This is Part 3 in a 3 part series. See also Part 1 and Part 2.

In the previous posts, we discussed two potential impacts from a poorly designed or implemented time management system: Leak and Creep.  

Leak was the loss of information from your system, usually due to inadequate tools to capture it.

Creep was the tendency to add more and more tools to your system.

Today, I want to talk about a third potential impact...Bloat.

Is your time management system too much to handle?

As it sounds, a bloated time management system is one that has grown in size or complexity to the point that it is cumbersome to use effectively.  Its awkwardness arises from either too many tools or processes that are excessively complex.

Symptoms of a bloated time management system:

• Too many tools - Too many tools can be a result of Creep.  Redundant tools reduce efficiency and create duplication/sync issues for your information.
• Too much complexity - If your system has too many moving parts you will not be able to keep up with it.  It will slow you down, and parts of it will be forgotten.  Ever find the "other list" that you made and then forgot?
• Too big to be used effectively - This can be a literal thing.  I know people who are great with a dayplanner, but it is so big that they only carry it with them sometimes.  Your time management system has to be with you...always.  No exceptions.   
• Wrong tools for the job - You wouldn't use a hammer to fix a screw, and you wouldn't use a blank spiral bound notebook for your calendar.  These examples are extreme, but you would be amazed what tools people will try to misuse in their systems.  Ensure that the tools you select are right for the job.

Too much to handle...

A bloated time management system simply has too much in it.  It can be a result of Creep run amok, but it can be systemic or develop on its own.  Bloat can also come from "not defining" your time management system.  While Creep stems from a system with poorly defined boundaries, Bloat often derives from a time management system with no boundaries.  

"Oh, I don’t have that note because I wrote it on my other pad that is at home."  Or, "I missed that appointment because it was written down somewhere I didn't look."

Bloat often results in increased Life Friction, and added stress.  But, in general the problem with Bloat is that is brings unnecessary complexity.  Where did I put that piece of information?  Where is that other tool?  Bloat slows you down and reduces your productivity.

How to avoid bloat...

This post is part 1 of 3 in a series.

A poor or incomplete time management system can wreck havoc on your personal organization and efficiency.  In fact, a poor time management system can actually make you less productive.  Let's explore 3 impacts of a poorly implemented solution.  

They are: Leak, Creep, and Bloat.  

Each of these is different but they are often interrelated.  An ill-defined or implemented system usually contains all three in some manner.

Why are we concerned with this?  Bad time management slows us down and increases Life Friction, ultimately making things worse.  We want to utilize the simplest forms of time management that bring effortless efficiency.

Today's post discusses Leak.  Parts 2 & 3 will cover Creep and Bloat later this week.

What is Leak?

Leak, as its name implies, is the leaking of information from one's time management system.  Leak results from an incomplete system.  One that lacks all of the tools needed to get the job done.  The loss of information is due to "holes" in the system.  It could be a lack of ability to capture notes or not having a place to record contact information.

Symptoms

You time management solution may have leaks if... 

• You have a desk drawer full of business cards - Why isn't this information in your contact book?
• Scraps of paper and Post-it notes cover your desk (and computer) with important info
• You lose phone #'s and other info that you need again - Ever find yourself looking up the same info repeatedly?  Or wasting time looking for info you already had?
• You forget tasks and appointments that never reach your calendar or todo list

The scrap of paper syndrome

Ever write something down on a napkin?  A scrap of paper?  How about a Post-it note?  (People love Post-it notes.)

What happens when you write notes on random pieces of paper?  You probably never see them again.  That critical # or contact info will not be readily available when you need it.

A boss of mine used to keep small (4x6) scraps of paper in a stack on her desk, so that she would have something to write on while on the phone.  She thought she was being green (or something) by recycling scraps of printer paper.  The problem was that the scraps were easily lost or even brushed off her desk.  There were often a few floating around her office.

That important phone number you wrote on a Post-it note...where did it end up?  On the floor?  Stuck to the back of a file folder?  The bottom line is that you will not have it when you need it.

