how to solve time management problems once and for...

© aa chartered accountants

How to solve timemanagement problems

once and for all!


17 simple and effective techniques to help you conquer and manage your valuable timeTime is truly democratic; it’s 24 hours in a day for every single person on the planet. Rich or poor, old or young, clever or stupid, we all get the same. Yet some people accomplish a vast amount in a day while others go to bed at night wondering where the hours went and why they’ve achieved so little.

Using your time effectively is an issue for most of us, periodically if not permanently, and the huge variety of time management strategies available shows just how widespread it is. Whether you choose David Allen’s extremely comprehensive GTD (Getting Things Done) method or the simpler, user-friendly Pomodoro Technique there’s a system to suit everyone. The trouble is finding the time to read a book on the subject...

This little guide isn’t definitive and not everything in it will fit your needs. But it might just get you thinking about how you spend your time and whether you could make any changes. Some of the strategies will take time and effort to work properly, others you can implement instantly (we’ve marked these with a clock symbol). And of course, if we can work with you to help your business become more successful and more profitable, well, that’s a really good use of time too!

1. Accept that you can’t do everythingThis is the biggest stumbling block for many business owners. If you’ve started from scratch and built up every product and every penny of profit yourself it can be very hard to let go of any of it. You know it inside out, upside down and back to front; nobody else ever will. But the truth is that nobody else will ever need to. Your business isn’t a dream or a plan anymore, it’s out there in the world and it needs to be run effectively and efficiently by capable people. Your role now is to do only the things that only you can do, the things you are uniquely good at – the rest you can delegate.

Changing your mind-set in this way can make a huge difference to how you spend your time and to the success of your business. Once you accept this, things can start to change. So take a deep breath and let go...


2. Delegate like hellYou’ve accepted that you have to pass on some tasks to other people, now you have to decide which ones.

Draw up a list of everything you do in your business and it’s likely that, at first glance, you’ll think you’re the best person to do all of them. Ruthless honesty is required here – are you really fantastic at marketing, sales, operations and HR? No one is good at everything and the best leaders accept that, focusing their time and efforts on the areas where they perform best. The rest they pass on to someone with a different skill set. So think about the other members of your team and the areas where they could shine if given the chance.

If you don’t have in-house expertise in a particular skill or process, think about outsourcing. This doesn’t have to mean sending work off overseas, it could just be that you use a freelance for a one off research project or get your brochures designed externally rather than doing it yourself. Ask lots of questions and make sure all parties are very clear about what’s expected before you commit to anything. It could mean saving not just time but also money.

3. Systemise like hellWhen you delegate, the only way to be certain that things will get done the way you want them done is to create systems for every task and process. Once your team are trained on using a system not only will the job will be done in exactly the same way each time – and consistency is a very valuable business asset – but you’ll save a lot of time not having to reinvent the wheel every time that job needs doing.

Start by noting down every action you take to accomplish a particular task, for example, meeting a potential customer for the first time. Go to the very beginning of the process and work through to the very end – confirming the meeting time and place, sending out the agenda, the information you need to have to hand before the meeting, how the potential customer is greeted etc. Remember to include the goal for the meeting and how it’s followed up afterwards.

Steve Pipe Speaker, strategist and Amazon 5 star rated business author

“As a Chartered Accountant and former UK Entrepreneur of the Year myself,I have very high expectations of other accountants.

Shaz is one of the few who doesn’t disappoint.”


Tony, a partner in an accountancy firm, has created a culture within the office whereby every time he is asked a question about how to do

something, he explains the answer and asks the team member to write up the system. All the systems come back to Tony to check so he knows

they are accurate, but he is gradually reducing the time he spends on these operational processes.

Once you have comprehensive notes, break these down into a step-by-step process that sets out very clearly what needs to be done at every stage (and who by). And once that’s done, ask someone else to follow it. What appears crystal clear and logical to you may be utterly incomprehensible to someone who is new to the whole procedure. Scripts, letters and email templates can all be systemised so the transition from you doing it to a team member doing it is completely seamless. Keep tweaking and refining until the system really works.

