Hey Habr! Brief introduction - I work as the head of the IT department of a large medical company. Already a year ago I tried to force myself to work efficiently with the distribution of my working time. This post is my experience, my views, perception difficulties and sample forms for time management.
What is time management? This is a tool for managing your time, moreover, this applies not only to working time, but also to personal (outside working) time. In an attempt to do everything at once, you will eventually run into a dead end, not understanding why there is not enough time for everything planned, and then, you will simply begin to forget some tasks / ideas / goals that seemed super interesting, super profitable, super innovative. It happened to me, honestly trying to do something better, to optimize something, I put any goals in the background and, due to the current immersion in the main duties, work routine, I forgot about ideas that seemed promising to me. Around the beginning of the year, I began to look for programs, fascinating articles that would help me approach the issue of time management more qualitatively, and believe me, for myself I understood the essence that I did not find in any article and not in one book / program. Let's move on to the main aspects that will help you work efficiently with your time and with the tasks set for yourself:
1. Don't be fooled
Work through all the hypotheses of the ideas put forward, do not rest on your laurels until you find a clear answer to your own question - will this idea / proposal be in demand in your business / business process / work. The hypothesis must end on a clear fact (proof of its necessity) or a clear refutation. On the way to this proof, most people begin to engage in self-deception, saying to themselves - “oh, this is not possible”, “this is very difficult for me”, “no one will understand this” - believe me, if all the people around would think the same way, then in there would be no electricity in the world, there would be no good sales volume in companies, new products, success in general.2. Learn to admit your mistakes
Difficult psychological factor, having crossed which you will learn to look at things differently. Start by admitting to yourself if it is difficult for you to do this in front of the person / process / action before which you made a mistake. In the period when I just started to conduct time management, I encountered this problem. It was difficult to write a task for myself about what I should have done half a year ago, and then safely either forgot or “scored”, while realizing that this task will pop up after some time and the sensations from this will not be any better than now, and even worse because of the lost time. Recognition of your mistakes, in the end, will teach you to be more attentive to tasks, to their implementation, because you will never want to say - “yes, I made a mistake” and you will do everything for this to forget about such confessions and do everything in time and in the best quality. Well, if you make a mistake, then learn to accept them with dignity and correct them, because it was not without reason that even at school we all did work on mistakes. An important point - do not look for the guilty, look for an opportunity to do everything so that you do not repeat such mistakes in the future (even if the mistake was not made on your part), communicate with the team, offer solutions, adequately respond to reasoned claims. The search for the guilty is possible only in cases where you have big amount free time, then there is time for swearing and similar useless mental outbursts. I hope you are not one of those people.3. Don't be lazy
Dahl's dictionary characterizes laziness with such words - reluctance to work, aversion from work, from business, occupations; inclination to idleness, to parasitism. In fact, I will not delve into every word, we are all adults and we understand that laziness is far from positive quality, I will only consider it from the side of time management. I write down a lot of tasks on a sheet with a pen, for example, during the day (I either always have a sheet or a notebook in front of me) and then a very important point arises - do not put off putting tasks / ideas into a file where you manage time management, believe me, the sheet can get lost, coffee can spill on it, or if you look at a notebook, you can forget about what you planned by simply flipping to another page. Enter tasks / ideas in a timely manner, be sure to do so during the day without putting off until tomorrow or in the evening. As soon as you have a free minute, immediately use it effectively, observing self-discipline, enter the data into a file - it will take no more than 2-3 minutes. Read more about how to save time on adding tasks to a file…4. Write tasks concisely and clearly for you.
It is not necessary to describe the entire technical process if you are sure that you can easily remember it later. You will quickly get bored with time management if you spend a lot of time writing assignments for yourself. That is, conditionally, I need - “Install a new server, install the Windows 2003 Datacenter operating system, install the Microsoft SQL 2000 database with the latest service pack, install programs for backing up the entire OS and database .... Etc." - believe me, if I set myself a task in a time management file in this way, then I would spend a lot of working time only on writing tasks. I call this "memory shortcuts", having set myself the task "Install the database server" I will quickly remember what I need to do in detail, which will also pop up at the time the task is worked out. Remember - you set tasks for yourself, set them in such a way that you can instantly remember what it is about. Also, personally, I don’t set tasks that are related to work routine, if at that moment I don’t have a big load and I can complete the current task in the next 15 minutes.5. Do not set a task for a specific working hour/minute, better - set for a day.