Avoiding Leaks

There are several ways to avoid leaking of information from your system:

• Use your system with discipline - Be ruthless in using your system.  Your system can only work if you use it.  Ever get one of those appointment cards at the doctor's office for your next visit?  Where does it go?  In your wallet or purse never to be seen again?  Take the few extra seconds to record the appointment in your calendar immediately.  Right then and there.  (I find it amusing that the receptionists are usually offended that you will not "take" their appointment cards.  How dare you be so efficient!)
• Ensure your tool box has all the required tools - Ensure your time management system contains all the tools you need to be effective.  Do you have a place for notes?  Do you have a contact/address book?  Many people's system is lacking at least one tool.  (For a starting point, see "The Power of 1.")
• Avoid the things that leak - Avoid the temptation to write things down on scraps or Post-its.  Post-its are useful for certain tasks, but not for todos, phone #'s, and notes. 

Does your time management solution have any leaks?  What can you do to remedy them?

One of the main reasons that people fail at time management is... because their system fails.

Too often people try to implement systems that are too complex.  This leads to loss of information, overlooked obligations, and general frustration.  (See "Why complex time management systems fail...")  It is ironic, that the #1 time management book today preaches a system that is so complex it needs a flow chart to explain it.

One of the basic Time Management Ninja principles is simplicity.  The simplest solution is usually the best and most efficient.  Simplicity is the key to stressless, efficient, and effortless time management.

To that end... you should have only 1 of each type of tool in your toolbox.

At a time management seminar, we asked the participants to bring with them all the tools they currently use.  Every calendar.  Every todo list. Every address book.  Etc.

It was amazing.  One employee had a pile of stuff.  A full-sized desk calendar, a PDA, a yellow pad of paper, and his cell phone.  He also brought a printout of his online calendar.

I asked him how he knew which calendar to look at in the morning.  He said it usually depended on where he was... at his desk, at home, etc.  He was quick to admit that he often missed appointments because they were written on one calendar, but not the others.  (Does this happen to you?)

The Power of 1

Having only 1 of each tool in your system avoids many time management pitfalls:

• Having to look in multiple locations for information
• Duplicate entires and synchronization issues
• Forgotten or neglected tools
• Excess and wasted effort to stay organized

Here are the tools that you should have 1 and only 1 of in your system:

- One Address Book - You don't want to be at work and realize that your doctor's # is in your home address book.  I recommend a computerized address book that syncs across your computer and phone.  (I currently use an iPhone).  Electronic address books usually trump paper-based ones because they can hold literally thousands of entires, are easily updated/sync'ed, and can be instantly searched.

- One Calendar - It amazes me how many people still maintain 1, 2, even 3 or 4 calendars.  One at work, one at home, one on the fridge for the family.  If this is your setup, inevitably the calendars get out of sync and things are missed becuase they are on one calendar but not another.  Go with one calendar, even if it is paper based.  For family situations it is usually best to have an electronic version that syncs with everyone. 

- One Todo List - This is a tricky one that involves much discipline.  Most people keep multiple lists and then tend to write new todos down wherever it is convenient.  (Post-its, random pieces of paper, etc).  If you don't want to have lost tasks, stick to one list.

- One Notebook - Keeping notes is another area that challenges many people.  It is hard to take all of your notes in one place.  I recommend a single capture notebook such as a Moleskine notebook. (affiliate link)  Some prefer to take their notes on a computer, but I am not convinced this is the most efficient method yet.

Keeping your toolset to 1 of each tool will streamline your time management efforts, resulting in greater efficiency and reduced stress.

What are your experiences keeping your time management tools to a minimum?  Please share your story below.

How do you get ready?

Or maybe the question should be "do you get ready for your day?"

I recently wrote that "planning is one of those important things that you don't have time not to do."  

After all, planning actually gives you more time in your day.  It does this by preventing you from missing appointments, forgetting tasks, and generally creating more life friction for yourself.

It is amazing the % of people who head into their day without a thought as to what they are going to do that day.  You know these people.  They arrive at work without a clue about the day's events.  They show up to meetings without knowing what is being discussed.  They miss appointments and deadlines.  Are you part of this crowd?

Charging into your day with getting ready is equivalent to "driving your car down the road of life while blindfolded."  

And this means... you are going to miss a lot of opportunities and have a lot of accidents.  :)

Planning vs. Preparation

So how do you get ready for your day?  Many people will do this by taking a glance at their calendar.  If you maintain your calendar, this is a great start.  Others will look at yesterday's todo list.  Another good start.