It doesn’t end there though. Everyone on your team should be constantly reviewing the systems they use so that as circumstances change, the systems adapt and improve.

4. Run an 80/20 analysis on your customersAcross all kinds of organisations the 80/20 principle holds true, i.e. that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. So 80% of your profits come from 20% of your customers and 80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers (unfortunately these may not be the same 20%!). The key is to know which customers fall into which category so you can focus your time and energy where they are most effective.

To do this you’ll need to list all your customers in descending order of annual sales, then work out the profitability of each account by analysing sales prices, discounts, payment terms, distribution arrangements, manufacturing costs, overheads and so on.

Tom Owen Director at City Resource Ltd

“Shaz is excellent at what he does. Offering sound business advice and assisting with the implementation of new processes.”


Some customers are much more expensive to serve than you might think because, although the product they buy has a high gross margin, they only order it in small quantities. If you were to properly factor in the delivery costs, the manufacturing costs and the costs of raising an invoice and collecting the debt, those costs in some instances can completely eliminate the notional profit that a crude customer profitability analysis suggests. You need to properly drill down, look at all the costs within the business and apportion them accurately so that you get a true insight into which customers are genuinely profitable.

When you carry out this process, you may well realise that some of your customers aren’t profitable at all, that in fact they’re loss making. Most businesses have this experience when they run an in-depth analysis. Because the sale price was more than the raw materials and labour costs they appeared to be a profitable customer, but once all the other costs of serving them are factored in – delivery, raising invoices, dealing with complaints, handling their idiosyncrasies and so on – their true value is revealed. So the top 20% on your customer list may not be the ones you expected.

Once you have your list, you’ll know which customers deserve your time and efforts.

Two important points to note:While current profitability is obviously a very important figure it’s also well worth looking to see if some of your existing small customers have the potential to become big customers. For example, if you deal with a small sub-section of a much larger organisation there could be scope in future to increase your sales to them and this should be taken into account.

Decide what you are going to do with your lower profit customers. You can work to upgrade them to make them more profitable accounts for you, perhaps by getting closer to them, understanding their needs more fully, selling them a wider range of services, supporting them better and therefore justifying premium prices, changing the quantities in which they order or simply just increasing the price they pay. Alternatively, be prepared to lose some of these customers or, if you can, bundle them up and sell them to your competitors who might actually pay you for them (obviously this isn’t possible in all industry sectors but it’s certainly worth thinking about).


5. Run an 80/20 analysis on your products or servicesThe same rule applies to your products or services. Again, it’s critical that you allocate costs fully and accurately because the true costs of individual products aren’t just the raw materials and labour, but include all the other costs within the business. As with your customers, sort your products in descending order of profitability.

Once you’ve identified your high profit products or services, make these your focus and make sure your team fully understands them and is incentivised for selling them. And have a good long think about your low profit products or services. Can you make them more profitable by reducing costs, stripping out some functionality or simply by increasing the price? And if you can’t, are you prepared to drop them, however valuable they’ve been to you in the past?

6. Prioritise your workloadWithout setting priorities (and sticking to them) it’s all too easy to simply react to what pops up in your inbox and whatever else the day throws at you, rather than making your own choices about what’s important.

Every week draw up a simple matrix of all that needs doing and rate each task according to whether it’s important or not important, and urgent or not urgent. Use this to decide which things only you can do and which things can be delegated. Many business owners find that some of the important tasks (tasks which help to move you towards your goals) are not urgent and that they never rise to the top of the to-do list. It may help if, instead of ranking tasks as urgent and non-urgent, you rank them as urgent or investing (as per Nicholas Bate in his excellent book, Beat the Recession). Investing tasks aren’t urgent, but they do need attention in order to bear fruit in the future. For example, reviewing your marketing strategy probably isn’t urgent, but it will make a difference to the success of your business in the long term.

As well as your weekly matrix, make an action list at the end of each day, outlining what you need to do the next day and in what priority. This way, you’re less likely to put off those critical but difficult or unpleasant tasks (as you aren’t facing doing them there and then!). An additional benefit is that once you’ve done a ‘brain dump’ of everything that needs doing the following day, you can relax when you get home, without fretting about tomorrow’s workload.