This aspect may not suit everyone, but I think most will agree with me. Brief background - initially I tried to use various programs in which you could set a reminder for a certain time, a certain hour, a certain minute. This reminder popped up on the floor of the screen with a description of the task, and in 90% of cases this happened at the time of my peak load, when there was absolutely no time for the task and there were 2 options - to interrupt the execution time or close the task. As a result - after the 3rd interruption of time, I simply burned from the unwillingness to use these programs and felt ashamed of myself from the fact that once again I was postponing this task again for half an hour. As a result, I switched to daily planning. During the day, if you are interested, I have from 2 to 5 tasks, depending on the estimated time to solve them, I do not include tasks related to turnover, as I wrote above.So, now about the file that I use to set tasks. To your surprise, this is not another program that needs to be studied, understood, accepted. It's a simple Excel file, with a familiar interface without any grand formulas. I settled on this format because I think that we need to effectively use the resources that we have, and besides, if necessary, you can simply start filling in an additional column. The file must always be kept at hand, for example, on the desktop or by moving it to startup (it will open at system startup), since I don’t turn off my working computer at all, I don’t have this problem - the file is always running. Let's move on to the current option I proposed, consider the columns:
What to do- in this column I fill short title tasks, such as “Install a database server”, “Templates for ordering reports from a cube”, “Report on clients”, “View the implementation of plans”, “Offer a discount on product M to company N”
Task setting date- the date when this task appeared. An important factor, in my opinion, in order to understand how much time has already been devoted to this task, since when it has not yet been completed. I reproach myself a little if I see that 2 weeks have passed since the creation of the task - a month, and there is still no result. If the task is related to the necessary intervention of any department / a certain employee, and he still has not given me an answer, I will remind him again of the question set out in the task. It often happens that without receiving a response from a certain employee / department, your task cannot be completed, if it is not recorded anywhere, then believe me, you will forget about it, as well as the person associated with it. So on initial stage It's easy to ruin an interesting idea.
Estimated Completion Date- here I set the date when I intend to complete this task, usually at the same time I skim through the dates set in the lines, and understanding how much time it takes to complete a particular task, I set the estimated deadline for its completion. Sometimes, with a heavy load during the day, I move this date, but, to be honest, this is extremely rare. When you start to maintain such a file, you will later also begin to plan the time of the task most efficiently.
Additional comment- here I describe, for example, those additional actions that appeared at the time of the task, or a comment at the end of the task. For example, if the task affects any employee of an adjacent company, I write “I’m waiting for a response from Pupkin”, “I’m waiting for prices from the supply”, “I sent the report, I’m waiting for processing”, and if the task is completed, then I write the result of the execution or, I write information about the creation of a subtask (just when the hypothesis of some idea is not fully confirmed and either additional evidence or its refutation is required). Each of my tasks has an additional comment, even if it is just completed. This is probably the most positive psychological factor when, after completion, you write that you successfully completed the task.
For discussion with management- in this column I put either "1" or "0". If the task requires mandatory management intervention, then “1”, if not, then “0”. Agree, it will be convenient, as efficient as possible if you come to the management with a list of tasks and do not forget anything at the same time? I honestly can’t keep everything in my head, or it will take me enough time to remember what I wanted to discuss, and why take time from the company’s management and from myself when you can have a list of questions in advance that you can quickly print out with the possibility of discussion.
Also, in tasks, I began to use 4 color schemes so far, with which I highlight task lines. For example, the line is highlighted:
yellow - the task is completed
green color - another solution has been found for this problem (I indicate in the comment which one)
in red - what needs to be discussed with the company's management.
white color - I highlight the lines in which the current tasks are written (which are on this moment performed)
As a definition of the task number, I use the line number in Excel, if, for example, I create a subtask (trying to confirm or refute the hypothesis), then I refer to the line number that provoked the new task.
