.
You can be effective and stillbe able to do things that you
have at home, and you don't haveto sacrifice that if you
(02:09):
understand time management.
So some of the core thingswe're going to talk about in
this podcast we're going to talkabout prioritizing, about
planning, about delegation verykey point in terms of time
management About delegation verykey point in terms of time
management.
Managing time wasters anotherreally important subject to talk
(02:29):
about Goal setting and toolsand techniques.
So, greg, why don't you startus off?
Speaker 1 (02:37):
All right, thanks, john.
So let's start off withprioritization.
Think about ABCs, right, whenwe were younger.
Abc easy as one, two, three.
It's that basic, right?
It's that simple.
The ABC method is a simpleprioritization technique that
involves categorizing tasks intothree levels of importance.
Okay, we're going to talk abouthow to apply the ABC method,
(02:57):
looking at things that are highpriority, very important and a
major significance.
Those are A items.
B items have medium priority.
They're important, but theyhave medium significance.
And then the C items lowpriority, less important, minor
significance, which means if youdon't necessarily get them done
, it's not necessarily a bigdeal.
So the first thing you do ismake a list of all of your tasks
(03:19):
, assign a priority level A, bor C to each one.
So an A, as we said earlier, isa must-do.
High priority tasks that arecritical, urgent, they're
time-sensitive and havesignificant consequences if you
don't complete them.
These directly contribute tothe company's goals.
B these are the things youshould do.
They're important but not asurgent as an A-TAS.
(03:41):
They contribute to the progressbut lack severe immediate
consequences if you postponethem.
And yes, cs, those are thosenice to-dos, low-priority tasks
that are neither important norurgent and can be done anytime
time allows.
So the first thing you do youstart with those A-TAS, get away
from those C-TAS, start withthose A-TAS.
(04:02):
After you're completing theA-TAS, then move on to your B
tasks as we said, still reallyimportant and then finally
address your C tasks.
Regular review of your list toreevaluate priorities, because
we know they change sometimesand adjust as new tasks arise or
circumstances change.
So how do you apply the ABCmethod?
(04:22):
The real power of this tool is,if you're only addressing the
C-level assignments, you have aproblem.
You've got a big problem.
Get in there, make the extraeffort to get the difficult
tasks done first, otherwise thegoals are miscoded and those
tasks are and you're going toavoid any real or important
tasks that are normally apriority to accomplish your job,
(04:44):
john.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yeah, and just talking about that for a second,
I had people prioritize theirwork and prioritize in our
facilities environment.
They had A, b and C work ordersand it was humorous when they
say that I've done, at least youknow, 35 hours of work orders
this particular week and I wouldpull all the work orders up and
(05:09):
said, yes, every one of themwas a C-level work order.
Congratulations, you did thestuff that people kind of was
interested in.
But the things that were reallyimportant, like a water leak
currently staining the top ofthe ceiling that might be
actually a failure of a waterline that you're putting off to
next week Not a good idea.
(05:31):
That was an A.
You should be doing the A's.
So it's a great focusing tooland the other part is it helps
them in terms of not gettingoverwhelmed.
It reduces that sense that Ihave issues and I guess the most
important part in terms ofbeing overwhelmed, if an
individual has nothing but A'son their list, you need to help
(05:55):
them and that's something we'regoing to be talking about a
little bit later.
You need to help delegate someof those A's so that you're not
overwhelming one individual andthe person next to them is just
doing the C's.
It's, you know, looking at thatbalance to improve the
efficiencies, to make sure thatyou're getting the A's completed
.
A little bit of that is alsocalled proactive planning, and
(06:17):
when I was using it for a workorder system, I would actually
do that on a Monday and I wouldreview it with the teams on a
Friday.
Do that on a Monday and I wouldreview it with the teams on a
Friday, and it was interestingbecause there was an engagement
on how those priorities were setand they would alter the
priorities in order to make itan accomplishment.
It was really a good teambuilding skill as well as
(06:37):
teaching someone how to plantheir job.
So another way of something thatwe talked about is delegating
and understanding how to handlethat delegation.
If you're the manager, youshould be involved in the
process enough to be able todelegate to other teams, to
understand their skill sets, toengage with the workforce, to
make sure that they're capable,and that also means you might
(07:00):
have a training requirement.
There might be a way of teamingpeople up to be more productive
.
All that's that exchange ofinformation to see how they're
handling their tasks.
Not only that, but it alsobuilds trust and improves morale
because you're engaged in theconversation.
It's a culture of sharing thatteam load and it really opens up
(07:22):
the opportunity for innovation.
If you have that kind ofexchange, you're going to see
the team actually grow and ifyou're a manager, that's the key
.
This creates at least aplatform for communication.
Some of the benefits of doingthis kind of ABC approach and
(07:43):
being engaged.
It frees up time for you as amanager to work on strategic
work, to understand that youneed to get to high activity,
like five-year planning goalsand strategic planning goals.
Those are the things that youshould be working on at a
manager's level To maximizepersonal and team productivity.
(08:07):
In being a manager andunderstanding the art of
delegating, you're going to seea return on that investment of
time.
You're going to see people growin terms of strength and maybe
you start looking at how you cancross train people at the same
time.
It is a powerful tool to helpleaders to demonstrate that they
(08:28):
understand how to grow a teamand be able to be competitive.
You're not going to be sittingback waiting for something to
happen and be reactive.
You want to be proactive.
Other things in terms ofempowerment or helping that team
(08:49):
member taking a sense ofownership, that skill level and
development and growth all kindof interface interfaces at the
same time so that you're helpingpeople to develop new skills,
new capacities.