This experiment is simple enough for your kids to do in a school science class but it has a serious point to make:

Start with a bucket, enough big rocks to fill it, some small stones, some sand and water.

Put the big rocks in the bucket – is it full?Put the small stones in around the big rocks – is it full?

Put the sand in and give it a shake – is it full?Put the water in – now it’s full.

The point? If you leave the big rocks until last, they won’t fit in the bucket at all. Plan time for your big issues before you plan anything else, otherwise

the little things – the sand and water – will fill the hours and before you know it, there’s no time for anything else. And a big issue doesn’t just have to mean work – it could be a holiday or child’s school play, anything that’s

really important to you.

7. Set aside a fixed time to work on your business and plan for the futureYou’ll say it’s impossible – ‘how can I when I’m working all hours just to keep the day-to-day stuff on track?’ – but if you don’t you’ll be caught in the same trap forever. It’s important to separate working in your business and working on your business (one of the key points of Michael Gerber’s influential E-Myth books). Working in your business is dealing with your inbox, keeping customers happy, making sure that your business does what needs to be done that day, that week, that month. Working on your business is thinking beyond the pressures of the day-to-day stuff, working on your strategy and goals, not just what you’re going to do but how you’re going to do it. This is real investing time.

How much time you set aside for working on your business and how often you do it will depend on your role. A day a week might be an unimaginable luxury for most business owners but even 15 minutes at the start or end of each day is worthwhile, so put the time in your diary and keep to it at all costs. Don’t expect instant miracles, but the more you do this the better your business will function. You’ll work out what your business should and shouldn’t be doing, the best ways of doing it, the best people for the job and you’ll spot and be able to take up more opportunities.


8. Set clear goals and stick to themLess obvious than other time saving strategies, but immensely valuable in the long term. Without clear goals for what you want to achieve you’ll waste a lot of time doing stuff that gets you nowhere.

Again, you need to be absolutely honest with yourself and examine what really matters to you, otherwise you won’t be fully committed to your goals. Make them SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timely), write them down and keep them visible on your desk or in your workplace as a constant reminder of what you’re working towards. For example, if one of your goals is to open up another branch of your retail business, spend your time doing the things that help you achieve that, not adding more pages to your website.

This also helps with the next strategy...

9. Stop saying ‘yes’ to everything We’re probably all guilty of this one. We say ‘yes’ because we want to help the person who asked us, because the request is an interesting one, because we’re worried that we’ll lose business in future if we say ‘no.’ But if saying ‘yes’ means that other work suffers or that you move further away from your goals then it isn’t a great long term plan.

Ask yourself what you’re saying ‘no’ to when you say ‘yes’ to something else. Will it help you to reach your goals? Be honest and realistic when people ask you to do something – saying ‘no’ doesn’t have to be offensive.

10. Stop trying to multi-task Doing several things at once gives you the illusion that you’re steaming ahead on all fronts. Checking email while talking on the phone? What a time saver! Working on a report while tweeting your latest news? Brilliant! The reality is that you aren’t giving your full attention to any of them. Every time you switch between tasks your brain has to re-engage with what you were doing before, you have to pick up your thought processes again, and in fact, it takes longer to finish the task.


Instead, set yourself a fixed length of time to complete a job and focus only on that one job. If it’s something big, break it down into manageable chunks. Take that report, for example – give yourself half an hour to complete the first three points, then another half hour for the next three. You can do something else in between – say 15 minutes working on your LinkedIn contacts – but keep to the times you’ve allotted yourself. If you can, move away from distractions so you aren’t interrupted (and see more on that below).

Tips to help you focus:

Get energised: don’t stay sitting in your chair all day long; it’s a recipe for sluggishness and apathy. Run upstairs, walk round the building, do some skipping (if you can do it without

embarrassment!) to boost your circulation and get your brain in gear.

Cut down on caffeine: caffeine may give you energy but too much of it plays havoc with your ability to concentrate. Drink plenty of water and try decaffeinated drinks at least some of the

time.

Practice: like a muscle, our ability to concentrate increases the more we use it. If you find it hard to really focus, start small, with 10 minutes, for example. You’ll gradually build up your

stamina.