As a result, everything described above looks something like this:
Afterword
At efficient use In due time, you will have more ideas and more opportunities for their implementation, just knowing your plan for tomorrow, you can easily manage your time without forgetting the tasks set, and even in case of increased tension from the routine, you will not forget about the important tasks recorded in the file. Perhaps someone is already using some kind of time management scheme, someone is trying to invent something new, but I offer the above described scheme, which I have been using effectively for two months, gradually refining, bringing the working approach to the greatest perfection. You can blame adjacent departments for a long time, about the forgetfulness of the staff, while being far from perfect in this regard, or you can approach work more qualitatively, strive to improve something and, as a result, be a leader at least in relation to the team around you. Do not think that time management will help you from the first days when you start using it. In the first 2 weeks, you will frantically remember the failure to complete the task, put them on a list and try to complete 10 tasks a day. After another 2 weeks, you will understand that you will obviously not be able to do 10 tasks per day that you could not conditionally complete during the year, and you will come to an understanding of how many tasks you can actually complete. You will begin to prioritize tasks, arrange them already with the mind and understanding of how much time it will take approximately to solve them. And only after at least a month of painstaking work, you will begin to understand what “effective management of your time” is, and I promise you, you will begin to look at your work and the work of your employees with different eyes, gradually increasing efficiency and quality.Wake up on time, no problem - a task for morning time management.
First what you should remember: the later you go to bed, the harder it is to get up. To go to bed earlier, you should do time management, figure out why you don’t have time to finish things by ten in the evening and go to bed at 23:00 to meet the morning at 07:00. This path is not easy, but effective.
If social networking or watching exciting TV shows at night enriches you greatly and helps you find the meaning of life, then you should not even worry about morning agony. Do you know why you are suffering? But if you are a reasonable person, and I know many such responsible people, then every evening you will ask yourself the question: “What is more important for me now: to look through the news from the lives of my countless virtual friends or to get on with my life and sleep?” So decide the problem with bedtime yourself in accordance with your priorities.
What time do you go to bed, on a working day, you still have to wake up early. But how much time will you spend "rolling in bed"? To minimize it (especially in autumn and winter) and spend your free 20 minutes, for example, on breakfast and a contrast shower, buy yourself a light alarm clock. It will help you wake up more comfortably with a powerful lamp. Scientists have already proven that awakening from sunlight(or its imitation) is much lighter and more pleasant than from various trills of an alarm clock in the dark.
When you woke up and got to work, gets up important question daily time management: how to start the working day? Here's my way to start the day.
So, you come to the office, pour yourself a coffee and settle down at your desk. Now, before you turn on your computer and dive into the study social networks think about your plans for the day. To give you some motivation, in 2012, a large company's research department conducted a survey of 2,147 executives and found that almost half of them plan their daily work. work time. And since they have become leaders, having such a habit, it is not a sin for us to try to introduce it into our daily practice.
I like the "I-shaped daily routine" system, which is very simple and does not take much time. It is so called because it consists of three parts, like English letter I: 15-minute morning planning (horizontal bar I), a long check-in that lasts your entire workday (vertical stick), and a final review (second horizontal bar).
The tip of the I-shaped daily routine- this is the time to create a plan for the upcoming working day. In these 10-15 minutes, you should decide on those cases that are already assigned, and very accurately estimate the time required for them. It is important not to forget to take into account the travel time if you have to go somewhere.
Write down any expected or predictable events. They can happen with varying degrees of probability, but you must be prepared for them and set aside time for this. This includes phone calls, correspondence with clients, etc.
And very important in advance, right in the morning, allocate time in your plan for lunch and a warm-up. Then later you will not be able to refer to your employment. Because organized people manage to take care not only of the timely completion of tasks, but also of their well-being, on which this performance largely depends.
And don't try record lunch and warm-up in the "expected events" block! If you want to increase personal effectiveness, consider them "already assigned."
