“You said you would tell me how to bring this all together?” Marie asked. “You said there was one last thing I needed to know to bring my time management system together.”

“You are right, there is one more discipline that is critical to the success of this system,” I responded. “I was taught this several years ago by a firm who truly understood its power.

“Each Monday, every Monday, without fail, even if some members of the team were absent, there was a special meeting to review the action plans for the week. Daily was too often, monthly was too long, weekly was just right.

“To that meeting, attendees would bring all the tidbits, scraps of paper, file notes, phone slips, due date reports along with the schedules of every person in the firm. The purpose was to review every possible action step in the time frame of that week, to make sure every person and every thing was fully scheduled.

“Around the table sat approximately $3000 per hour of billable personnel. The meeting lasted two hours so double that number. That is the value that company placed on that meeting.

“The value of a full-on action-step-review on a weekly basis has been proven time and again. If you work alone, you need to meet with yourself to schedule your personal weekly calendar. If you work with other people, a mutual meeting can accomplish both personal calendars and cooperative calendars. The meeting can happen face to face or through some technical hookup when necessary.

“I always look for leverage. This is one powerful lever.” -TF