11. Take control of your emails It used to be the phone that interrupted us, or colleagues coming over to talk, but now we’ve got emails, tweets and texts to contend with as well. There’s always the temptation to ‘just quickly check’ when you hear the ping that signals a new email and that’s it, you’ve lost focus on the work you were doing.

A simple but effective way to take control of your inbox (and your text messages) is to only look at emails at designated times of the day. When you’re planning your time to work on tasks, also set aside fixed times for checking emails. Most people are more productive in the morning so it makes sense to use the morning for task-time and then check emails for half an hour at 12.30, for example (but everyone is different so find a timetable that suits you). It’s crucial that you don’t even open Outlook until that time. Once you’re in your email time, you can really focus on it without feeling that you ought to be doing something else.


Of course, to stop other people getting frustrated by your lack of response you’ll have to let them know that this is what you’re doing. The simplest way is to use your Out of Office message to say something like ‘I will be checking my emails at 12.30 and 4.00 today. If you need a response before then please phone me on ...’ You’ll find that you get very few interruptions.

12. Deal with distracting noiseA constantly ringing phone, a noisy open plan office, colleagues larking about – there are an infinite number of distractions that can intrude on our time and our concentration. And once we lose concentration, we work more slowly so the task takes longer so we get frustrated ... and so on and so on.

Everyone has a different threshold for noise – some people can work with loud music playing, others require total peace and quiet. Work out what environment you need to work most effectively and for which types of work. If working from home is an option, that can be the ideal place to go when you really need to focus on a task. At other times you might want the buzz of being with other people and bouncing ideas off each other. It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to get the exact right environment 100% of the time, but having a few different options will help.

13. Make your meetings efficientPoorly planned meetings drain time and energy and achieve very little. Well planned meetings on the other hand, help communicate vital information and get decisions made (these count as investing time). So how do you make sure your meetings do the latter and not the former?

First, decide if the meeting is really necessary. Would a conference call or an email do the job just as well (or better)? Just because you’ve always had weekly operations meetings, it doesn’t mean that it’s the most efficient way to get things done.

Next, only invite the people who really need to be there. Attendance at certain meetings can be perceived as a matter of prestige and to suddenly be disinvited can bruise egos, so tread carefully but firmly here. The minutes or a summary can always be emailed to the relevant people afterwards.


Make sure everyone receives an agenda beforehand with the aim of the meeting clearly stated. This helps to eliminate a lot of roundabout discussions. If there are any supporting documents that can be circulated at the same time, even better - then everyone is fully briefed beforehand and you don’t have to spend valuable meeting time digesting new information.

Cover the important topics first – that way you can be sure they will be dealt with, while the less important stuff can wait for another time if necessary.

Designate someone to create an action list as the meeting progresses, with the task, owner and due date noted. This also needs to be emailed out to participants afterwards.

What about setting a time limit? If you know you only have an hour to sort out next year’s pricing, you’ll find you concentrate intensely!

Some organisations find that holding their meetings while standing up brings a clearer focus and faster decision making.

14. Procrastinate lessLet’s face it, we all have tasks that never make it to the top of our to-do list, things we know we should have done, but we just keep putting off, and putting off, and putting off ...

The key to making headway with a project like this is to make it easier. Commit to doing a little work on it every day – 15 minutes, 10 minutes, even 5 minutes. You’ll keep the project moving – even if it’s slowly at first – and you’ll gradually chip away at it until it doesn’t seem such a beast of a job.

Another little trick is to pretend that someone else is going to do it! Prepare a checklist as if you’re passing the task on to someone else for them to complete. You’ll focus on the essentials and once you have them listed, it won’t seem so daunting.

Rachel Rouncefield Co-Founder/Director at Care About You CIC

“Shaz has been an inspiration to our small but ambitious Community Interest Company. The way he runs his business is about so much more than just

numbers or profit.”


Knowing why you procrastinate can help you to stop doing it:

You don’t know where to start: you might have an idea of the overall shape of a project but the starting point isn’t clear. Sit down and analyse what needs to be done first – it might be that you need to talk to someone else before you

can get going.