Another important point- Schedule free time. No, not for work breaks! And to perform unexpected or urgent tasks. It will be your emergency reserve, your secret weapon against the unexpected. After all, if your day is scheduled by the minute, you have no right to make a mistake, stand in a traffic jam, drag out negotiations, delay partners. You must be responsible for everything. But this usually only leads to stress and a feeling of loss of control over the situation and complete helplessness. Doesn't sound like smugly ticking off deadlines?
So leave 30% of your work time for unforeseen circumstances. And if that doesn't happen, just keep doing what you're doing. I suspect that you have more tasks than digging "from here to lunch", and you always have something to do.
But the brilliant plan is only part of the success. The plan must be carried out. So jump right into the second part of the I-shaped daily routine. This stage begins almost immediately after the completion of the first and lasts 8-9 hours, when you continuously monitor yourself and your plan: note the changes, change the time allotted for some things (except for lunch and warm-up!), rearrange, add and delete tasks, and actions.
Regular control will help you learn how to more clearly plan your working days and transfer more cases from the “expected” block to the “appointed ones”. After all, honestly, your days at the office are not so different from each other?
So By monitoring and editing your plan, you will get to the bottom of the letter I, which involves (of course!) summarizing the day. 10-15 minutes before the end of your working day, remember everything that happened and adjust your work schedule in retrospect, trying not to miss a single event.
Does this seem like a waste of time to you? You are wrong. In fact, you are doing two important things at the same time: you complete your tasks today and prepare for tomorrow, moving unfinished or unfinished tasks to other days so as not to miss anything. Second, you gain experience for continuous improvement by noting the actual duration of each event, potential problems, and your planning mistakes.
Adjusting the schedule of the past day ask yourself what you can do to improve it. For example: “Why did today's meeting take so long? Is there a way to shorten the duration of the meeting next time?”, “How much time did it take to drive around the city today? How can you better plan a route and fit it into your work schedule?
Certainly, I understand that by the evening you are already quite tired and want to leave the empty office as soon as possible. But remember that successful athletes, doctors, psychologists, coaches always devote a lot of time to analyzing past events, since learning from the past is part of their job and the key to stellar success. Why don't you use these I-view capabilities for continuous improvement and more efficient work?
Well now, after work or school, your personal time begins. And, oddly enough, it also needs to be planned. And how to do this, we will talk with you in another material.
The key to your success is a well-designed schedule and internal rules. And this applies not only to the workspace, but also to your private life. It is not worth taking the article for the truth in the first instance, however, it will not be superfluous to listen to our recommendations: everything has been tested on yourself.
We draw up a daily routine: unshakable rules
So how does order start in your day? Of course, from the structure and understanding of all future affairs. Spend a few minutes planning - an integral part of creating a to-do list. Rely in this difficult enterprise on a few of the following rules:
- When compiling a to-do list, keep the Frog Rule in mind. A frog is a business that you do not want to do, but really need to. So put this task at the very beginning of your day - start with it. Then during the next working hours you will be able to devote more time to creative tasks, and nothing will hang over your soul.
- Compiling a to-do list should be given 5 minutes in the morning and in the evening. We woke up, drank coffee and opened the diary - this is how the morning of a productive person looks like. Write down by the hour all your tasks for the coming day, and then calmly begin to follow the plan. The same before going to bed - plan the whole tomorrow evening, and in the morning make changes depending on the state of affairs.
- No more than 4 important things a day! And this is not the last limitation for your results.
- Allocate no more than an hour for each important task. If the duration of the task is predicted to be more than 1 hour, then it should be divided into subtasks - smaller tasks leading to the achievement of the main goal. And again: no more than 1 hour per task!
- Leave an extra 15 minutes for each task in case you get behind schedule. Somewhere these 15 minutes will be used, but somewhere they will not be useful. The result will be a temporary balance, which each of us strives for so much.
With these rules, our manual begins on how to properly draw up a daily routine. But what else besides planning is useful to us?
Time management basics for your day
Scared of this word? Calmly! Time management- this is not a wolf, but there is still a similarity with the beast: it is merciless, because it is control over our main resource in life - time.
