Stop playing

I really love people who make me save time, probably more than the ones who make me save money. And I am sure the most agree with me. So your client, so your suppliers, so your colleagues and collaborators do.

As a matter of fact, many people waste their time in useless things, that cannot produce anything, and give no advantage for them and for others. These “things” are kind of vices that we carry on through all our activities, without facing them. Then, without them we can save a lot of time for us and for others, enhance our relationships, enhance our reputation, enhance our results. There would be no need to solve many problems if we just do not provide us so many!

Try to write down everything we do, and what we should do on a paper during one day or even a week. If we were able to do it honestly we will surely realize how much time we could invest better, then how faster we could have reach our targets.
Here something you may find on your paper: bad communication, misunderstandings, bad organization, missing commitments or appointments, delays, losses… those are just a few of what you may find into your everyday’s ménage.

Apart from the entity of these vices, it is interesting to realize how repetitive they are. So we do not face them, vice versa we cultivate them, they are part of our method. How many appointments are just a ceremony of circumstance? How many meetings are drowned into rhetoric phrases? And what you do about that? Probably nothing, you just go on and so do everybody around you. So all of you keep wasting time.

A meeting should be arranged when there is something to discuss, and all participants can contribute to get the best result. All participants should receive a detailed agenda so they can sharpen their ideas about every single point and be ready to illustrate to others in the most clear and synthetic way.
Do not forget: sometimes it takes a lot of time to join the meeting, big distances, traffic, contingency. A video-conference is a great opportunity to save time and make it more convenient for all.

It is a matter of discipline, nothing more than this. To avoid wastes is the most effective strategy to save time and reach higher targets:

Shifts
Avoid to arrange or attend more meetings than you really need. Limit your shifts. Personal relationships are important, but usually a call is enough.
When every meeting has a special purpose, and no waste, everybody will be more motivated to attend it and to contribute.

Delays
Do not postpone and do not delay in meetings and in sending answers and info. Just consider deadlines and never miss them (especially when you set those deadlines). To miss a deadline requires also to find a good excuse… and to remember it!
If you are always in time you can expect people to be in time with you, again you can save time. It is a team work with clients, suppliers and colleagues, and anybody can easily win. There are few causes that allow you to delay, the most are just vain excuses.

Forgetfulness
You do not need a super-normal memory, not to forget your commitments, or just where you place things, you just need to write. Write everything you cannot do right now, write clearly what you have to do, why you should do it (so consider priority), who is involved and which is the deadline.
An electronic agenda is a useful tool that can send you alarms to remind you activities and appointments. When you write send your notes to the people involved into that activity so you avoid to experience misunderstandings. Do not forget and do not allow others to forget. When you forget you break your schedule and usually that provoke a chain reaction.

Inaccuracy
Do not be vague about deadlines, and do not allow anybody to be vague about them. “We will answer you in few days”, “We will meet as soon as possible”… does not mean anything, so it is just useless to give and receive such an information. You should be able to arrange an appointment in six months with no need to confirm it again.

Losses
We all manage thousands of contacts, emails, documents… we cannot count on our memory to remember everything. Avoiding to lose means avoid to work and decide upon an incomplete information, and also wasting time searching for lost things.
About Business Cards you should always catalogue all the ones you take with some notes just to make sure you will always remember who is that person and what he can do for you. You can even note something particular about him or something that happens with him so you can easily remind him about you next time you may contact him.

That is not just a method… it is a strategy: To be a reliable person, to be frank, punctual, accurate and to always keep your word will inspire respect, admiration and confidence. People loves that kind of people and do all they can to earn their trust. Confidence makes you save time, and get more from people.