Something Lou Gerstner, former CEO of IBM, once said
has stuck in my head: "Never let anyone own your schedule." It's
simple and obvious, yet genius.
Over the years, whenever I didn't
follow this advice, I was stressed and unproductive. Gradually I learned that
planning and following a routine makes a huge difference in how I feel and what
I get done. Here are some of the things that help me manage my schedule that
you may find helpful:
1.
Create a routine
No matter what you are working on,
create a routine. Block times for specific activities, and stick with the plan.
Turn your calendar into a bunch of blocks, and put activities into those
blocks. Whatever is not planned, you don't do. If you want free time, plan it.
Your routine may change through the
year, but at any given time it's better to have a plan. For example, if you are
working on launching a company, and need to do customer discovery,
coding and hiring, then prioritize and block specific times for each
activity.
For example, if you need to have
outside meetings, block two and a half days a week for those meetings, and
go to the outside meetings only during those times. Do the same thing for
in-office meetings. This way you are not only creating a chunk of time for
meetings, you are also creating other blocks of time that you will be able to
important work. Do the same thing with calls, and book them all back to back.
3.
Optimize time for different meeting types
Personally, I am now a big fan of
30-minute meetings and 10-minute calls. I think 10-minute calls are a
great way to initially connect with someone or give someone quick advice. You
can do a Google Hangout or Skype if you prefer to see the person instead of
just hearing them. The reason 10-minute calls work is because people skip BS
and get to the point. Try it. Ten minutes is actually a lot of time, if
you focus. I prefer to do these calls on Fridays, when I am usually working
from home.
I am not a big fan of introductory
coffee meetings, lunches and dinners. I am a huge fan of coffee and meals with
people I already know. Those meetings are typically productive and fun, but the
first time you are meeting someone, it's more productive to do a call or
an actual 30-minute meeting in the office.
Here are the types of meetings you
might want to book:
- 30-minute meeting in the office to get to know someone or catch up
- 45-minute meeting outside of the office. Allow 15 minutes for travel.
- 10-minute call to help someone who needs advice
- 15-minute daily standup -- great for startups and engineering teams
- 30-minute weekly staff meeting
Whatever meetings you hold, group
them into blocks depending on your particular schedule. If you feel like a
particular type of meeting needs more or less time, then adjust the block
accordingly.
4.
Use appointment slots
There is a great feature in Google
Calendar called Appointment Slots. It allows you to book a chunk of time, and
then split it into pieces. For example, I can book three hours of outside
meetings and then split it into three meetings -- one hour each. Or I can
book one hour of calls and split it into six calls at 10 minutes each. There is
also a bunch of specific tools, such as doodle, that do that
too.
The next step is to create bit.ly
links for different blocks of time.You can have a link for your outside
meetings, another link for 30-minute inside meetings and yet another one for
10-minute calls. You then share these links, and they can book the time with
you. I've done this with Techstars candidate companies and it was amazingly
effective. It minimized the back and forth on email and saved a ton of time for
me and the companies
This won't work with everyone,
because some people may find this rude. In any case, if you are not comfortable
sending the link to a someone, then you can use your own appointment slots,
suggest a few meeting times, and then book the specific slot yourself.
If you are asking someone to meet,
always propose several specific alternative times such as Tuesday at 4:30
p.m. or 5 p.m. on Wednesday. David
Tisch gave a great talk that covers
scheduling meetings and many more basics of communication.
5.
Block time for email
This is the most important tip in the
whole post. Email will own you unless you own it. To own your email you must
avoid doing it all the time. To do that you need to schedule the time to do
your email. It is absolutely a must. In fact it is so important that I wrote a
whole entire post about managing email.
6.
Plan your exercise and family time
Unless you put it on the calendar,
it won't get done. Well, that applies to your exercise and time with your
family. Whether you go in the morning, afternoon or evening, do it
three times a week or every day, put exercise time on the calendar. My
friend and mentor Nicole Glaros makes it very clear that her
mornings, until 10 a.m., belong to her. She hits the pavement or the gym,
depending on the weather, and rarely deviates from her routine.
The same applies to planning
time with your family and significant others. If you are a workaholic like me,
you will end up stealing time from your family unless you book it in
advance and train yourself to promptly unplug. Many people in the industry have
talked about planning family time. My favorite is Brad Feld, who talks about it a lot.
7.
Actually manage your time
I think about my time a lot. I think
about where it goes. I think about where can I get more of it, and how to
optimize it. When I was running GetGlue, I had an assistant who was managing my
time. She was awesome. But when I joined Techstars, I decided that I will
manage my calendar myself. I have to confess that I am happy about this
decision.
I find myself thinking about what I
am doing, who am I meeting with and why a lot more. I meet with a lot of people
every week. My schedule is particularly insane during the selection process.
Yet, because I manage my calendar, follow a routine, plan meetings in blocks
and use appointment slots, I find myself less overwhelmed and less stressed.
Taking ownership of my calendar and
planning my days and weeks made me a happier and more productive human. I
hope this post helps you get there too.
I would love to hear your
productivity tips. How do you manage your time? How do you handle your
calendar? What tools do you use? Please share in the comments section
below.
This article was written by a member
of the AlleyNYC contributor network. AlleyNYC is one of the world’s largest
innovation hubs, helping foster the growth of startups in its flagship location
in New York City. Entrepreneur Media is a partner and investor in AlleyNYC.
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