In large companies, they recently began to create positions of time managers who are engaged in optimizing the working time of employees. Now you understand why we need it? With the help of time management, you will not only learn how to plan correctly, but also use your free time.
Rule 1. Focus on one specific task. Don't let anyone or anything distract you from what you're working on right now.
Rule 2. You already know how to properly organize your day. Now it's work! Follow your plan strictly.
Rule 3. It's time to draw up some rules for the internal routine of your life. This may apply to both work and personal life- it does not matter, the main thing is to follow them impeccably.
Rule 4. Choose the time management technique that suits you. The experts have formulated some very interesting and working hypotheses that will help you in solving problems. Now I’ll briefly talk about some of them, and as soon as you find the right one for you (focus on productivity), add it to your rules.
Time management methods: looking for the right one
To list and tell even briefly about each of the existing methods is an empty task. I will outline the most popular and, in my opinion, effective ones, but it's up to you to decide. So, what method to choose in order to draw up the rules of your internal routine?
If you’ve been doing something all day and don’t have time to do anything, then you should familiarize yourself with a few simple principles which will save you time.
Professionals say that spending 10 minutes planning things can save up to two hours of time a day.
Before you do something, you need to analyze how you did it before and identify your mistakes. In this case, you need to find out what your time is spent on. For this, it is used timing technique.
That is, during the week you should write down how much time you spent on this or that business. Check the clock, download the free multifunctional reminder Modern Alert(reminder, planner, stopwatch, timer and many other useful tools, its review is on my YouTube channel).
You can use online time tracking services or browser extensions - the main thing is that you know exactly how you spend it.
It is not easy to control your every step, but only in this way you will understand what exactly is eating up time.
Planning in time management
Unwritten tasks your brain considers optional, so fix them - in in electronic format or on paper, the main thing is that everything should be written down.
But remember that at the heart of any plan are three principles: regularity, consistency, consistency.
- Regularity helps form the habit of making a plan.
- Consistency implies the systematization of affairs: from the smallest to the main goal, from the most important to the least important.
- The sequence means that you should not do many things at the same time: do not start a new business without finishing the old one.
Planning Techniques
✔ Target crushing method.
3 goals of the year
3 goals of the month
3 goals of the week
3 target days
✔ Week template
⇩Monday planning
⇩Results of the day
Friday Review
Explanation: it is best to start planning time from short-term periods: in the evening, draw up an action plan for the next day, then act according to the plan in the morning, analyze its implementation in the evening and plan the next day.
✔ ABC-analysis or gradation of cases according to the degree of importance
Ⓐ Important things of the day
Ⓑ Important but not urgent things
Ⓒ Can be done someday
Explanation: you should organize your affairs according to the principle of importance: “A” means the highest degree of importance, that is, important things for this day, “B” means medium (important, but can wait), and “C” means the least (routine tasks, little things, which you don’t want to do, you can do sometime).
Efficiency in time management
A few time management laws you need to know in order to effectively manage your time.
Parkinson's first law
"Work fills the time allotted for it." How much time you allocate for a certain business, so much and spend.
For example, if you decide that you will spend three years instead of three months on apartment renovation, then you will do it all three years.
Pareto principle
“20% of the efforts give 80% of the result, and the remaining 80% of the efforts give only 20% of the result.”
That is, by choosing the right minimum (20%) of the most important actions to achieve the goal, you can quickly get a significant part (80%) of the planned full result. Further improvements (80%) will be ineffective (20%) and may not be justified.
For example, 20% of customers create 80% of profits; people in 80% of cases wear only 20% of the things from their wardrobe, etc.
A few more efficiency tips:
- If you plan the most important, as well as unpleasant things for the morning, then you will feel relief, freeing up your day and relieving yourself of nervousness.
- For some little things like walking the dog, jogging, washing dishes, wet cleaning, set aside a certain time, for example 20 minutes (you can read about the rule of 20 minutes in my article) and stick to them.
- The daily biorhythms of a person should also be taken into account - for example, during the day we experience a surge of energy, ideas at certain hours and there is a desire to move mountains. Then you should take on the most difficult things, and leave the easy ones for the period when fatigue comes. Briefly about daily biorhythms at the end of the article.
