TIME AND PRODUCTIVITY MANAGEMENT
LIVING LIFE SMARTLY WITHOUT STRESS
SPENDING TIME WHERE IT REALLY ADDS TO YOUR LIFE
Old sections - ignore



OTHER SECTIONS TO COORDINATE WITH THIS:

Click the following title to go to:  The Operating Notebook - For managing daily, weekly, quarterly in an organized manner.   This is designed to supplement other systems by having easy reference pages and sections for your daily operating needs.  In the Table of Contents are sections and subsections designed so you'll have a place for everything.  While some of the same forms could be in other notebooks, they would be brought into this one whenever they are useful for more current referenceability.

See also LifePlan and the LifeBook Notebooks in Site Map III.   




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CONTENTS OF THIS PAGE:

INTRODUCTORY:

PERSPECTIVE ON TIME MANAGEMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY - See what it can do for you and figure out how great the returns can be. 

      A "QUIK-PATH" TO LEARNING AND SETTING YOU UP.  For your sake, at least do this
         quicker path to getting set up.  We have some "higher level" things after this, but this
          path will set you up so your productivity goes way up.

REFERENCE:

- Preselected and screened for you, so utilize these (here you're using a time saving principle to save mistakes and to save the time of your doing it yourself.

SYSTEMS FOR TIME MANAGEMENT - Check these out to see which you prefer.  They all
   work. 
 
     COMPUTERIZED SYSTEMS - Recommended if you have more than a few things to do...
     THE TIMER TOOL - Fit in 1, 2, 5, 10 minutes even when you feel compelled to do
        something you're anxious about.  Things fit in seamlessly and you feel much, much
        better!

TIME MANAGEMENT, PER SE - See also Planning Forms.  ("Time management" usually refers to more of the mechanics of managing time.)
    Overall on time management
    Individual pieces on time management  
        Time Savers 

- Save lots of time!  Follow these practices and life will be alot easier!

PRODUCTIVITY - Using these principles will create a whole new life, one that is easier, more productive, and more enjoyable.  Not knowing these will cost you, big time!

EFFECTIVE PLANNING - Less planning --> less results; less effectiveness --> poor results

OTHER SECTIONS TO COORDINATE WITH THIS 
Go to
TIME/PRODUCTIVITY RESOURCES 

Recommended Books,  Websites, and Services

Others will be mentioned inside the relevant pages or sections, often in the contents/links pages for each section.


"LIFE VALUE PRODUCTIVITY" IS THE MEANS TO HAPPINESS!

The key point here:

LIFE IS THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEND YOUR TIME AND ENERGY IN SUCH A WAY AS TO MAXIMIZE ACCUMULATED VALUE (= HAPPINESS).  

The maximization process is called "Productivity".  And that is defined as:

    The GREATEST RETURN OF VALUE FOR THE TIME AND ENERGY

PRODUCTIVITY IS VITAL TO LIVING A GREAT LIFE!
_______________________________________________


Life is about doing that which creates the highest happiness, fulfillment, and life satisfaction.

Productivity is simply the process for getting the most value for your
time.  It is also a way to free up lots of time for your higher value activities!

The two key subparts of productivity are:

I.  Time management is an essential tool for higher productivity.  Particulary note the need for a structure in which to make it happen - see Simplified, But Effective, Task Management - You Can't Afford Not To Have A Good System!

II. Planning is a subpart of time management.  It is the most important productivity tool of all, for it is the piece that brings it all together, decides what is most productive to get what one wants, and then maps out how to get it most effectively.

You cannot have a great life without learning how to do these effectively!!!!!!
_______________________________________________________


PERSPECTIVE ON TIME MANAGEMENT

Time is all we have.

We can fritter it away thoughtlessly.  We can blow all the great opportunities for more and more happiness.

Or we can target - and limit ourselves to - that which adds the most to our lives

We can be unaware and leave in our lives that which is a waste of our lives.

Or we can identify that which is a bad strategy, harms us, and/or is useless.  And then we can eliminate that from our lives, to make room for that which will create the highest "return" for our time.

And you will be blown away by the huge difference time and productivity management can make in your life.

And, therefore, it is the vital key to creating a great life.   For creating it on purpose, without blowing it on wasteful or harmful stuff.

The end goal is for you to Live The 80/20 Life (this links to a sister site).

The "80/20 Person" has a simpler but vastly more productive life that is easier, with plenty of time and no stress.  He/she has considerable freedom and confidence in life turning out well.  And he/she is 10 to 100 times happier than he/she was before becoming an 80/20 person. 