That cross-training mentalityis probably one of the better
times to put two people togetherand have it as almost like a
semi-training moment.
(09:09):
That's when you're engaged inmaking the process work.
It increases confidence andmotivation with the team because
then all of a sudden you'redeveloping that trust and it
boosts their responsibility andtheir confidence at the same
time and they'll startvolunteering for taking on some
of the harder work and it'samazing how that piece of using
(09:33):
their skill sets and their ownpersonal involvement feeds on
that ability to plan work.
But the key for me was learningthe skills of delegating, and
one of my biggest challengesdoing that was setting clear
expectations.
You have to be able tounderstand what you're asking
(09:54):
your team to do and be able totake a look at the larger
picture.
That may not be one of thethings you can do when you first
start, but over time that's thekey to understand that you're
being effective.
And you need to make sure thatthey have the tools in order to
succeed, whether it be trainingor an actual physical component,
(10:14):
that whole thing about makingan assessment of what they need.
I would ask the question at thebeginning of the shift is there
any tool that you don't havethat I need to purchase in order
to do the work?
We have here today, and it'sinteresting that there were
tools that I would constantlyhave to buy not really that many
(10:35):
, but they had to take ownershipof making sure that if there
was something that they needed,they had to stand up.
They had to ask for the tool,and it was a wonderful time to
exchange, and other people wouldsay well, you know, I need that
tool too.
Well, that's the whole idea ofhaving that meeting, that trying
to work with the teams anddevelop them at the same time,
(10:57):
if you noticed, I'm coaching,and that's the other part of
doing this is delegating is alsocoaching and helping them to
help find their own solutions.
Not to provide answers, but toask them challenging questions.
Quite often you know that theyhave the skill set, but they've
never worked in a particularpart or that particular
(11:19):
environment.
Show them that you have theconfidence in them being able to
handle it and it's amazing thatthat built trust starts to
build their confidence and allof a sudden, you fostered a
better team.
So, greg, what if we want totalk about another challenge in
terms of time management?
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Sure thing, john.
How about managing time wasters?
Sure thing, john.
(11:57):
How about managing time wasters?
To manage time wasters,minimize distractions by
blocking focus and creating aquiet workspace.
Reduce interruptions by settingboundaries and using do not
disturb modes.
There's a lot of electronicdevices out there now that will
help you protect your time.
You want to improve meetings bysetting clear agendas right
Meeting management 101, clearagendas, time limits, shorter
default durations, or byimplementing a meeting-free day,
which I've seen happen in acompany I worked at which the
employees thought were fantasticand it really did help them
manage wasted time, becausethere's a lot of social media
(12:18):
distractions out there, right?
So what can we do to help youtake care of that?
Let's minimize distractions.
So block focus time, schedulededicated blocks of your time on
your calendar for focused workand protect that time from
interruptions, because we haveelectronic calendars now.
If you don't block it out,somebody can ride in over you
and take some of your time for ameeting.
(12:38):
Create a productive workspace.
Adjust your physical workspaceto reduce distractions and
improve your focus so itshouldn't be cluttered, chairs
should be comfortable, thecomputer should be set up All
those ergonomic things.
They do make a difference forkeeping you from being
distracted.
Turn off notifications, thatching, that chime, whatever you
hear all the time.
My friend John's got a watchthat'll do that for him.
(13:00):
Silence those notifications onyour phone.
Computer during focus workperiods.
Use do not disturb modes.
Utilize those do not disturb orvoicemail messages to minimize
external interruptions.
Now let's talk about reducinginterruptions.
First thing you do is you setboundaries, politely set
(13:21):
boundaries with coworkers whofrequently drop in.
We say the drop by, fly by justto chit chat with you.
Sometimes that's good, but ifyou're really focused on
something it's not going to beas helpful.
So if it's not urgent, you'llcatch them at a later time.
You'll catch them at lunch,catch them after work.
You got to communicate.
Let others know when you areunavailable for interruptions
and when you can be reachedright and give them an out
(13:42):
because it might be important orsemi-important, probably a B,
but it's probably not an A.
Give them a chance to make thatdetermination on how to get on
your calendar.
When to John sent this already.
Delegate and automate.
Identify tasks that can bedelegated to others or automated
with technology because you'retrying to free up your time.
Talk a little bit about this inother podcasts, but it's still
(14:04):
a big issue Improving meetingefficiency.
Set clear agendas and goals.
Ensure every meeting has aclear purpose there's an agenda
that everybody's been exposed toand define the objectives to
keep it focused Right.
So good meeting management,john.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
And don't think it's a problem if you write it at the
top of the whiteboard beforeeverybody comes in so that they
don't get off the subject thatthey're concentrating on the
subject.
Make it simple.
The more focused you can makethat meeting, the better off
it's going to be.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
That's right.
Also, you want to keep meetingsshort.
You don't have a two-hourmeeting just to have a two-hour
meeting.
If you've got content for ahalf-hour meeting, then have a
half-hour meeting, but run iteffectively.
Limit meetings to a maximum of30 minutes or even use a
25-minute default to allow forprocessing and preparation and
also time for people to go toanother session, but keep them
(15:01):
short.
Question necessity Regularlyassess whether a meeting is
truly necessary.
Just because you've been havingthis meeting every month for
the last three years, is itgetting you anywhere?
Is it effective?
It's okay to call and say youknow what, let's shelve this
meeting and do somethingdifferent.
Or if the information could beconveyed through another method,
like email or another kind ofcommunication.
If you have meetings just tocommunicate, that may not always
(15:23):
be the most effective way to beefficient.
Consider meeting-free days.