Unload your brain
✓ Get a personal diary. Make lists of everything you need to do, buy, travel lists, etc. and organize all your lists with a diary. How to do this, you can read in this.
✓ All that is possible - entrust, everything that needs to be remembered - write down on paper or use electronic reminders or calendars (a link to a program that will help with this is at the beginning of the article).
The compiled list unloads the brain and relieves anxiety - how not to forget something.
The visualization board is also effective - for writing lists with a marker or for stickers and notes.
✓ Bring the daily obligatory tasks to automatism. We sway for a long time, thinking whether I want or don't want to do this.
✓ Cleaning, washing dishes can also take away different time depending on how exactly you're doing it. Develop certain schemes according to which your efficiency will be maximum.
For example, I found out for myself that washing dishes can take less time if you act in three stages. This significantly reduced the time that I began to spend on this "pleasant" activity.
✓ Put things in order (in the apartment, office, on the table) and support it as much as possible. The outside matches the inside and vice versa. This will save you time searching. required document or things.
Get things done
You can plan anything, but sticking to the plan will require you to have willpower and self-discipline.
It is known that the more we think, the less we do. The optimal ratio is: 20% of the time should be spent on reflection and planning, and 80% on execution.
Parse the Results
No less important is the last principle of time management - analysis of the results. It allows you to take into account mistakes, identify where to find extra time, and your positive results will be the best self-motivation for the next steps.
Daily human biorhythms
From 11:00 to 13:00 and from 13:00 to 15:00 - the time of maximum possible loads for the body.
From 10:00 to 12:00 - the best performance and a surge of energy. Particularly active is the memory department of the brain, which is responsible for mathematical operations.
After 12 hours, performance decreases, fatigue appears.
14:00 - at this time we are less stress resistant. Do quiet work, without brainstorming.
15:00 - a new surge of strength, long-term memory works.
16:00 -19:00 – high level intellectual activity.
17:00 - repeated peak of activity, the most stress-resistant period of the day.
At 18:00, the activity of the nervous system decreases.
After 19:00 hours - the concentration of attention improves and the reaction increases.
After 20:00, the mental state stabilizes, memory improves, thought processes are a favorable time for learning and remembering complex information.
After 21:00 - physical decline.
And after 24:00, a new physiological rise begins - therefore it is difficult to fall asleep after midnight.
The article brought to your attention will not touch upon the basics of time management, ways of dividing tasks into primary and secondary ones, principles of organizing working time, etc. Enough has already been written about this best advice rather than read specialized books on time management (first of all, presented on this site), I can’t give. The purpose of this article is to get acquainted with a very specific system of accounting and organizing time, which I myself use.
The proposed time accounting and organization system was developed during 2004. The start of keeping a diary was laid in February 2004, and this practice continues to this day. Gradually, the system underwent some changes, trimmed and adapted to current tasks. To date, she has finally gained sufficient harmony and strength for me to take the risk of bringing her to the public court. I hope that the proposed system will be useful for people who want to establish a certain order in own life. At least my experience allows me to hope so.
The diary is kept in a regular Excel file. The capabilities of this program allow not only convenient planning of the day, but also sorting tasks, keeping an archive and keeping track of the time spent.
TIME RECORDING
Having graphed an Excel sheet in a certain way, you can easily and conveniently take into account the time during the day. For this, the following scheme is used:
In the figure, each hour (the top line indicates hours) is divided into 4 columns, that is, the accuracy of time tracking is 15 minutes. Greater accuracy makes accounting inconvenient, while less accuracy allows for too large losses in accounting.
The leftmost column reflects typical time-consuming graphs (thn - reading, rbt - work, doc - document management, everyday life - solving everyday problems, lchn - personal time, rzvl - entertainment, dv - movement, nchg - nothing, loss of time).
During the day, the past time slots are filled. To simplify calculations, the number "1" is used as a placeholder. Then, using the Excel formulas entered in the appropriate columns (the formulas are written in the example file attached to the article), it will automatically calculate the time spent on a particular type of activity.