Bottomline:  It is simply the best way to live.

So, you might ask, do I have enough time to learn to operate that way in life?

Absolutely.  

You'll see, if you read on, how it is very, very doable.


EXCHANGING WHAT IS WORTH LITTLE FOR WHAT IS WORTH ALOT

If we call what we get out of life "units of value", the goal is to have more units of value in our lives, so that we are more satisfied and more happy.  Of course, we reach a certain point where we do not really need more units, as we are already happy enough, but then we are of course willing to experience "bonuses" of more happiness. 

Our objective is to at least increase our units of value in the manner below:


  USES OF TIME                         OLD LIFE             NEW LIFE
                                                Time    Value             Time    Value
High value uses                            5%    10 units           20%   40 units
Medium value uses                      20%     5 units           40%   10 units
Low value uses                           65%      2 units           40%     1 unit
Harmful uses                               10%    -5 units             0%   

   Net Total                                           12                            51
   Percentage more value                                                      425%

We will not simply try to be more efficient (get more done in less time) with our time, but we will magnify our benefits by doing those things with the highest payoffs and dropping whatever we can that gets in the way.  Life will be at least 4 times as good - I guarantee that will happen if you implement this - and it is entirely doable, with no pie in the sky or miraculous leaps required. 

You can only increase efficiency up to a certain limited degree, but you can increase your effectiveness (rate at which results are produced) with virtually no limit.  We'll not only be doing things the right way, but we'll be doing the right things.

How can an honest executive make 300 times more than an average worker if he has no more time?  He simply chooses to develop skills and abilities that have greater effectiveness (impact) and then applies those to tasks that produce the greatest results.  And, if he is an 80/20 person overall, he does this with ease and balance and lots of happiness.  [These principles can be used to produce lots of results in one area and yet the person might not produce the most important things in life.  Basically, we need to use these principles on our whole life and maximize our happiness, satisfaction and fulfillment in life.]


A RE-VIEWING

Productivity is doing the right things with our time - doing what produces the greatest value.

Time management is a subpart of productivity management.  However, it is often associated with the mechanics of how to do the details, while productivity is associated with the "principles" application part.  

Essentially, you can choose to increase your efficiency (get more of something done in less time) and/or increase your effectiveness (do something that has a greater amount of impact per amount of time and effort spent).  Since you can only become efficient up to a certain degree, the larger effect comes from increasing your effectiveness not your efficiency.  Indeed, some relatively inefficient people have been marvelously effective in life. 

In learning this, or any other area, you must be sure to:

1)  Do it systematically rather than randomly (most people live life randomly).
2)  Use experts, the higher the better (most people learn from amateurs)
3)  Do it to "completion" (finish off the knowledge so that you know enough to be productive)
    A) Use immersion (all at once in a concentrated time) where possible. 
         (See Learning Methods piece.)



A QUIKPATH: The person who wants to maximize his time management and productivity would follow a path like this:  (If you are interested in improving but not yet ready to maximize, you would review and scan and only go into certain areas in more depth, but would still read the top 1 or 2 books.)

- Learn the 80-20 principle 1st, as it multiplies the results per amount of time
  significantly.
    
    Read The 80/20 Principle, The Principle To Run Your Life On
         Explains the principle.      

          Helpful:  Review/scan the key parts of the sister website:          
              Live8020.com

- Get a time system that works for you.  Confusion and big wastes of time
  occur otherwise.

          Take the all day class or buy the CD setup from Franklin Covey

- See Resources.

- Read the three key books recommended in
          Time and Productivity Resources

What's next?

At this point, having done the above, you'll be relatively proficient.

- All highly productive people set up specific written plans.  See Planning
  section.

- If one is trying to succeed at anything, one should read the Success section.

- Advanced, further levels:

     Advanced thinking results from exposure to the materials at
           Strategic Coach.
     For the very advanced:  Mission Control, to get your complete act
together and functioning at the very top level!



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"QUICK USE" LINKS

Planning Forms Contents/Links - All forms



EXAMPLE
OF ONE PERSON'S SYSTEM
NAVIGATING THIS SECTION

First, go to  Contents/Links Time/Productivity Section , which includes links to:

Time Management     

Productivity     

Effective Planning   

Pre-Screened Resources   

Time Management Systems      Organization

What to do to dramatically improve life in this area

Read this page. 

Do the suggested program at the end of this page.

Optional:  Just go to pieces of this subject using links, perhaps starting from the overview Contents/Links page.