I worked at a company that didthat.
I remember we had an IT groupthat loved it and it was
incredible.
I think it was Thursday andthey were so productive on that
day.
Their spirits were liftedbecause it was like hey, I can
really focus, I can really getsome things done, I can knock
out that big assignment or put abig dent in it, and that's what
(15:43):
you want.
Now let's talk a little bitabout some common distractions.
Digital notifications, constantalerts from your email, social
media chat apps all that stufftakes you out of your focused
work thinking.
Social media it's a gift andit's a curse.
Right, the habit of mindlesslyscrolling through social media
(16:05):
feeds is a major productivitydrain.
It's just not a good way tospend all your time.
Multitasking, jogging multipletasks at once actually reduces
concentration and increaseserrors, making you less
productive.
Because there's been a lot oftalk about that hey, I'm a
multitasker.
That's good.
Well, sometimes multitasking isnot so good.
Disorganization and you knowwho I'm talking about I might be
(16:28):
talking about you.
A cluttered physical or digitalworkspace can make that very
difficult to find what you needwhen you need it.
It just wastes time.
Chatty co -workers we all havea couple of those, not just on
the Monday morning thing orFriday afternoon, but that
gossip.
It can disrupt your flow andtake up significant time.
You just have to avoid that.
Probably my biggest sinprocrastination.
(16:51):
This internal time washerinvolves delaying important
tasks.
We talked about those A tasks.
Don't procrastinate on A tasks,right, that's going to lead to
more stress and probably amissed deadline.
John.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
So, yeah, we're not trying to be too repetitive, but
if the first thing that runs toyour mind is I got to minimize
the distractions and that's justwhat Greg has been talking
about, let me just reinforce itSchedule a deep work time, a
block of time, uninterrupted,and put it on the calendar for
(17:25):
everybody to see that you'rebusy uninterrupted, and put it
on the calendar for everybody tosee that you're busy.
I used to do this, usuallybetween 10 and 12.
And then the other piece of itis I wanted to eat lunch and I
would put lunch for 30 minutesjust for the sake of saying
don't call me during my lunch.
Now, if you end up, we can makecontact, so be it, but that is
my time, and there were manyoccasions where I would go a
(17:51):
number of days where I never hadlunch.
I never took a break.
It was from the time I openedthe door to the time I left.
Those days happen, but it makesmore sense to put it on the
schedule Control notifications.
Disable non-essentialnotifications on your phone, on
your email and on the other apps, because it's just disrupting
(18:12):
you and it's going to throw youoff that concentration that
you're trying to use to getsomething done like an
a-priority.
You don't need to be pulled offevery five minutes with a
distraction.
Create a focused environment.
Now.
Sometimes you cannot create theenvironment, put up walls and
(18:33):
change the physical world, butyou can put on noise-canceling
headphones or you can do a fewthings in terms of making a more
quiet environment.
That's probably the first placeto go if you're looking to be
able to focus Now.
This one, I thought, wasinteresting in researching for
this podcast.
(18:53):
I haven't heard this one before.
A predermal technique.
Am I pronouncing it right, gregPomodoro?
Oh, thank you.
Okay, I wasn't even close.
Well, this is a method thatthey talk about to focus for 25
minute intervals and then take abreak, and it trains your brain
to concentrate.
I love this technique.
(19:14):
This makes a lot of sensebecause it's probably being more
realistic to a work environmentand if you can spend that 25
minutes and really, really,really concentrate, you're
probably going to see that listat the end of the day that you
were doing A and B items, notjust C items.
That's the key.
(19:36):
Last one is something that weare repeating again block the
websites, block the interference.
There's, I guess, apps for that.
I know that doesn't surpriseanybody that's listening.
I don't even want to try togive you the names because it
changes like every three months,but there are website blockers
that make sense, especially ifit becomes really a nuisance.
(19:57):
But I think I want to pull backand actually talk about a
subject that makes much moresense if you're trying to be
effective in terms of timemanagement.
It makes much more sense ifyou're trying to be effective in
terms of time management.
Do the homework.
Spend the time in a meeting toset it up so that it can be done
effectively and quickly.
And what do I mean by that?
(20:17):
First, before the meeting,you're sending out the invite
and you're telling them.
You're giving them theinformation beforehand and
hopefully like the teasers ofthe presentation, if not the
actual presentation, so thatyour time would be most
effective.
They know what it is thatthey're talking about.
Put together an agenda.
(20:40):
Sometimes people don't do that.
Sometimes they talk about itbeing old school.
If you have a complicated issueand you want to try to get it
to be a productive 25-minutemeeting, spelling out your
objectives is an agenda kind offormat.
Do it, trust me?
Next is only invite the rightpeople and limit it.
(21:05):
I personally found thatmeetings that had 10, 12, 15
people were counterproductive.
The closer you can be to thecore of what you need to get
something done.
Three to five people is usuallythe number that worked out the
best, greg.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Yeah, john, just going to mention some podcasts.
Ago I mentioned what we used tocall one pizza or two pizza
meetings.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Is this a one?
Speaker 1 (21:27):
pizza meeting.
Right, there's enough one largepizza, so we need three or four
people.
Or is this a two pizza meeting?
We need a lot more.
That's another way to look atlimiting the size.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Perfect.
Yeah, yeah, there's more peoplethat go to meetings just to
fill in the time and, I think,sometimes get a donut and a cup
of coffee.
They productively did nothingin the meetings and it's just
fascinating to see that actuallytaking place.
The other thing is expectationssetting the goals that you're
expecting somebody to be able tohelp with.
