* If you were paying you to prioritise emails over coaching your team, would you feel you were getting a good return on your investment?

* If you were paying you to waste time on trivia rather than planning your next quarters sales plan – would you think you were getting good value for money?

* If you were paying you to sit in numerous unproductive meetings would you feel that was a worthwhile contribution?

I suspect that the answer to those questions is no and yet, in effect, that’s exactly what you are doing. By choosing to adopt poor time management habits and poorly prioritise what’s important you are in effect creating a poor return on investment for your self your organisation or you own business.

No go One Step Further and ask your self “If I was paying me by the hour, day or on specific results what would I pay myself?”

It might be $30/hour, $800/week or $150000/year depending on your skill, knowledge and experience and in what role or business you are in. Let’s say for example you are a manager earning $80000/year. Let’s assume you work 250 x 8 hour days a year, which means you are earning the equivalent of $40/hour

* For every hour you spend trawling through your emails the cost is $40

* For every ½ day you spend catching up on your personal administration because you are poorly organised the cost is $160

* For every day you sit in unproductive meetings the cost is $320

Now imagine that came out of YOUR paycheck. Would that

You can see now how your poor time management could be costing you dearly and that’s only in financial terms. You are probably paying the price physically and emotionally for your lack of prioritisation of what’s important versus what’s urgent and unimportant. But look how easily you can make impactful changes

Using the same average work pattern look how much extra time you could have if…

* You save 5 minutes a day; you will increase your productivity by 2.6 full days.

* You save 30 minutes a day; you will increase your productivity by 15.63 full days.

* You save one hour a day; you will increase your productivity by 31.25 full days.

Suddenly you have “created more time” with the opportunity to achieve more results. You can see that even small changes can make a huge difference.

Take Control of Your Time an by saving that time or by choosing to reallocate that time to higher priority work you will achieve better results, reach the targets you have been set and help others to do the same. By changing your costly habits you might also help others change theirs.

©2005 Beverley Hamilton

About The Author
Beverley Hamilton is the author of Take Control of Your Time: 7 Straight Shooter Strategies for Success. To learn more, subscribe to Quickstart her free ezine and get more tips, tools and articles visit at One Step Further

NOTE: You’re welcome to reprint this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered including the “about the author” information at the end.

• Making the Best Use of Your Time


• Will Your Epilogue Be – I Got All My Emails Done?


• Im Too Busy - Oh Really!


• Time Management - How To Get More Done In A Day?


• Taking Time Out to Play - Summertime and the Living is Easy


• When Is Time Management Not Enough?


• Tips to Manage Incoming E-mail


• Work, Work, Work: Making Each Moment Count


• Time Management: How to Stay Motivated and Get More Done


• Time Management: How to Make Your Meetings More Productive


• Time Management: Eliminate Time Killers to Gain More Hours Every Day


• Time Management: Analysis is the Key to Mastery


• More Precious Than Gold


• Productivity at Home


• 9 Business Time Management Skills You Need To Succeed