You see the words everyday:  goal setting, time management, multitasking, organizing….  After diet and weight-loss books, these topics are high on the list of self-help tomes.  I have worked with clients who owned more time management books than many bookstores stock at one time, yet they still need me to come into their offices and work with them.  One of the reasons may be that many of the books are still shrink-wrapped, and the rest are in pristine condition.

It’s appealing to think that a book or a training session will resolve an issue, but there are some points that must be stressed when you sincerely want to improve your time management skills, which can include managing paper, email, and clutter as well as calendars.

1.  SCHEDULING TIME:  No amount of training or reading is going to help if you do not block off time on your calendar to create the systems that provide effective time management solutions.  “I don’t have time” isn’t the answer.  I can guarantee to any of my clients or audiences that if they put in place the techniques I teach, they will have gained all of that spent time back in a week and will be working ahead for the rest of the year.

2.  WORKING IN MANAGEABLE BLOCKS.  When you finish with a training session, you often wait until you have “enough” time to do it all.  Rarely is that much time open.  Be reasonable.  You can clear off your desk one day, the piles on the floor another day, the bookshelves on a third day, and then do the same with your email inboxes.  It isn’t an “all or nothing” proposition.

3.  ELIMINATING OUTSIDE DISTRACTIONS AND INTERRUPTIONS.  It is so easy to be sidetracked.  You want to close your door, limit the interruptions, and allow yourself to concentrate on the task at hand.  A good program will teach you discreet ways to control the interruptions that can pull you away.

4.  MATERIALS NEEDED.  There are two frequent scenarios here.  One is when someone is ready to tackle the disorganization and then finds that he or she does not have folders or boxes, so they stop to shop and by the time they return, the time for getting organized is past.  The other situation is where someone buys so many organizing bins and files, before knowing what is actually needed, that those stack up along with the rest of the accumulation.

5.  TOO MUCH PLANNING=PROCRASTINATION.  Creating goals and mind maps are good things to do, but I have worked with clients who have spent many hours on diagrams, plans, and designs and still manage to avoid taking a concrete step forward toward their vision.

There is more than theory involved in developing systems that help you manage your time.  What does a good time management plan need?

• A step-by-step plan on how to proceed
• A basic list of materials needed to get started, available ahead of time
• A time frame allotted for each segment where you want to make changes
• A commitment to scheduled dates on your calendar

You can’t lose weight by simply reading the books or attending a Weight Watchers meeting.  You can’t make changes in your life by repeatedly attending seminars or reading books.  You want an Action Plan that you can begin implementing immediately, not a theoretical analysis of what is wrong.