(21:57):
Not just attend and say thatthey heard the presentation, but
an assignment.
What are you supposed to bedoing when you are coming to
this meeting?
We're looking for your help,your decision, your assistance.
That's before the meeting.
Now, when you're in the actualmeeting, here is the newsflash,
and it sometimes is a hard thingfor a lot of people to get used
(22:19):
to Start on time, especially ifyou want to do 25 minutes.
It is respectful of everybodyelse's agendas, everybody else's
time, everybody else'sconversations.
Don't let the conversationsdrift.
Stay on the subject and usuallytelling people we want to make
this quick, let's pull it backin and boom, you're back on your
(22:42):
subject.
It really does help in order toget something productive Nine
times out of 10,.
The reason that you're pullinga team together is you're giving
out assignments, which iscalled action items, and you're
going to give them not only justa blank sheet of paper.
It's an action item.
It's an expectation of whenit's going to be done.
It talks about key deliverables.
(23:03):
This is a document that is alsosupported in terms of you
writing up what was talked aboutin the meeting.
You see how that kind ofcombines.
It's.
Also when it's written, peoplecan have convenient memory when
they were given an assignmentand never did it.
And by putting simpledocumentation and if you're
(23:25):
spending more than 100 words onyour documentation, you're not
using your time.
Well, make it short, make itbrief, make it to the point.
Next is encourage participation.
Don't be sitting and tellingpeople.
It's supposed to be an exchange.
You want to make sure thatyou're facilitating the process
(23:51):
and the other part is trying tomaybe manage the overly vocal
people that have their opinion,that want to drive a net result.
Unless you think that deviationfrom your original plan for the
meeting makes sense, you haveto pull them back.
Last point of in the meeting isbanning those interrupters again
.
Banning phones, banning pagers.
Yes, everybody's important.
The only time that I've seenthis not work very well is in
(24:11):
the hospital environment and thedoctor gets a call.
Sorry, trump card.
They have to answer that call.
It could be about their pizza,you wouldn't know, but they have
life and death decisions.
That's not the time to talkabout your rules of the meeting.
And then, after the meetingthis is the part that I think is
(24:32):
most frustrating Send afollow-up to make sure that the
action items and the key pointsthat were talked about during
the meeting were clear, thatpeople understand the next step,
they understand the timetablesthat are associated with it.
It promotes accountability.
And then something that I'veseen that sometimes in the
(24:53):
meetings, when they have enoughtime, but after the meetings, is
ask for feedback what did we do?
How did we do?
What did we miss?
What did you like?
What didn't you like?
Anything to try to get thatfeedback, to say that there's
somebody out there and they'rereceiving your message.
That's really important to knowthat you're doing a good job.
Greg, I think you have one lastpoint.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
I do, john.
The meeting after the meeting.
So I worked in a situationwhere we had a fairly senior
person, had their staff meetingson Friday afternoon, working on
projects that were going to howthey were going to handle them,
and they would wrestle aroundand come up with a decision, a
united agreement on okay, here'sthe way we're going.
People went home for theweekend, come back in on Monday
morning and the senior leadersaid no, I thought about it all
(25:36):
weekend.
I don't want to go that route,I want to go a whole different
route.
And it was very frustrating forthe team, and I suspect that
the senior leader really didn'tget his agenda in place the way
he wanted, and so it was verydisruptive.
It was very challenging forfolks.
We worked through it, we founda way to make sure that it
didn't happen again, but it'sjust a waste of time.
(25:58):
It was just really a waste oftime.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
I think when we were talking about this offline, it
was kind of funny because, like,the entire team was like what
is he doing?
Yes, it's the executive andyou're getting the pushback in
the HR department going.
What are you doing?
You had to call up theexecutive.
It's like no, that's not howmeetings work.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Yes, and sadly, john, it wasn't just one meeting,
this was a frequent kind ofaction.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Yeah, that's even worse.
Yes, so meetings are importantin terms of time management and
time wasters.
If you do it right, it's a it'sa great tool.
If you don't do it to the pointwhere it's exhausting, it's an
effective tool.
Um, so hopefully you like whatyou've heard.
I've written a book calledbuilding your leadership toolbox
(26:48):
and we talk about tools likethis and it's available on
Amazon and Barnes and Noble andother sites.
The podcast is what you've beenlistening to.
Thank you so much.
It's also available on Apple,google and Spotify.
A lot of what we talk about isfrom Dr Durst and his MBR
program.
If you'd like to know moreabout Dr Durst and his MBR
program.
If you'd like to know moreabout Dr Durst, you can find out
(27:08):
on successgrowthacademycom andif you'd like to contact us,
please send me a line.
That's wando75.jw at gmailcom,and the music has been brought
to you by my grandson, so wewant to hear from you.
Drop me a line, tell me what'sgoing on, what you like and what
(27:30):
you would like to hear about.
It has always helped us tocreate content.
Thanks, greg, this was fun.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Thanks, john, as always.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Next time yeah.
Well, hello and welcome to our podcast Success
Secrets and Stories.
I'm your host, john Wondoloski,and I'm here with my co-host
and friend, greg Powell.
Greg, hey, everybody.
And when we put together thispodcast, we wanted to put out a
helping hand and help that nextgeneration and help answer the
(00:35):
question of what does it mean tobe a leader?
Today, we want to talk about asubject that I think supports
that concept, about a subjectthat I think supports that
concept.
So today we wanted to talkabout a subject that is near and
dear to my heart when I was inmanagement Time management.
How do you effectively talkabout using your time well,
(00:59):
reducing stress, increasing yourenergy, achieving your goals
and really trying to do aproductive job?
