How to boost your efficiency

Most of us think of our time in terms of days or hours.

Dan Sullivan, founder of Strategic Coach and best-selling author, recommends managing your time one week at a time.

He recommends having focus days, buffer days and free days. What does that mean?

FOCUS DAYS

Focus days are dedicated to vital tasks or “deep work” (as author Cal Newport would call it).

This might mean working on your #1 goal for the year, self-improvement, learning, or reading.

Depending on your preference, you could plan on several 60 to 90-minute time blocks of super-focused time.

Michael Gerber, author of the E-Myth, would say that focus days should be to work ON your business, not “in” it.

There should be no interruptions, no pings and dings, no meetings, no calls, no social media, and no business lunch.

 

BUFFER DAYS

Buffer days are reserved for unavoidable “busywork.” This means admin tasks that likely populate your never-ending to-do list.

This includes phone calls, meetings, record keeping, appointments, Zoom calls, snail mail, email, catching up, organizing, cleaning up your desk…

Ideally, some of these menial tasks should be delegated.

Michael Gerber would say buffer days are for working IN your business, not “on” it.

Using buffer days should make your focus days even more productive.

 

FREE DAYS

Free days mean no work, no calls, no emails, no “checking in,” no business reading, and no appointments.

Reading a novel, “me time”, calling a friend or a family member, having lunch with a friend or having a picnic is allowed and even encouraged.

Free days allow you to rejuvenate so you can have a more productive buffer and focus days.

Free days should be scheduled. Dan Sullivan insists: “Instead of seeing time away from work as a reward, we see it as a necessary precondition for success.”

 

Of course, this is easier said than done when you work in a traditional setting 5 days per week…

If you like the idea, you can at least start small.

Instead of a weekly focus day, book 60 to 90 minutes each day to work on a big project.

Instead of a buffer day, block 60 minutes to catch up at the end of each day.

Instead of an unplanned weekends and binge-watching a show, plan your time strategically so you truly recharge your batteries.

The idea is that if you don’t plan your time carefully, others will fill it with tasks that are much more important to them than to you.

Plan accordingly…

 

If you would like to learn how Chronos can help you and your team regain time and sanity, please reach out to us. Simply click on the Discovery Call button above or visit www.ChronosVet.com

Phil Zeltzman, DVM, DACVS, CVJ, Fear Free certified

Co-Founder of Chronos