Getting Ready for the day is a two part process:

• Planning - Formulating the strategy for your day.
• Preparation - This is the action part of getting ready.

Doing the planning is a good start.  If you really want to be dangerous, you need to do the preparation too.

"I love it when a plan comes together..."

Planning is about reviewing what you have going on and devising an attack plan for the day.

My planning checklist:

• Review calendar - check today's and the next few days' events/appointments
• Todo List - Review yesterday's list and start today's list
• Notes Review - Review all notes from my capture notebook (or wherever you keep your notes)
• Inbox Zero - Process all inboxes to zero...including work/home email, VM, even Twitter and txt messages.

 By the time I have reviewed all of these areas, I have a plan together of what I need to accomplish today. 

"Always be prepared..."

Preparation is one of the biggest secrets of time management.  It is the secret formula.  The special sauce.  

Preparation is the action part of getting ready.  It involves actually doing to get ready.  

This is the part that most people don't do.  Some people will plan their activities and todos, but few actually do the pre-work to be ready.  I call this "doing your homework."  The majority of people stop doing their homework after they graduate, and that is part of the issue.

Preparing, by doing your homework:

• Appointments - gathering the necessary items.  Ever show up to the doctor or DMV without all your paperwork?
• Meetings - Reading the agenda and reviewing documents in advance.   You will find your meetings are more productive and shorter in length.
• Tasks - Ensuring you have the items required to complete.  You will not try to do a task only to discover that the information you need is sitting on your desk at home.

Preparation is key to increased productivity throughout your day.  As you progress, you will even find that many of your obligations resolve themselves during your prep session.  

Planning and preparing... you will scare people. :)

Getting ready for your day will not only increase your efficiency, but also reduce stress.  Planning is good. Preparing is better. 

If you put this into practice with discipline, you will quickly discover that you will scare your friends, family, and co-workers.  It does not take long for people to notice that you are "ready for anything."

It only took 2 times of walking into a meeting at work with the documents all marked up in red pen to get the attention of my co-workers.  They knew if they were in a meeting with me, they might want to do a little preparation of their own.  :)

The other day, a co-worker got on a rant about how, "He didn't have time to do a lot of things..."

I considered flippantly responding, "You have the same amount of time in the day as everyone else..."

But, I resisted.  As he went down the laundry list of things he "didn't have time to do," it hit me that many of these "things" were extremely important.

In fact, he really needed to be doing these things.  Yet, he was not prioritizing his obligations to get to them.

Things you don't have time not to do...!

When people get caught up the daily grind, they tend to not get to the important stuff.

However, when you don't do the things that are important...it will cost you later.  

These costs can be:

• Time - It will take you more time to do the task later.
• Money - Ever paid a late fee?
• Stress - See creating more Life Friction.
• All of the above

Here are a few of the most common "Things you don't have time not to do..."

Exercise - One of my personal pet peeves is when people say, "I don't have time to go to the gym and workout."  The bottom line is... "you don't have time not to work out."  Exercise is one of those magical activities that actual creates productivity.  It gives you energy and it keeps you in shape.  Both of these lead to increased productivity.

Planning & Preparation - It amazes me how many people charge into their day without a thought about what they are going to accomplish.  People say, "I don't have time to plan."  Yet, planning gives you more time in your day.  It makes sure you get your priorities done first.  And it ensures you don't create more life friction by overlooking tasks and obligations.

Tasks with Deadlines - People often don't do things even when there is a deadline.  Paying bills, finishing projects, registering for events, are all things that don't get done on time.  This leads to more work and more time and money invested.  Have you ever paid a late fee?  Or had to do more work because you did not do something on time?  There are entire companies based around the fact that people do not make deadlines.  (FedEx, perhaps!)

Preventative Maintenance - It puzzles me when people do not take preventative measures for issues that they know will cause them more problems in the future.  "I don't have time" to get my car to the shop.  Will, you have time, and $, when it breaks down?  "I don't have time" to go to the doctor.  Will you have time when your condition gets worse?

Let's make sure we "have time" to do the things that are important.  

What are the things you "don't have time not to do...?"

