An 18-Minute Plan for Managing Your Day

An 18-Minute Plan for Managing Your Day
Yesterday started with the best of intentions. I walked into my office in the morning with a vague sense of what I wanted to accomplish. Then I sat down, turned on my computer, and checked my email. Two hours later, after fighting several fires, solving other people's problems, and dealing with whatever happened to be thrown at me through my computer and phone, I could hardly remember what I had set out to accomplish when I first turned on my computer. I'd been ambushed. And I know better.

When I teach time management, I always start with the same question: How many of you have too much time and not enough to do in it? In ten years, no one has ever raised a hand.

That means we start every day knowing we're not going to get it all done. So how we spend our time is a key strategic decision. That's why it's a good idea to create a to do list and an ignore list. The hardest attention to focus is our own.

But even with those lists, the challenge, as always, is execution. How can you stick to a plan when so many things threaten to derail it? How can you focus on a few important things when so many things require your attention?

We need a trick.

Jack LaLanne, the fitness guru, knows all about tricks; he's famous for handcuffing himself and then swimming a mile or more while towing large boats filled with people. But he's more than just a showman. He invented several exercise machines including the ones with pulleys and weight selectors in health clubs throughout the world. And his show, The Jack LaLanne Show, was the longest running television fitness program, on the air for 34 years.

But none of that is what impresses me. He has one trick that I believe is his real secret power.

Ritual.

At the age of 94, he still spends the first two hours of his day exercising. Ninety minutes lifting weights and 30 minutes swimming or walking. Every morning. He needs to do so to achieve his goals: on his 95th birthday he plans to swim from the coast of California to Santa Catalina Island, a distance of 20 miles. Also, as he is fond of saying, "I cannot afford to die. It will ruin my image."

So he works, consistently and deliberately, toward his goals. He does the same things day in and day out. He cares about his fitness and he's built it into his schedule.

Managing our time needs to become a ritual too. Not simply a list or a vague sense of our priorities. That's not consistent or deliberate. It needs to be an ongoing process we follow no matter what to keep us focused on our priorities throughout the day.

I think we can do it in three steps that take less than 18 minutes over an eight-hour workday.

STEP 1 (5 Minutes) Set Plan for Day. Before turning on your computer, sit down with a blank piece of paper and decide what will make this day highly successful. What can you realistically accomplish that will further your goals and allow you to leave at the end of the day feeling like you've been productive and successful? Write those things down.

Now, most importantly, take your calendar and schedule those things into time slots, placing the hardest and most important items at the beginning of the day. And by the beginning of the day I mean, if possible, before even checking your email. If your entire list does not fit into your calendar, reprioritize your list. There is tremendous power in deciding when and where you are going to do something.

In their book The Power of Full Engagement, Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz describe a study in which a group of women agreed to do a breast self-exam during a period of 30 days. 100% of those who said where and when they were going to do it completed the exam. Only 53% of the others did.

In another study, drug addicts in withdrawal (can you find a more stressed-out population?) agreed to write an essay before 5 p.m. on a certain day. 80% of those who said when and where they would write the essay completed it. None of the others did.

If you want to get something done, decide when and where you're going to do it. Otherwise, take it off your list.

STEP 2 (1 minute every hour) Refocus. Set your watch, phone, or computer to ring every hour. When it rings, take a deep breath, look at your list and ask yourself if you spent your last hour productively. Then look at your calendar and deliberately recommit to how you are going to use the next hour. Manage your day hour by hour. Don't let the hours manage you.

STEP 3 (5 minutes) Review. Shut off your computer and review your day. What worked? Where did you focus? Where did you get distracted? What did you learn that will help you be more productive tomorrow?

The power of rituals is their predictability. You do the same thing in the same way over and over again. And so the outcome of a ritual is predictable too. If you choose your focus deliberately and wisely and consistently remind yourself of that focus, you will stay focused. It's simple.

This particular ritual may not help you swim the English Channel while towing a cruise ship with your hands tied together. But it may just help you leave the office feeling productive and successful.

And, at the end of the day, isn't that a higher priority?