It will really help you interms of career, because time
management is one of those keysthat a lot of people really
don't understand the strength ofit.
At one point I was working 12hours a day and one of the other
(01:28):
managers told me you know, thelast thing I'd do is brag about
how you're taking 12 hours a dayto do your job.
You're just incompetent.
And my first flash that wentacross my head was what?
But the more I thought about it, he was right.
I was really not using my timewell and it was a hard lesson to
learn.
I thought it was a point of sortof like from the football days,
(01:49):
whenever you hear about thecoach, the last one to turn off
the lights, or the quarterbackwas there working with just the
receivers until the lights hadto come on and they had to scoot
them off the field.
That really doesn't work.
That's not a wise approach.
You can be effective and stillbe able to do things that you
have at home, and you don't haveto sacrifice that if you
(02:09):
understand time management.
So some of the core thingswe're going to talk about in
this podcast we're going to talkabout prioritizing, about
planning, about delegation verykey point in terms of time
management About delegation verykey point in terms of time
management.
Managing time wasters anotherreally important subject to talk
(02:29):
about Goal setting and toolsand techniques.
So, greg, why don't you startus off?
Speaker 1 (02:37):
All right, thanks, john.
So let's start off withprioritization.
Think about ABCs, right, whenwe were younger.
Abc easy as one, two, three.
It's that basic, right?
It's that simple.
The ABC method is a simpleprioritization technique that
involves categorizing tasks intothree levels of importance.
Okay, we're going to talk abouthow to apply the ABC method,
(02:57):
looking at things that are highpriority, very important and a
major significance.
Those are A items.
B items have medium priority.
They're important, but theyhave medium significance.
And then the C items lowpriority, less important, minor
significance, which means if youdon't necessarily get them done
, it's not necessarily a bigdeal.
So the first thing you do ismake a list of all of your tasks
(03:19):
, assign a priority level A, bor C to each one.
So an A, as we said earlier, isa must-do.
High priority tasks that arecritical, urgent, they're
time-sensitive and havesignificant consequences if you
don't complete them.
These directly contribute tothe company's goals.
B these are the things youshould do.
They're important but not asurgent as an A-TAS.
(03:41):
They contribute to the progressbut lack severe immediate
consequences if you postponethem.
And yes, cs, those are thosenice to-dos, low-priority tasks
that are neither important norurgent and can be done anytime
time allows.
So the first thing you do youstart with those A-TAS, get away
from those C-TAS, start withthose A-TAS.
(04:02):
After you're completing theA-TAS, then move on to your B
tasks as we said, still reallyimportant and then finally
address your C tasks.
Regular review of your list toreevaluate priorities, because
we know they change sometimesand adjust as new tasks arise or
circumstances change.
So how do you apply the ABCmethod?
(04:22):
The real power of this tool is,if you're only addressing the
C-level assignments, you have aproblem.
You've got a big problem.
Get in there, make the extraeffort to get the difficult
tasks done first, otherwise thegoals are miscoded and those
tasks are and you're going toavoid any real or important
tasks that are normally apriority to accomplish your job,
(04:44):
john.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yeah, and just talking about that for a second,
I had people prioritize theirwork and prioritize in our
facilities environment.
They had A, b and C work ordersand it was humorous when they
say that I've done, at least youknow, 35 hours of work orders
this particular week and I wouldpull all the work orders up and
(05:09):
said, yes, every one of themwas a C-level work order.
Congratulations, you did thestuff that people kind of was
interested in.
But the things that were reallyimportant, like a water leak
currently staining the top ofthe ceiling that might be
actually a failure of a waterline that you're putting off to
next week Not a good idea.
(05:31):
That was an A.
You should be doing the A's.
So it's a great focusing tooland the other part is it helps
them in terms of not gettingoverwhelmed.
It reduces that sense that Ihave issues and I guess the most
important part in terms ofbeing overwhelmed, if an
individual has nothing but A'son their list, you need to help
(05:55):
them and that's something we'regoing to be talking about a
little bit later.
You need to help delegate someof those A's so that you're not
overwhelming one individual andthe person next to them is just
doing the C's.
It's, you know, looking at thatbalance to improve the
efficiencies, to make sure thatyou're getting the A's completed
.
A little bit of that is alsocalled proactive planning, and
(06:17):
when I was using it for a workorder system, I would actually
do that on a Monday and I wouldreview it with the teams on a
Friday.
Do that on a Monday and I wouldreview it with the teams on a
Friday, and it was interestingbecause there was an engagement
on how those priorities were setand they would alter the
priorities in order to make itan accomplishment.
It was really a good teambuilding skill as well as
(06:37):
teaching someone how to plantheir job.
So another way of something thatwe talked about is delegating
and understanding how to handlethat delegation.
If you're the manager, youshould be involved in the
process enough to be able todelegate to other teams, to
understand their skill sets, toengage with the workforce, to
make sure that they're capable,and that also means you might
(07:00):
have a training requirement.
There might be a way of teamingpeople up to be more productive
.
All that's that exchange ofinformation to see how they're
handling their tasks.
Not only that, but it alsobuilds trust and improves morale
because you're engaged in theconversation.
It's a culture of sharing thatteam load and it really opens up
(07:22):
the opportunity for innovation.
If you have that kind ofexchange, you're going to see
the team actually grow and ifyou're a manager, that's the key
.
This creates at least aplatform for communication.
Some of the benefits of doingthis kind of ABC approach and
(07:43):
being engaged.
It frees up time for you as amanager to work on strategic
work, to understand that youneed to get to high activity,
like five-year planning goalsand strategic planning goals.
