Article from “The Press” 12 June 2006

Making the most of time.

Time-management training sounds like a way for harassed business owners to fit 50 extra things into an already crowded day.

John McCrone is rather relieved to find that in fact less can sometimes be more.

"I can speak to you, but not right now. Try me again at 4.” From the stern no- nonsense tones of Rosita Guy of Christchurch's Guy Associates, you know you are talking to a Time-Management professional.

Guy later reveals she had made an appointment with herself that morning - actually booked out a couple of hours in her diary to catch up on invoices - so giving herself the right to resist outside interruptions. It seems one of the first rules of good time management is learning to say no.

Time management is a scary sounding subject for many. It conjures up images of already busy managers squeezing an ever greater number of tasks into ever shrinking time slots until their brains boil and their heads explode. But as Guy explains, it is in fact about learning to work smarter rather than work faster. It is about organising work in a way that minimises distractions rather than trying to fit work around a stream of interruptions.

Guy agrees that many people find saying "no" difficult. And, of course, it is even more difficult for staff members to find ways to stop off-the-cuff interruptions from the boss. Managers are often the worst offenders when it comes to unneeded distractions. This is why she recommends firms establish the practice of people making written appointments with themselves. It sounds a little silly, yet encourages disciplined working. Fellow staff will know to leave you alone and even to take your phone calls if possible. So the experts say the crucial step is make your work easy to organise by cutting back on clutter and distractions.

Then, of course, comes the organisation - the time-management disciplines of lists, diaries and work chunking.

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