NFIB

A Stress-Free Guide to Time Management
09/ 27/ 2005
by Emma Johnson

When Dr. Julie Flagg opened her gynecology-obstetrics practice in Middlebury, Conn., 20 years ago, she was a highly organized business owner. She held staff meeting each week and kept her trusty Filofax reliably up-to-date. Most days, she finished her appointments by 6:30 p.m., and when she'd leave the office30 minutes later, her desk was "clean to the point of being Windexed," she says.

But as the business grew, her organization dwindled. Clutter overran her office. She neglected her calendar. And staff meetings were increasingly less frequent.

Ten years ago, Flagg hired the first of two professional time-management sercvices that helped her not only get her business organized, but also set priorities, manage time and fit in many activities that make up her very busy life.

Today, Flagg is the picture of productivity--inside and outside the office. She recently wrapped up a day of seeing several dozen patients and performing surgery by hosting a dinner pary complete with a homemade peach pie.

"I have to be a manager, but I also have to be a major producer," says Flagg, who oversees a practice of 15 employees and sees 45 to 50 patients per day. "That is the reality of a small business. You can't be so tired that you make mistakes, or the quality of work is not what you went into practice--or business--for."

Indeed, balancing a multitude of professional tasks with a personal life is a challenge many small-business owners face. In a world where e-mails, faxes, phone calls and other information abound, time management seems unmanageable. But with a few changes to your daily routine, life quickly becomes a lot easier.

1. Find the system that works for you.
Experts agree small-business owners can benefit from establishing time-managment systems that help them reach the ultimate goal of feeling in control of their workloads. But finding such a process is never a one-size-fits-all endeavor.

"Small-business owners wear several hats--they're used to chipping in, from washing floors to marketing to payroll," says Jan Jasper, a New York-based productivity expert and author of Take Back Your Time: How to Regain Control of Work, Information and Technology. "But you don't have to take the attitude that you're helpless. If you have a good organizational system in place, you're still going to be busy, but you're going to be less frantic, and you're going to have a sense of control and peace of mind."

During the past 10 years, Flagg has sought advice from David Allen Co., a management training and executive coaching firm, as well as Stephanie Winston, founder and president of the time-management consulting firm, The Organizing Principle.

Today, Flagg relies on system rooted in taking action. She forces herself to get to the bottom of her in-box every two to three days and doesn't remove an items from the pile unless she acts on it. Files are organized according to small projects--much more manageable that a huge hunk of work, she says. And now Flagg wouldn't dare skip a staff meeting. At the weekly gatherings, she keeps discussion on track and requires someone at the meeting to commit to taking action on items discussed.

The physician says her organizational system has allowed her practice to grow--despite the harsh legal and financial pressures faced by obstetric practices around the country. It also frees her to schedule time for friends, family, travel and a slew of hobbies that make her life whole. Now, most parts of her life--not just her work--have their own file folder.

On a recent workday, she said "Today I'll spend three hours emptying my in-box, but by noon I can go to lunch, then take a nap in the afternoon. Time is the currency. Time is everything. It's the only thing we have."

2. Set aside time to work without interruption.
Leslie Eden says the quality of her life has also improved thanks to her time-management system. Since buying HCI Publications (http://www.hcipubs.com), a Kansas City, Mo.-based information company specializing in the hydro-power industry, in 1986, Eden has doubled her staff and expanded the number of products her business offers.

The growth was exciting, but about 10 years ago, she found she was operating without a budget and spending many more hours away from her young son and husband than she wanted.

So Eden hired Maynard Rolston, organization consultant and author of Time Management Is an Oxymoron. Today, Eden rarely works more than 45 hours per week thanks to an effective filing ststem and the practice of carving out chuncks of uninterupted time to tackle work.

Eden discourages employees from bugging her for "every little question." Instead, she encourages them to save inquiries for team meetings. A few weekends a month, Eden spends one morning in the empty office--honing in on projects without interruption. She makes up those hours during the week to run personal errands. "You've really got to be able to concentrate at the office, " she says.

Getting into the habit of focusing your energy means more than managing just your time. "This goes beyond time management," Eden says. "Focusing has made it easier for us to work with budgets. It has made a huge difference in profit for us."

3. Define your priorities--and stick to them.
Gordon Wilson, vice president of small-business sales for Franklin Covey, the Salt Lake City-based planning product and efficiency training provider, says that with the multiple roles small-business owners take on, prioritization is paramount.

"Small-business owners know they have far more to do in a day than they can get done in week," Wilson says. "But the most successful small-business owners know how to figure out what the most critical things are and accomplish them."

Setting priorities has been the driving force behind Steven Smith's reorganization. A partner of Scalley & Reading law firm, which is also in Salt Lake City, Smith regularly handles between 40 and 80 cases simultaneously.

"My biggest problem was spending too much time on things that didn't matter enough," Smith says. For example, he would spend hours investigating the legal histories of parties when his immediate goal for cases required obtaining only a basic idea of whether they'd been sued before. "The information I was looking for can be helpful at a certain point in time, but not immediately," he says.

After consulting David Allen Co. and productivity consultancy, ThinkTQ Inc., Smith is now adament about writing down the immediate and ultimate goals of every project he takes on and establishing the steps required to accomplish them. "It frees up a lot of mental energy--as opposed to letting it all roll around in your brain," Smith says.

"One of the big problems is that you can't just leave work at work. Cases are on your mind on the drive home and as you're eating dinner with your family," he says. But being organized has made it easier for Smith to relax at home. Today, he says hiswork "doesn't impact personal relationships as much as it once did."

4. Invest in tools that work for you.
Andy Pandiani, managing partner and co-founder of Bridgeport, Conn.-based Innovative Design adn Display and Design Exhibition Company (http://www.innov-8.com), has used time-management techniques to free the mental energy and guilt he once suffered from not tacking all his goals, both professional and person.

Until he attended Don Wetmore's Productivity Institute seminar, Pandiani would carry a day planner "the size of a dictionary" with him. He would arrive at the office 45 minutes before everyone else, create a to-do list for the day, and find that he completed about half of the items when his day ended. Rarely did those accomplishments include what he wanted to do, like plan fishing trips or make inroads on his goal to learn Italian.

I’d go home feeling like I really got put through the ringer—like I’m never going to get it all done,” he says. Today, in his jacket pocket, Pandiani carries a day planner the size of a checkbook, which allows him to make plans spontaneously. At a recent cocktail party, he was able to schedule a ski trip with a friend--moving him closer to his goal of skiing 16 days per year.

Instead of getting to the office early and creating a to-do list each morning, he compiles the tasks the night before. Thanks to this approach, Pandiani has more time in the morning to make a lunch at home, which frees him to go to the library during his lunch hour to check out Italian language tapes. It wasn’t long before he was getting stares as he drove home, animatedly using his hands to speak the Mediterranean language along with the cassettes.

Pandiani writes goals on note cards, one for each area of his life. He looks at these cards weekly and gets satisfaction from crossing items off each card.

After implementing his time-management skills more than a decade ago, Pandiani says his two partners noticed a difference in his productivity. They then signed up for Wetmore’s workshop, and a few years ago, the company gave its employees a session in lieu of annual bonuses. In 12 years, the company has grown from $1.5 million in sales and 12 employees to $11 million and 65 employees.

Most importantly, Pandiani says finding a time-management routine has helped him create a low-stress life. It has even lowered his blood pressure. “I’m not going to wake up in the middle of the night thinking about projects,” he says. “If you get the important things done, you’re going to feel pretty good about your day.”

Small Business Sound Off
Does this story hit home?  Share your story with us