Those are the things that youshould be working on at a
manager's level To maximizepersonal and team productivity.
(08:07):
In being a manager andunderstanding the art of
delegating, you're going to seea return on that investment of
time.
You're going to see people growin terms of strength and maybe
you start looking at how you cancross train people at the same
time.
It is a powerful tool to helpleaders to demonstrate that they
(08:28):
understand how to grow a teamand be able to be competitive.
You're not going to be sittingback waiting for something to
happen and be reactive.
You want to be proactive.
Other things in terms ofempowerment or helping that team
(08:49):
member taking a sense ofownership, that skill level and
development and growth all kindof interface interfaces at the
same time so that you're helpingpeople to develop new skills,
new capacities.
That cross-training mentalityis probably one of the better
times to put two people togetherand have it as almost like a
semi-training moment.
(09:09):
That's when you're engaged inmaking the process work.
It increases confidence andmotivation with the team because
then all of a sudden you'redeveloping that trust and it
boosts their responsibility andtheir confidence at the same
time and they'll startvolunteering for taking on some
of the harder work and it'samazing how that piece of using
(09:33):
their skill sets and their ownpersonal involvement feeds on
that ability to plan work.
But the key for me was learningthe skills of delegating, and
one of my biggest challengesdoing that was setting clear
expectations.
You have to be able tounderstand what you're asking
(09:54):
your team to do and be able totake a look at the larger
picture.
That may not be one of thethings you can do when you first
start, but over time that's thekey to understand that you're
being effective.
And you need to make sure thatthey have the tools in order to
succeed, whether it be trainingor an actual physical component,
(10:14):
that whole thing about makingan assessment of what they need.
I would ask the question at thebeginning of the shift is there
any tool that you don't havethat I need to purchase in order
to do the work?
We have here today, and it'sinteresting that there were
tools that I would constantlyhave to buy not really that many
(10:35):
, but they had to take ownershipof making sure that if there
was something that they needed,they had to stand up.
They had to ask for the tool,and it was a wonderful time to
exchange, and other people wouldsay well, you know, I need that
tool too.
Well, that's the whole idea ofhaving that meeting, that trying
to work with the teams anddevelop them at the same time,
(10:57):
if you noticed, I'm coaching,and that's the other part of
doing this is delegating is alsocoaching and helping them to
help find their own solutions.
Not to provide answers, but toask them challenging questions.
Quite often you know that theyhave the skill set, but they've
never worked in a particularpart or that particular
(11:19):
environment.
Show them that you have theconfidence in them being able to
handle it and it's amazing thatthat built trust starts to
build their confidence and allof a sudden, you fostered a
better team.
So, greg, what if we want totalk about another challenge in
terms of time management?
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Sure thing, john.
How about managing time wasters?
Sure thing, john.
(11:57):
How about managing time wasters?
To manage time wasters,minimize distractions by
blocking focus and creating aquiet workspace.
Reduce interruptions by settingboundaries and using do not
disturb modes.
There's a lot of electronicdevices out there now that will
help you protect your time.
You want to improve meetings bysetting clear agendas right
Meeting management 101, clearagendas, time limits, shorter
default durations, or byimplementing a meeting-free day,
which I've seen happen in acompany I worked at which the
employees thought were fantasticand it really did help them
manage wasted time, becausethere's a lot of social media
(12:18):
distractions out there, right?
So what can we do to help youtake care of that?
Let's minimize distractions.
So block focus time, schedulededicated blocks of your time on
your calendar for focused workand protect that time from
interruptions, because we haveelectronic calendars now.
If you don't block it out,somebody can ride in over you
and take some of your time for ameeting.
(12:38):
Create a productive workspace.
Adjust your physical workspaceto reduce distractions and
improve your focus so itshouldn't be cluttered, chairs
should be comfortable, thecomputer should be set up All
those ergonomic things.
They do make a difference forkeeping you from being
distracted.
Turn off notifications, thatching, that chime, whatever you
hear all the time.
My friend John's got a watchthat'll do that for him.
(13:00):
Silence those notifications onyour phone.
Computer during focus workperiods.
Use do not disturb modes.
Utilize those do not disturb orvoicemail messages to minimize
external interruptions.
Now let's talk about reducinginterruptions.
First thing you do is you setboundaries, politely set
(13:21):
boundaries with coworkers whofrequently drop in.
We say the drop by, fly by justto chit chat with you.
Sometimes that's good, but ifyou're really focused on
something it's not going to beas helpful.
So if it's not urgent, you'llcatch them at a later time.
You'll catch them at lunch,catch them after work.
You got to communicate.
Let others know when you areunavailable for interruptions
and when you can be reachedright and give them an out
(13:42):
because it might be important orsemi-important, probably a B,
but it's probably not an A.
Give them a chance to make thatdetermination on how to get on
your calendar.
When to John sent this already.
Delegate and automate.
Identify tasks that can bedelegated to others or automated
with technology because you'retrying to free up your time.
Talk a little bit about this inother podcasts, but it's still
(14:04):
a big issue Improving meetingefficiency.
Set clear agendas and goals.
Ensure every meeting has aclear purpose there's an agenda
that everybody's been exposed toand define the objectives to
keep it focused Right.
So good meeting management,john.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
And don't think it's a problem if you write it at the
top of the whiteboard beforeeverybody comes in so that they
don't get off the subject thatthey're concentrating on the
subject.
Make it simple.
The more focused you can makethat meeting, the better off
it's going to be.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
That's right.
Also, you want to keep meetingsshort.
You don't have a two-hourmeeting just to have a two-hour
meeting.