18分钟做计划，充分利用每一天

我踌躇满志地开始了昨天的生活。早晨走进办公室时，我隐约地知道自己想要做成什么事。然后我坐下来，打开电脑，查看邮件。在接下来的两个小时里，我处理了几件很急的事情，解决了别人的若干个问题，处理了电脑和电话抛给我的各种琐事。两小时后，我几乎想不起来早晨刚打开电脑的时候自己想要做什么事了。我被各种突如其来的事情搞得晕头转向。我原本知道自己不该是这个样子的。

    在上“时间管理”的课时，我常常以这样一个问题作为开始：在你们当中，有谁觉得他的时间很多但做起事来却又不够用？十年以来，没有一个人举过手。

这就说明，当我们开始每一天的时候，我们并不打算让所有的时间都有着落。所以，如果安排时间是一个至关重要的问题。因此，给要做的事和不要的事分别列一个清单，就是一个很好的主意。

    但是，即使有了这样的清单，执行起来也常常面临挑战。当如此多计划外的事情扑面而来时，你又如何能坚持执行自己的计划呢？当如此多的事情需要你花费精力去处理时，你又如何能专注于那几件重要的事情呢？

我们需要一些窍门

Jack LaLanne是一位健身专家，他掌握很多窍门。他能够绑起双手拖着一艘载满人的大船在水中游行超过1英里的距离，这使他声名远播。但他不只是一个会表演的人。他发明了好几种健身器械，其中包括一种带有滑轮和重量选择装置的器械，这种器械已经被广泛应用在世界各地的健身俱乐部中。至于他的名为“Jack LaLanne Show”的电视节目，则是史上播出时间最长的电视健身节目，共播出了34年。

但是，真正给我留下印象的并不是上面这些事。他有一种技巧，我认为这种技巧才是他所具备的真正的神秘力量。

按部就班

在94岁高龄时，他仍然将每天的头两个小时用来锻炼身体：做举重练习90分钟，游泳或步行30分钟。每天早晨都是如此。他这么做是为了实现他的目标，即在95岁生日时，从加利福尼亚海岸游到20英里之外的圣卡塔丽娜岛。此外，他还常常津津乐道：“我可死不起，那会毁了我的形象。”

所以他为了实现他的目标而一以贯之、有条不紊地努力着，每天都做着同样的事。他非常在意自己的健康状况，并据此制定自己的生活日程。

在管理自己的时间时，我们也需要做到按部就班。只列个清单或者只对重要的事情有一个模糊的感觉是远远不够的，这样并不能做到一以贯之、有条不紊。时间管理应当成为一个持续进行的流程，沿着这样一个流程，我们每天都能将精力集中在重要的事情上。

我认为我们能够通过三个步骤来成功管理自己的时间，而这三个步骤只需要花费8小时工作日中的18分钟。

第一步（用时：5分钟）：制定一天的计划

在打开电脑之前，先坐下来，面前放一张白纸，然后思考哪些事情能使这一天变得非常成功。哪些事情是你实际上能够完成的，并能使你离目标更近一步，而且让你在下班时充满成就感？把这些事情写下来。

现在最重要的是，将这些事情安排到你日程表的空闲时间里，将最难做的和最重要的事情放在这一天刚开始的时候。我所说的“这一天刚开始的时候”是指：如果有可能，在查看邮件之前。如果你的整个清单和你的日程不协调，就要重新调整清单所列的优先顺序。计划好在什么时间、什么地点做什么事，能够带给你强大的力量。

在他们合著的《全情投入的力量》这本书里，Jim Loehr和Tony Schwartz讲述了这样一项研究：有一群妇女同意在30天的时间里对乳房进行自查，其中一部分妇女计划好了她们将在什么时间、地点进行检查，最后这部分人全部完成了检查；而另一部分人没做计划，她们当中只有53%的人完成了检查。

在另一项研究中，一群正在戒毒的毒品依赖者（还能找到比他们的精神压力更大的人吗？）答应在某一天下午5点前写完一篇短文。事先确定完成时间和地点的人中有80%最终完成了任务，而那些没有做计划的人则一个也没有完成。

第二步（用时：每小时1分钟）调整注意力

设定你的手表、手机或电脑，让它们每小时响一次。当它们响时，做一个深呼吸，看看你的清单，问问自己上一个小时过得是否富有成效。然后看着你的日历，再次慎重地确定该如何利用下一个小时。一小时接一小时地管理好你一天的时间，而不要让时间一小时接一小时地摆布你。

第三步（用时：5分钟）反思

关掉电脑，反思你的一天。你做成了哪些事？你的精力都花在了哪里？你在什么时候变得心烦意乱？你学到了哪些东西能帮你在明天取得更多的成果？

按部就班的力量就在于它的可预测性。你一次又一次地用同样的方法做同样的事情，因此事情的结果也是可预测的。如果你慎重而又明智地选择了自己的关注点，并时刻提醒自己保持专注，你就能集中精力做事。就是这么简单。

按部就班地执行上述步骤，也许不能帮助你绑着手拖着一艘游艇游过英吉利海峡，但它也许能使你在离开办公室时充满成就感。让自己在下班时充满成就感，这岂不是更重要的事吗？