End Times…

We all set start times for things – let’s face it, it would be pretty difficult not to. But very few of us set end times. A time that whatever we are doing will end.

In fact, talking of start times, let’s cover those first. Have you ever thought about making a start time not on the hour? Most meetings are naturally set on the hour.  10.00am – 11.00am – 2.00pm that sort of thing.

So how about instead of setting a time of say 10.00am you go for 10.15am? It’s amazing the difference it makes. Psychologically it says the meeting will be shorter – because people’s minds work in hours. And of course it marks you out as different. You stand out. It’s a small thing but it helps you to be remembered.

But put that together with end times and you have a real winner.

Most people don’t set end times for their meetings and so their meetings take as long as they – well take. In consequence they allow any meetings they have a large window of time. Extra time in case they run-over. Or even – just because they don’t have much else to do. Nothing planned. The thing is these people don’t value their time. The amazing thing is that time is the only thing we can’t get more of – when it’s gone, it’s gone.

Why do meetings drift? The simple answer is because most people don’t plan their meetings. They have a broad topic (or an overloaded topic) – but that’s about it. So it’s impossible to know how long they will take.

So a great place, maybe the only place, to start is to plan your meetings; by doing that you will have a good idea of an end time.

On the other hand – just set an end time in the first place. You will be amazed at how much more focused your meetings will become and because of that a great deal more productive.

Now this might seem like a small thing (and you might already do it) – but it can have enormous benefits.

One of which is with diary dates. If you look at the average person’s diary they are filled with a lot of ‘air’.  Shall we say coffee time, or catching up on social media – that sort of thing. For example: meeting at 9.00am – not sure when it will end, so maybe the next meeting will be a 11.00am. Time for a coffee in between – or look around the shops. I bet you’ve been guilty of that. I know I used to be.

Worse still, I know business owners who never book more than one meeting in the morning and another in the afternoon! Why? Because they just don’t know how long their meetings will take. Nothing has been set.  It could be 20 minutes, on the other hand it could be two hours. Result? Lots of lost time.

Now just imagine what a difference there would be if you set an end time and didn’t start on the hour.

First meeting at 9.15am – finish by 10.00am. Next meeting at 10.30am ending at 11.30am. Meeting after that starts at 12.00 and ends at 12.45pm. All made possible by setting end times.

With clear focus and planning, meetings will be both shorter and more productive. Making it possible to have two, maybe three, meetings where before you had just the one.

Just think what that would do to your own personal productivity! Scary isn’t it?

But it doesn’t have to end there. Because all ‘meetings’ can have a fixed end time. Zoom calls, video calls, even plain old phone calls.

I know someone who only takes phone calls in the afternoon and they are all booked in slots of 15 and 20 minutes – on top of which before the call is made he has a rough agenda for the call. The amount of work this guy gets done in a day is just staggering.

If you value the limited time you have – please plan and set end times (end times made possible due to the planning) – I promise that you will discover time that you thought just didn’t exist.

Well that’s it, four really useful business practice thoughts that will give you more time.

I hope that you will implement some, if not all four, into your business and that you reap the rewards from doing so. If you do, frankly, the results will amaze you. And please don’t even think for the moment that you don’t have the time – because you do.

You will have hours, and I do mean hours, of extra time. But more importantly you will find that time pressure disappears and with that a vast amount of stress.

And it doesn’t matter who you are. Everyone can save some time. From maybe just a couple of hours a week to, in some cases, whole days. I’ve seen it!

Whichever it is, you don’t need much of an imagination, to see how the extra time would make a massive difference to your business – in fact your way of life.

You would have control; more time to work on your business. You could have a better work life balance. And, I’d almost guarantee, fewer sleepless nights.

The West Wing

Time is something that we all have exactly the same amount of as each other and yet some people seem to do so much more with their allotted amount than others.  One of the questions that I am asked the most is how to make more time?  Well, the simple answer is that you can’t.  But, what you can do is save time: make better use of the time that you have.

Most things will take as long as you allow them to.  So, an easy way of saving time is to give everything you do a set amount of time: making it less than you normally might.

One of the biggest users of time are meetings.  Endless meetings, meetings to discuss meetings, meetings because that is what you are suppose to do.

I firmly believe that most meetings could be at least 25% shorter, maybe 50%, and that some meetings need not happen at all.  I will explain my rationale.

Most meetings are given a set time: 30 minutes, an hour, maybe two, maybe even all day.  Then an agenda is worked out to fill the time decided on.  A meeting might be scheduled for 2 hours every week and so it is filled up with stuff to take two hours.  But what if there are only 20 minutes of material to cover?

So, how about trying this?  Decide what needs to be covered in a meeting and however long that requirement is, that is the length of the meeting: whether it be 20 minutes or one hour and thirty-five minutes.  Trust me, no one will complain about having shorter meetings if it means they get something else done.

Another major loss of time in meetings is bad chairmanship; people getting way off the subject in hand and being allowed to waffle.  Every point on the agenda should have a fixed amount of time and then that time stuck to. 

Practise just these two things and I promise you will save hours of time.

I titled this blog ‘The West Wing’ I don’t know if you have ever watched the programme but if you have you will have noticed that some of the President’s meetings are just a few minutes long.  When what needs to be said has been said the meeting is over and it’s on to the next one.  Now before you say “It’s only a TV show” do you really think a President runs the US without having such meetings?

The wheels come off!

A good friend of mine wanted a new head torch for her cycle helmet and so popped along to the local branch of Moore’s Cycles; she had shopped there before.

Unfortunately, they were just closing but the person on the door was really helpful, gave her a couple of ideas, and suggested that she call in the morning just to confirm that they had them in stock, so she didn’t waste her time coming to the store only to find they were out of stock.

The next day she called and asked the person who answered what head torches they had in the shop. It wasn’t the same person who had been so helpful the evening before – and what a difference.

This person had no interest in advising on head torches, let alone checking which ones they might have in stock. Instead they suggested checking on their website and then calling them back to see if they held the one she wanted.

Being somewhat taken aback she hung up and went online. It didn’t take long on the Moore’s website to pick the one that best suited her. But then the obvious thing happened. She checked the price from other suppliers. And guess what?! She could buy exactly the same head torch somewhere else but for 25% less. Moore’s Cycles had lost a sale and, more importantly, possibly a long-term customer.

This was all because of two very different members of staff and I wonder just how much other business this unhelpful member of staff is costing Moore’s.

If you have staff, any staff, that have customer contact, do you know how they portray, not only your company, but also themselves? If not, you could have staff, just like Moore’s, that are costing you a great deal of money.