Time Management

Distributors are very busy people. They often spend their days training employees, instructing sales staff, meeting with buyers, speaking to customers, getting orders out — and that’s all before noon. So with their hectic schedules it’s no wonder that many managers in the jan/san field are pressed for time and wish they had more hours in a day to get everything done.

Scheduling and managing time is important. If a manager or salesperson gets overwhelmed with the day-to-day tasks at hand, important appointments might be missed, which can harm business relationships. This can cause the distributor anxiety, stress, frustration, guilt and other feelings that can be avoided. Therefore, setting priorities and learning how to effectively manage time will prove worthwhile.

Here are some pointers for getting your daily work schedule under control:

• Start a log. To begin managing your time, you first need a clearer idea of how you currently use your time. To get an accurate estimate, keep a daily log for a week. This will help you get a better idea of how much time you need to allot for each task. It will also help you identify your time wasters: getting coffee, phone calls, interruptions, traveling for meetings, etc.
  
  “Memory is a very poor guide when it comes to assessing how you spend your time,” says Robert Wright, author of “Beyond Time Management: Business with Purpose.”
  
  Also keep in mind that you may be unaware that your energy levels may vary throughout the day — most people function at different levels of effectiveness at different times, adds Wright.
  
  Once you have logged your time and tasks for several days, analyze the log. “You may be alarmed to see the length of time you spend opening mail, talking to colleagues or dealing with disruptions,” says Wright.
  
  
• Set reasonable goals. Try to remember that attempting to be a perfectionist sets you up for defeat. No one can be perfect. Difficult tasks usually result in avoidance and procrastination; therefore, you need to set reasonable, achievable — but challenging — goals.
  
  
• Create a plan of action. A lot of time management has to do more with what we are not doing rather than what we are doing. “You need to start your day with a plan of action to be the most productive,” according to Dr. Donald Wetmore, president of The Productivity Institute, Huntington, Conn. Instead of responding to other people’s demands, do what is important for you to do, he says. Others will take all of your time if you let them.
  
  
• Prioritize. Another way to manage your time is to prioritize your responsibilities and engagements. One method is the ABC list. This list is divided into three sections: a, b, or c.
  
  A assignments need to get done that day.
  
  B tasks are important and should be completed within the week.
  
  C items are those tasks that are relatively trivial and can be done after all As and Bs are done. Remember that it’s all right to carry over B and C items to the next day. Give this system a try or come up with your own method.
  
  
• Clean your desk. Besides keeping a log and prioritizing, Wetmore also suggests cleaning your desk or work area. Studies have shown that a person who works with a messy desk spends, on average, one-and-a-half hours a day looking for things or being distracted by things, says Wetmore. He explains that it’s not a solid block of time that is lost, but a minute here and there.
  
  
• Allow for quality sleep. Studies have shown that nearly 75 percent of us complain regularly that we are tired during the workday. For most people, their days are so filled with work and other responsibilities that it’s difficult to get a full night’s sleep. If you plan your day and then work your plan, you will get more done and feel a greater sense of accomplishment — allowing for a more restful night’s sleep.
  
  
• Take a break. Many managers and business owners do not take a lunch break and work through that time period in the hopes that it will give them more time to get things done. Studies have shown that the effects may be just the opposite.
  
  “After doing what we do for several hours, we start to ‘dull out,’” says Wetmore. The issue is not that you can be productive (you will get work done during your break), but how much more productive we can be in a day if we were to take a break, he explains. “A lunch break, even a short 15-minute break, gives us a chance to get our batteries all charged up again to more effectively handle the afternoon’s challenges,” he says.
  
  

After giving time management a fair chance, it will eventually become a habit. Once it is part of your daily work routine, you can then adjust your schedule. But, it’s better to be precise at first. “It’s easier to find something to do with extra time than to find time to do something,” says Wright.