At the end of the day, the timesheet looks like this:
This scheme, if desired, allows you to restore the whole day (overslept, quickly packed up, went to work, worked, chatted with a colleague, worked, had lunch, worked, went to a meeting, waited for a late partner, held a working meeting, returned to the office, reported to the boss, went home, had dinner, read, watched a movie, got ready for bed, read before going to bed, summed up the day, fell asleep).
But in practice this is rarely required, so most days leave short summaries of the time spent. They look like this:
Such summaries allow you to soberly assess how much time is spent on a particular type of activity, and, in addition, derive an average based on the results of a week or month. Further, if you wish, you can draw conclusions about the need to devote more or less time to a particular type of activity.
PLANNING
Let's start with the usual list of tasks for the day. In my version, it looks like this (NEG tab, today):
As you can see, the sheet uses 4 working columns: St - status; Vr - time; Fri - priority; and a column for the day and task description.
About the "Status" column, a detailed discussion will follow below. The "Time" column, I think, is self-explanatory. Now we will focus on the consideration of the "Priority" column. It uses the following characters:
! - the main task for the week
!! - part of the weekly task to be completed on the current day; or secondary task for the week
30 - priority tasks for a specific day (tasks for which the time is determined or to be determined)
40 - Priority Daily Quests
50 - less important daily tasks
60 - tasks for determining the results of the day
70 - summing up the day
80 - tasks to determine the results of the week
90 - summing up the results of the week
Knowing this classification, it is quite easy to both distribute tasks for the day and plan them for the week. The weekly plan in my file looks like this:
The actual weekly plan can be seen at the bottom of the page. Immediately below the column with the designation of the first and last days weekly assignments for the week are recorded. This is followed by the designations of each individual day, under which specific tasks for that day are recorded.
The columns at the top of the page are daily and weekly tasks, which are simply copied into the appropriate sheet when drawing up a daily plan.
The monthly plan is compiled using the following scheme:
EFFICIENCY MARK
Now let's return to the analysis of the "Status" column. It is this column that allows you to evaluate the effectiveness of your days. The "Status" column indicates whether the scheduled task has been completed or not. 3 possible characters are used to indicate the status:
V - done
B - partially fulfilled, or not fulfilled due to objective reasons
N - not fulfilled
During the day, as tasks are completed, the sheet takes on the following form:
Using the "sorting" function (menu item - Data), you can automatically sort tasks:
With this sorting (Status => Priority => Time), all completed tasks will be at the top of the list. You can no longer pay attention to them, focusing it on the remaining tasks.
At the end of the day, when all the columns are filled, the proposed system allows you to impartially and objectively evaluate the efficiency of time use.
The list of tasks at the end of the day looks like this:
Using different colors after sorting allows you to visually show the effectiveness of the day.
In the above example, out of 13 tasks for day 9, 9 were completed, 3 were not completed, and 1 was not completed due to objective reasons. Considering that “B” points are counted as 0.5/0.5, the results of the day look like this: in total - 13; plus - 9.5; minus - 3.5. I count a day as successful if more than two-thirds of the total number of "plus" tasks; half successful - from half to two thirds of the total; unsuccessful - if there are more than half of "minus" tasks. Other proportions are possible, depending on your exactingness to yourself.
A similar system is used to evaluate the effectiveness of the week. In the archive, the past week looks like this:
A similar system is used to evaluate the effectiveness of months and years. Month:
In the same way, it is possible to sum up the results of a year, a decade, and so on, up to summing up the results of a whole life :)
You can also store your own telephone directory in one file with worksheets and timekeeping.
It is especially convenient to use the proposed system in the presence of a pocket computer. In this case, the file with sheets of tasks and time tracking will always be with you, and you can make changes to it during the day.
You can simply print sheets of tasks and time tracking on the printer. I recommend leaving a certain number of columns empty in order to enter emerging tasks into them during the day.
I hope that the above system will be as useful to you as it helped me organize my life myself. Good luck!
Alexey Fedorov, December 2004 Contact: [email protected]. Editing - Gleb Arkhangelsky,
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