If you've got content for ahalf-hour meeting, then have a
half-hour meeting, but run iteffectively.
Limit meetings to a maximum of30 minutes or even use a
25-minute default to allow forprocessing and preparation and
also time for people to go toanother session, but keep them
(15:01):
short.
Question necessity Regularlyassess whether a meeting is
truly necessary.
Just because you've been havingthis meeting every month for
the last three years, is itgetting you anywhere?
Is it effective?
It's okay to call and say youknow what, let's shelve this
meeting and do somethingdifferent.
Or if the information could beconveyed through another method,
like email or another kind ofcommunication.
If you have meetings just tocommunicate, that may not always
(15:23):
be the most effective way to beefficient.
Consider meeting-free days.
I worked at a company that didthat.
I remember we had an IT groupthat loved it and it was
incredible.
I think it was Thursday andthey were so productive on that
day.
Their spirits were liftedbecause it was like hey, I can
really focus, I can really getsome things done, I can knock
out that big assignment or put abig dent in it, and that's what
(15:43):
you want.
Now let's talk a little bitabout some common distractions.
Digital notifications, constantalerts from your email, social
media chat apps all that stufftakes you out of your focused
work thinking.
Social media it's a gift andit's a curse.
Right, the habit of mindlesslyscrolling through social media
(16:05):
feeds is a major productivitydrain.
It's just not a good way tospend all your time.
Multitasking, jogging multipletasks at once actually reduces
concentration and increaseserrors, making you less
productive.
Because there's been a lot oftalk about that hey, I'm a
multitasker.
That's good.
Well, sometimes multitasking isnot so good.
Disorganization and you knowwho I'm talking about I might be
(16:28):
talking about you.
A cluttered physical or digitalworkspace can make that very
difficult to find what you needwhen you need it.
It just wastes time.
Chatty co -workers we all havea couple of those, not just on
the Monday morning thing orFriday afternoon, but that
gossip.
It can disrupt your flow andtake up significant time.
You just have to avoid that.
Probably my biggest sinprocrastination.
(16:51):
This internal time washerinvolves delaying important
tasks.
We talked about those A tasks.
Don't procrastinate on A tasks,right, that's going to lead to
more stress and probably amissed deadline.
John.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
So, yeah, we're not trying to be too repetitive, but
if the first thing that runs toyour mind is I got to minimize
the distractions and that's justwhat Greg has been talking
about, let me just reinforce itSchedule a deep work time, a
block of time, uninterrupted,and put it on the calendar for
(17:25):
everybody to see that you'rebusy uninterrupted, and put it
on the calendar for everybody tosee that you're busy.
I used to do this, usuallybetween 10 and 12.
And then the other piece of itis I wanted to eat lunch and I
would put lunch for 30 minutesjust for the sake of saying
don't call me during my lunch.
Now, if you end up, we can makecontact, so be it, but that is
my time, and there were manyoccasions where I would go a
(17:51):
number of days where I never hadlunch.
I never took a break.
It was from the time I openedthe door to the time I left.
Those days happen, but it makesmore sense to put it on the
schedule Control notifications.
Disable non-essentialnotifications on your phone, on
your email and on the other apps, because it's just disrupting
(18:12):
you and it's going to throw youoff that concentration that
you're trying to use to getsomething done like an
a-priority.
You don't need to be pulled offevery five minutes with a
distraction.
Create a focused environment.
Now.
Sometimes you cannot create theenvironment, put up walls and
(18:33):
change the physical world, butyou can put on noise-canceling
headphones or you can do a fewthings in terms of making a more
quiet environment.
That's probably the first placeto go if you're looking to be
able to focus Now.
This one, I thought, wasinteresting in researching for
this podcast.
(18:53):
I haven't heard this one before.
A predermal technique.
Am I pronouncing it right, gregPomodoro?
Oh, thank you.
Okay, I wasn't even close.
Well, this is a method thatthey talk about to focus for 25
minute intervals and then take abreak, and it trains your brain
to concentrate.
I love this technique.
(19:14):
This makes a lot of sensebecause it's probably being more
realistic to a work environmentand if you can spend that 25
minutes and really, really,really concentrate, you're
probably going to see that listat the end of the day that you
were doing A and B items, notjust C items.
That's the key.
(19:36):
Last one is something that weare repeating again block the
websites, block the interference.
There's, I guess, apps for that.
I know that doesn't surpriseanybody that's listening.
I don't even want to try togive you the names because it
changes like every three months,but there are website blockers
that make sense, especially ifit becomes really a nuisance.
(19:57):
But I think I want to pull backand actually talk about a
subject that makes much moresense if you're trying to be
effective in terms of timemanagement.
It makes much more sense ifyou're trying to be effective in
terms of time management.
Do the homework.
Spend the time in a meeting toset it up so that it can be done
effectively and quickly.
And what do I mean by that?
(20:17):
First, before the meeting,you're sending out the invite
and you're telling them.
You're giving them theinformation beforehand and
hopefully like the teasers ofthe presentation, if not the
actual presentation, so thatyour time would be most
effective.
They know what it is thatthey're talking about.
Put together an agenda.
(20:40):
Sometimes people don't do that.
Sometimes they talk about itbeing old school.
If you have a complicated issueand you want to try to get it
to be a productive 25-minutemeeting, spelling out your
objectives is an agenda kind offormat.
Do it, trust me?
Next is only invite the rightpeople and limit it.
(21:05):
I personally found thatmeetings that had 10, 12, 15
people were counterproductive.
The closer you can be to thecore of what you need to get
something done.
Three to five people is usuallythe number that worked out the
best, greg.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Yeah, john, just going to mention some podcasts.