It’s a really unpleasant job: there’s no getting round this one, you just have to get on and do it. Make it the first task you do in the morning and you’ll have a

real sense of achievement when it’s over.

You’re worried that you won’t do it well enough: perfectionism can be a wonderful thing, but it can also prevent you even starting a project.

Something is better than nothing though and once you’ve actually made a start you can tweak and adjust until it meets your high standards.

15. Make time to get away from your businessAs with working on your business rather than in it, you’ll say this is impossible at first – ‘if I had time to do that, I’d already be doing it!’ Think about it though – how long can you be truly energetic, truly productive, truly innovative if you don’t invest in yourself ? When you’re immersed in your business and never come up for air you can begin to lose perspective and stop seeing things from your customers’ point of view. Not to mention the health risks that come with a high stress lifestyle.

Time management guru Harold Taylor says: “Research shows that people think more creatively when they are calm, unhurried, and free from stress. Time pressures lead to tunnel vision. When a NY Times reporter interviewed several winners of the MacArthur “genius” grants, most said they kept cell phones and iPods turned off when in transit so they could use the downtime for thinking. Michael Gebb, author of ‘How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci’, asked the question “Where are you when you get your best ideas?” The answer is seldom “At work.” It’s usually while walking, taking a shower, listening to music or some other non-work related activity. Making work your whole life is detrimental to your work.


People usually get their best ideas, not when they are busy working, but while relaxing at home, on vacation or just before dozing off at night. You are not doing yourself a favor by skipping lunches or vacations or continually multitasking. Make time for creative thinking by going on long walks, taking regular breaks, having leisurely lunches and keeping normal hours.” More at www.taylorintime.com

Getting away can be as simple as a walk at lunchtime or a swim after work (and there’s the added advantage of not being able to check your phone while you’re swimming!). Find something that you enjoy doing and make the commitment to set aside the time to do it.

16. Make your work environment work for youReceived wisdom says that you can only be truly effective with a clear desk and an organised filing system. An uncluttered work environment lets you focus, removes distractions and helps concentration.

Well, this may be true for many people, but it isn’t for everyone. Some people like to have books to refer to or to have a space that’s personal to them. But you do have to be organised, just in a way that suits you. Being able to find what you need, when you need it, is a big time saver. So if the clear space on your desk has dwindled to nothing and you can’t even move your mouse anymore, it really is time to sort through the piles of documents and clear out a drawer or two.

17. Prioritise the rest of your life as well as your workloadWhat are you working for? In a list of their reasons for being in business, most business owners would include providing for their family in the best way they can as one of the top motivators. You don’t need anyone to tell you that providing for your family financially is often at the cost of actually spending time with them. But just try to keep in mind why you do what you do and what’s really important in the end. As the old saying goes, nobody dies wishing they’d spent more time at the office.

ConclusionNo one can manage time to produce more of it and we can’t buy any extra or sell what we’ve got. All we can do is use what we have in the best way we can. So the real message of this little book is simply to spend your time on what matters the most to you.


If you’d like to talk to us about how we can help you in your business – and how we can save you time and money – then please get in touch.

With kindest regards

Shaz NawazThe Profits Wizard

PS Why not connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter. My details are:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaznawazTwitter: https://twitter.com/aa_accountants

I look forward to connecting with you!

Paul Dunn The Stunning Power of Small, B1G1 Chairman

“What’s the best test you know of a great Accountant. They really know their stuff ? They’re personable? They listen more than talk? When they talk they’re

truly insightful?

Well, Shaz passes all of those tests with flying colours. But by far the most important test is this one: what do clients say and feel about him?

I had the opportunity to put that test into action in February 2012 with Shaz. And I’ve never heard or seen clients so connected to any Accountant before.

Here’s a group of great clients, many of whom would never consider a move in their business without consulting Shaz.

Add to the fact that he’s simply a great bloke and you begin to get the picture that Shahzad Nawaz is a very, very special person. And that special-ness flows

over (as you’d imagine) into his team. He’s created something quite special at AA Accountants — something you’ll enjoy as much as I do”

how to solve time management problems once and for...

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