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MAINTAINING YOURSELF AS A LEADER
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Time is the only commodity that you cannot 
manufacture more of.  Leaders must juggle 
many priorities, complete large volumes of work 
efficiently, and produce "value"--quality at a 
good price.  To attain this, control of time is 
a necessity.

If you feel a need for improvement in this area, 
first study the topography of your calendar.  
How do you spend your time?  Monitor this for 
one week, then plan and organize accordingly.  
Pare away the non-value-adding (NVA) activity
--paper, meetings, time-wasters, and administrivia.  
And stop creating NVA's for others (delegation is 
not always the best route).

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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I am plagued by interruptions.  I want to keep an 
"open door" policy, but I can't get other work done.   
Suggestions?

Do what the academics do--post office hours during 
which you will take questions, guide, be informed, 
and socialize.  If someone bucks that and comes at 
another time, stand up, greet them at your door, 
briefly hear their concern, and tell them when you 
can talk.

There is always too much to do.  How do I sort 
through and organize this chaos? 

Through the lens of importance.  Sort by:

A - Value-adding or of High Importance
B - Necessary or of Medium Importance
C - Waste or of Low Value

Do not confuse Urgency with Importance.  High 
importance accomplishes a goal or brings you 
satisfaction.  Success is having the hours to do 
what you want.  This could be playing with your 
child or having private time.  Shed the C's.

Three times a day, ask yourself if you are 
accomplishing your "A" priorities.  Focus on 
the truly important, say "no" to the unimportant.

What to do with too much correspondence: 
e-mail, voicemail, memos, reports, junk mail?

Your goal is to handle each item once and only once.  
Lakein's (1989) system of TRAF is useful:

T - Trash it
R - Refer it
A - Act on it
F - File it

Stephanie Winston (2001) added a 1/2 to the four items:

R - Read it

Have a wastebasket, referral folder, action box, 
to be filed box and a reading stack by your desk.  
Use similar concepts on your computer desktop.

Learn to "Power Read" (skim the important parts).

Is it possible that I have adult ADD, because 
I am perpetually disorganized?

This is true for many people.  To get things done, 
you have to have regular, focused attention.  Mark 
Forster has a work trick, that supersedes the "get disciplined, 
work harder, prioritize lists approach."  It is about 
"working in short bursts" and "working in rotation."
Studies have shown that people are more efficient 
at the end of a work period, and to some extent, 
at the beginning.  Three sessions of 20 minutes 
are more effective then a single 60-minute session.  
This method overcomes resistance and procrastination, 
by paring down the tasks into smaller steps.  And it also 
increases interest by changing the topic every 5-20 
minutes.

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EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
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Business coaching and time management training
http://www.coaching-life.co.uk/pages/time.htm

Download time management section of Mind Tools
http://www.mindtools.com/page5.html

One hour audio CD free
http://www.thinktq.com/welcome/tqs_registration_plain.cfm?sa=109101&ac=000146&lp=000122

Former Keyzines on related topics:
Volume 10, January 2002 - Meetings
Volume 47, February 2005 - Whither Quality
Volume 50, May 2005 - Picture of a Process

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OTHER USEFUL WEBSITES 
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Staunch the paper flow
http://www.work911.com/articles/papertip.htm

TRAF you e-mail
http://www.morebusiness.com/running_your_business/businessbits/d968034002.brc

Time-tracking software, free for 30 days
http://www.dovico.com/index.html?cid=1207

Free trial on Paper Tiger software
http://www.thepapertiger.com/?source=google

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ARTICLES/PUBLICATIONS                              
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Articles on Time Management 
http://www.addcoach4u.com/timemanagement.html

Bittel, Lester.  Right on Time!  The Complete 
Guide for Time-Pressured Managers.  New York: 
McGraw-Hill, 1990.

Covey, Stephen R., Merrill, Roger A., and Merrill, 
Rebecca R.  First Things First.  New York: Simon 
& Schuster, 1994.

Forster, Mark.  Help Yourself Get Everything Done
 and Still Have Time to Play.  Chicago: McGraw-Hill, 2001.

Lakein, Alan.  How to Get Control of Your Time 
and Your Life.  New York: NAL-Dutton, 1989. (revised 1996)

Mackenzie, R. Alec   The Time Trap: The Classic 
Book on Time Management.  New York: Barron's, 1991.

Winston, Stephanie.  The Organized Executive: 
A Program for Productivity--New Ways to Manage 
Time, Paper, People and the Electronic Office.  Warner 
Business Books, 2001.