CEO Blog - Time Leadership

Touch it once

My step daughter – Jennifer is home for a week holidays. She is in the Navy – posted in Halifax so we see her infrequently. So I am trying to get home by 8 or 9 so I can have dinner with her.

As part of dealing with the SYNNEX volume, I have had to re-evaluate my systems. Doing EMJ for 25 years, I had developed systems to handle the volume I dealt with. With SYNNEX, this all changed. Dealing with volume professionally is all about having good systems. I have developed a number of time tips – one of which I will share with you now.

Tip – The Power of One Touch.

This is the oldest time management tip in the book. When you get a piece of paper or an email – deal with it.

I have modified this practice in the following way in order to keep working on high priority items. The problem is I need to quick scan to see if it is urgent. From the quick scan – if I can deal with it and finish it in less than a minute, I deal with it. If it will take me more than a minute, put it in a TODO file or TODO efile and deal with it later. I use this quick scan differently depending on how rushed I am. For example, if I am caught up, I might deal with anything I can deal with in less than 4 minutes. If I have been out of the office for a week, I might only allow myself 20 seconds to deal with things.

The basic principal is if you only touch it once, it is faster. Don’t let the simplicity fool you – this is one of the most powerful habits you can have.

posted by Jim Estill @ 12:11 AM