So, here is how Brent and I worked the Weekly Time Budget Planning sheet.

It is really a very simple spreadsheet, but very powerful in what it can do for you, IF you have the discipline to complete it and review it. It takes about 10 minutes a week to do a good job with it.

There is a column for the Client or Project Name, then a column for the description of the task. Then a column for each day of the week and a total column on the end.

You can total at the bottom of each day with a Grand Total in the bottom right hand corner. That’s it. The Planner shows which days you are over (or under) loaded, and if you simply have too many hours for the week.

Let’s say your target is 45 hours per week and when you are finished with the planner it shows 53 hours. You have two choices. Prioritize something off the list, or delegate it.

The best part is that you know a week ahead of time so you can respond without breaking a sweat.
__
If you would like a copy of Brent’s Weekly Time Budget Planner, just reply to this email or follow the link to Ask Tom and I will email you one.

Brent wasn’t sure he heard me right. I know he was expecting some sympathy for all of his long hours.

“Your long hours are not because you are working hard,” I said. “Your long hours are because you didn’t budget your time.”

He tried the puppy dog look. “But I don’t know exactly how much work there is to do until it piles up on me,” he protested.

“That’s BS,” I responded. “If you would sit down and think about your week coming up, you would find that 95 percent of it is totally predictable.”

“Well, I have a TO DO list, if that’s what you mean.”

“No, I am talking about a Weekly Time Budget. I am going to email you a Weekly Time Budget Planner. It’s one page. Spreadsheet format. Let’s meet tomorrow afternoon and plan your Time Budget for next week.” -TF
__
If you would like a copy of Brent’s Weekly Time Budget Planner, just reply to this email or follow the link to Ask Tom and I will email you one.

I had a hot tip to stop by and visit with Brent. As I entered his office, I noticed his eyes were sunk in. It was Friday, but he didn’t look like he was ready for the weekend.

“You look like crap,” I observed. “When did you get here this morning?”

Brent sat up, a bit startled. “Oh, man,” he said. “I rolled in around 5:00a. I just had to get some stuff done.”

“And when did you leave last night?”

“Well, I got out of here about 9:45p. I don’t know what it is. This has been going on for the past three weeks. On Monday, things don’t look so bad, but come Thursday and Friday, the work just seems to pile up. I have worked the last three Saturdays and last week, had to come in on Sunday. Missed the football game.”

“So, this is not some special project. Just your regular work,” I inquired.

“Yeah, in fact, if I had known about it ahead of time, I could delegate some of it out and it would already be done. But I don’t know about some of this stuff until it’s too late, or don’t realize how long it is really going to take. All of sudden, the pile is stacked up and everyone has gone home. The work’s gotta get done.”

“Brent, what if?” I started. “Brent, what if I don’t believe you.” -TF

“How many of you have all the time you need to complete all the things that need to be done?” I surveyed the room, not a single hand went up. Earlier, during class introductions, the challenge most often described was Time Management.

“The clock never slows down,” I began. “I cannot give you any more minutes in a day and the rate of those minutes never changes. You cannot manage time.

“You can manage yourself, you can be more productive, you can manage tasks, but no matter how much you stare at the clock on the wall, the second hand will continue to tick.

“And understanding techniques to be more productive, techniques for self-management, techniques for task management seldom work.

“It is not desire that fails people, for most want the outcomes that Time Management produces.

“What fails people most is Discipline. The Discipline to perform something over and over until it becomes a habit. It is only when you create a habit that you will gain the benefits from any Time Management technique.

“I can teach you the techniques, but only you can supply the Discipline.” -TF

“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

“You are actually suggesting that I don’t prioritize?” Marie was having trouble with this. I nodded slowly.

“I know it sounds like heresy, but think about this. What is the biggest difference between an A priority and a C priority?”

Marie hesitated. “Well, it’s either more important or it has to get done first.”

“Good guess, but tell me, have you ever approached a deadline on a C priority and had to complete it before an A priority?”

“Sure, it happens all the time.”

“Then what does that say about your priority system? And bottom line, it all has to get done sometime, just schedule it. If it doesn’t have to get done, it shouldn’t be on your list in the first place.”

Marie was still trying to protest. “But, if I work hard all day and if something doesn’t get done, at least it was the C priority.”

“You are a manager. If there is something you can’t get done, it should be assigned to someone else. At the end of the day, don’t tell me something didn’t get done because you ran out of time. It did not get done because you did not manage it correctly.” -TF