There was a huge positive response to last week's tweets about no meetings on Fridays.  So, I thought it was appropriate for us to officially designate Fridays as "No Meeting Fridays."

Many people have been saying that they are booked for so many meetings that they cannot get their work done.  Have you ever finished a work day and thought, "Wow, I was in meetings all day... I did not have one minute to do my work."

If you let them, the "Outlook Outlaws" will take all of your time.  They will schedule unneccesary meetings all over your calendar.  They will steal your valuable time.

And let's face it... most of these meetings are not worth the time committed... 

• They have no agenda - What are we even meeting about?
• People are late - Very productive when you start 20 minutes late.
• Are poorly run - Deteriorate into a 25 minutes discussion of hockey or last night's TV shows. 
• Run over their time limit  
• Accomplish little - After your last meeting were there any decisions or actions to be taken? Or just another meeting scheduled? 
• People doing other things - What happens when meetings are poorly run & people are stuck in them all day?  People resort to doing their work during meetings! 

So, let's take back one day of the week for productivity!

The idea here is to protect an entire day for productivity.  Let's spend Friday getting things done. Projects. Reports. Creative work. One-on-one coaching. Things that require time and are important.

So, how do you protect your Friday?

Start simple.  Block it out.  If you want to protect your time, you need to "Block it out."  If you do not schedule yourself for time to do work... you will quickly find that you do not have any.

"But, my employer will not allow me to do work all day on Friday."  (How silly does that statement sound?)

Go ahead, block out all Friday.  Feels good, doesn't it?

I did this last week. Now, a week later, I am happy to see my Friday schedule. I have only one 0.5 hour meeting this morning at 9AM.  After 930AM, I have the rest of the day scheduled to work on my projects.

If you block your Friday, you will observe a few things:

• Most people will avoid scheduling on Friday.
• A few will not - these are the people who would have double/triple booked your calendar anyway, or they have something important - these are the people you want to meet with anyway.
• Friday will quickly become your most productive day of the week.  What a great feeling to finish the work week!

Once upon a time people rushed to answer phones.  For those old enough to remember, you had to get to the phone. 

At one point we did not have answering machines.  We did not have even have CallerID.

So, if you didn’t get to the phone…you did not even know who called.

-------

Today is different.  We carry our phones in our pockets.  We take them everywhere.  (Even to the bathroom).

On your last trip, what did you forget to pack?
You would be amazed what people will forget:

• Socks 
• Cell phone charger 
• Workout shoes 
• Maybe even their brain! (Some people have admitted to this...) 

Traveling can be stressful enough, but when you are disorganized and worrying about packing it only adds to your Life Friction.

The Power of a Travel Packlist
Whether it is for business or personal, it always seems to be a complicated evolution to gather the items for you trip. The best way to make the process easier and less stressful, is to make it repeatable.

A travel packlist is just that, a simple list of all the things you need to bring. By having a list, you can use it each and every time that you need to pack whether for a business trip or vacation.

(If you think you do not need or are above having a packlist, please go back to the first paragraph to see what you forgot...) 

How to Make Your Packlist & Where to Keep it

It is easy to write your list by starting with some simple categories. You will also find that this grouping helps when packing. Here are the sections of my packlist:

• Clothes - All clothing items both business and casual 
• Toiletries - all toiletries down to and including Tylenol 
• Gym - All the stuff needed to workout whether shoes or gym clothes 
• Other - miscellaneous stuff ranging from business cards to my travel wallet 
• Gear - In this age of technology, this section ranges from noise-cancelling headphones to my cell phone charger

Again, these are my categories. Choose your own and personalize your list.

The best way to maintain this list is in a spreadsheet. That way you know exactly where it is (filed on your computer) and can simply print a fresh copy each time you need to pack.

Evolves Over Time
You will find that your packlist evolves and becomes even more powerful over time. When you travel, you will discover things that are not on the list. Either you had not considered them or your needs have changed. Make sure you are updating your list to add things you want to remember next time.

You will even find that you will delete things off the list as they become obsolete. For example, I no longer pack an iPod, because all my music is on my phone.

Better Travel

WIth your travel packlist, you will find that you pack in less time, with less stress, and with fewer forgotten items.  

It may even prevent you from buying another cell phone charger on that next business trip.  :)

Best wishes on your future travels!