Beat the Clock

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Create a time budget by determining what tasks you do daily, weekly, and monthly, and how much time it generally takes to complete these tasks. You can hurry through this step and guess, but you may be surprised at how much time some duties are eating up. So for one week, record everything you do in a day and how long it takes. Make sure you include at least three responsibilities you usually put off, such as cleaning out your in-box or doing your travel expenses. Your budget will give you an idea of where you can save time—and help you plan so you don't feel that the clock has more power over your day than you do.

Make a daily plan by blocking out the time you need for everything you want to accomplish that day. Keep in mind which times of day you are most alert, and schedule tasks that require the most effort or concentration then. Entrepreneurs who have trouble pulling away from their e-mail should set aside times throughout the day to answer messages, for example, at 9 a.m., noon, and 4 p.m. These days, people expect instant responses, so manage clients' and employees' expectations as well. Huber divides a 12-hour workday into hours—the recommended length of a time block—and gives himself some leeway for completing each task. "I always block off more time than I need so I can deal with interruptions," he says.

Those interruptions consume an average of 2.1 hours—28% of a workday—according to a 2005 study by Basex, a technology research firm in New York. Once interrupted, it takes an average of 25 minutes to return to your original task. And in 15% of cases, people don't get back at all, says Jonathan Spira, chief analyst at Basex. Of course, you can't stop people from calling or knocking on your door, but you can limit the damage. Try giving employees a minute or two to say what is on their minds, and then decide on the spot whether to deal with the problem or arrange another time to handle it.

At Citistorage, Brodsky found herself constantly interrupted by employees and realized it was partly because the different divisions of her company weren't communicating. She began holding regular meetings for each division during which employees would brainstorm about troubleshooting issues such as delivery problems. They would then disseminate the solutions throughout the company.

And make sure to schedule some "uninterruptable" time each day. Close your door, send your telephone calls to voice mail, and ignore your e-mail. Although Huber leaves his office door open all day, he puts on headphones when he wants to signal to employees that he doesn't want to be disturbed. End each day by planning your tasks for the next day, and, say experts, leave the work in the office. That will force you to manage your workdays better and give you a needed break to recharge.

If you find yourself still stuck in chaos, consider calling in an expert. A group time management session, with follow-up meetings, runs about $150 to $450 per attendee, depending on the number of participants and the length of the seminar. Individual sessions, which usually include a couple of two-hour sessions and ongoing contact with your coach, start at around $1,200.

THE SAME PAGE

Applying the same system to your company can reveal wasted effort by employees, or office tasks that are taking more time than they are worth. A time management strategy that works for one person can be easily adopted throughout an entire organization. Huber, for example, posts his plan online using Google's (GOOG) calendar application, so all his employees can see it. And the staff does the same, so everyone knows which projects people are working on and when colleagues are available for meetings.

Brodsky had things under control, but when Citi-storage jumped to 80 employees from 60, she noticed that things weren't running as smoothly as they had been. "We were growing in workers, but not in productivity or profitability," she says. She hired Morgenstern's company, which held a one-day seminar to train Citistorage's 13 managers. During the seminar, which cost $1,950, the managers learned how to examine how their staff spent their time. Managers realized, for example, that the night shift employees weren't taking time to tell the day shift employees what had happened overnight. If a client had called at midnight asking about a box that hadn't been delivered and the night shift workers hadn't resolved the issue, day shift employees wouldn't know to follow up. "It was chaos," says Brodsky. The managers now hold brief daily meetings for members of each shift. Citi-storage's revenues leapt 22% last year. Says Brodsky: "I think better time management is partly responsible for that."

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