Ago I mentioned what we used tocall one pizza or two pizza
meetings.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Is this a one?
Speaker 1 (21:27):
pizza meeting.
Right, there's enough one largepizza, so we need three or four
people.
Or is this a two pizza meeting?
We need a lot more.
That's another way to look atlimiting the size.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Perfect.
Yeah, yeah, there's more peoplethat go to meetings just to
fill in the time and, I think,sometimes get a donut and a cup
of coffee.
They productively did nothingin the meetings and it's just
fascinating to see that actuallytaking place.
The other thing is expectationssetting the goals that you're
expecting somebody to be able tohelp with.
(21:57):
Not just attend and say thatthey heard the presentation, but
an assignment.
What are you supposed to bedoing when you are coming to
this meeting?
We're looking for your help,your decision, your assistance.
That's before the meeting.
Now, when you're in the actualmeeting, here is the newsflash,
and it sometimes is a hard thingfor a lot of people to get used
(22:19):
to Start on time, especially ifyou want to do 25 minutes.
It is respectful of everybodyelse's agendas, everybody else's
time, everybody else'sconversations.
Don't let the conversationsdrift.
Stay on the subject and usuallytelling people we want to make
this quick, let's pull it backin and boom, you're back on your
(22:42):
subject.
It really does help in order toget something productive Nine
times out of 10,.
The reason that you're pullinga team together is you're giving
out assignments, which iscalled action items, and you're
going to give them not only justa blank sheet of paper.
It's an action item.
It's an expectation of whenit's going to be done.
It talks about key deliverables.
(23:03):
This is a document that is alsosupported in terms of you
writing up what was talked aboutin the meeting.
You see how that kind ofcombines.
It's.
Also when it's written, peoplecan have convenient memory when
they were given an assignmentand never did it.
And by putting simpledocumentation and if you're
(23:25):
spending more than 100 words onyour documentation, you're not
using your time.
Well, make it short, make itbrief, make it to the point.
Next is encourage participation.
Don't be sitting and tellingpeople.
It's supposed to be an exchange.
You want to make sure thatyou're facilitating the process
(23:51):
and the other part is trying tomaybe manage the overly vocal
people that have their opinion,that want to drive a net result.
Unless you think that deviationfrom your original plan for the
meeting makes sense, you haveto pull them back.
Last point of in the meeting isbanning those interrupters again
.
Banning phones, banning pagers.
Yes, everybody's important.
The only time that I've seenthis not work very well is in
(24:11):
the hospital environment and thedoctor gets a call.
Sorry, trump card.
They have to answer that call.
It could be about their pizza,you wouldn't know, but they have
life and death decisions.
That's not the time to talkabout your rules of the meeting.
And then, after the meetingthis is the part that I think is
(24:32):
most frustrating Send afollow-up to make sure that the
action items and the key pointsthat were talked about during
the meeting were clear, thatpeople understand the next step,
they understand the timetablesthat are associated with it.
It promotes accountability.
And then something that I'veseen that sometimes in the
(24:53):
meetings, when they have enoughtime, but after the meetings, is
ask for feedback what did we do?
How did we do?
What did we miss?
What did you like?
What didn't you like?
Anything to try to get thatfeedback, to say that there's
somebody out there and they'rereceiving your message.
That's really important to knowthat you're doing a good job.
Greg, I think you have one lastpoint.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
I do, john.
The meeting after the meeting.
So I worked in a situationwhere we had a fairly senior
person, had their staff meetingson Friday afternoon, working on
projects that were going to howthey were going to handle them,
and they would wrestle aroundand come up with a decision, a
united agreement on okay, here'sthe way we're going.
People went home for theweekend, come back in on Monday
morning and the senior leadersaid no, I thought about it all
(25:36):
weekend.
I don't want to go that route,I want to go a whole different
route.
And it was very frustrating forthe team, and I suspect that
the senior leader really didn'tget his agenda in place the way
he wanted, and so it was verydisruptive.
It was very challenging forfolks.
We worked through it, we founda way to make sure that it
didn't happen again, but it'sjust a waste of time.
(25:58):
It was just really a waste oftime.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
I think when we were talking about this offline, it
was kind of funny because, like,the entire team was like what
is he doing?
Yes, it's the executive andyou're getting the pushback in
the HR department going.
What are you doing?
You had to call up theexecutive.
It's like no, that's not howmeetings work.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Yes, and sadly, john, it wasn't just one meeting,
this was a frequent kind ofaction.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Yeah, that's even worse.
Yes, so meetings are importantin terms of time management and
time wasters.
If you do it right, it's a it'sa great tool.
If you don't do it to the pointwhere it's exhausting, it's an
effective tool.
Um, so hopefully you like whatyou've heard.
I've written a book calledbuilding your leadership toolbox
(26:48):
and we talk about tools likethis and it's available on
Amazon and Barnes and Noble andother sites.
The podcast is what you've beenlistening to.
Thank you so much.
It's also available on Apple,google and Spotify.
A lot of what we talk about isfrom Dr Durst and his MBR
program.
If you'd like to know moreabout Dr Durst and his MBR
program.
If you'd like to know moreabout Dr Durst, you can find out
(27:08):
on successgrowthacademycom andif you'd like to contact us,
please send me a line.
That's wando75.jw at gmailcom,and the music has been brought
to you by my grandson, so wewant to hear from you.
Drop me a line, tell me what'sgoing on, what you like and what
(27:30):
you would like to hear about.
It has always helped us tocreate content.
Thanks, greg, this was fun.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Thanks, john, as always.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Next time yeah.
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