One of the most valuable skills of time management is learning to use time fragments—the ten minutes waiting in line, the twenty minutes waiting for a meal, the thirty minutes riding somewhere, etc.
—Don Aslett
What do you do on days when you’re especially rushed? If you’re like most people, you double your speed, take shortcuts, and skim from one event to the next. But does it work?
Sometimes yes, but over the long term it creates more problems. Why? Because generally such actions leave a trail of unfinished tasks lingering behind you, including to-dos to follow up on, half-opened mail, and a dozen “quick” e-mails and voice messages to return, all of which nibble at your peace of mind.
Is there a solution? Yes, if you regularly practice the time-saving habit of using two-minute pickups to clean up and bring closure to a task. Perfect them, and you will simplify your time at home, at work, and on the run.
A Two-Minute Pickup Becomes a Two-Minute Solution
Ron pushed through the crowd at the end of one of my sessions on organizing time. “Well, Marcia,” he began, “you’ve done it. You’ve motivated me to do something my mother and my ex-wife have spent twenty years in vain trying to get me to do.”
“What could that possibly be?”
“Make my bed every day. When you said, ‘Make your bed and make your day,’ I wondered if you were for real. But when you said it only takes ninety seconds to pull up the covers on one side, then the other, and plop the pillows on, I thought, I could do that! And you said it makes 50 to 70 percent of the room look neat and clean for sixteen hours of the day. That makes sense. I have to make the bed at night anyway before I get back in it.”
I chuckled. Such a little thing was a big deal for Ron. His two-minute pickup became a two-minute solution for a relational problem he didn’t even know he had.
Ron found that once he mastered one two-minute pickup, he looked for more two-minute solutions. He began at home and reported to me a couple of weeks later that the place was looking pretty “shipshape.”
When I saw him next, he had a fresh haircut and looked sharp. He had found the time to take care of him-self and started to be more positive. The routine of making his bed every day started the momentum to get the rest of his life in order—in two-minute segments.
Save Time at Home
Here are some two-minute solutions to help you save time at home:
Load the dishwasher.
Water a plant.
Renew a prescription.
Pay a bill.
Program a cell phone number.
RSVP.
Fold the laundry.
Do a few of these each day, and you just may save enough time to sit down for a cup of coffee and watch the sun set!
Save Time at Work
My client Melinda had control of her time at home, but she was always rushed at work. “I consistently misplace my agenda for our staff meetings—and I lead them!” Melinda agonized. “I waste time looking for last week’s agenda so I can use it to write a new one and then make copies for everyone. Why can’t they hire an assistant to do that for me? I should be doing more important things.”
Melinda was under the false assumption that because of her “big” title, small tasks shouldn’t be her responsibility. In a way that was true, but writing the agenda and leading the meeting were part of her leadership role.
I wanted to be kind but firm in my response. “Time to take another look at this situation, OK? Be realistic. It’s unprofessional and unfair to expect an assistant to do for you what you can and should do for yourself. No one can read your mind. By taking charge, you also reap the benefits. Things will get done your way. What have you tried so far?”
Melinda admitted, “I tried a notebook, but then I misplaced it. I failed at filing because I hate to file. But I’d better do something—fast. My boss is expecting a report on the steps I’ve taken to finish our team project.”
In our discussion, Melinda narrowed the solution to two choices: either she could get a new file to store her previous agendas (a colored one clearly labeled to help her spot it quickly), or she could keep a paper punch on her credenza. When needed, all she had to do was spin around and punch the pages before snapping them into her three-ring binder. With either solution, she could make a second copy of the previous week’s agenda to place in a two-pocket folder for safekeeping.
“I like the idea of walking into the meeting with a binder and being able to refer to past meetings,” she decided. “I can pick up a three-hole punch in the supply room. Why didn’t I think of that?”
At work, there are many two-minute pickups that will save you time and energy. Consider the following:
Reply to and close any open e-mail.
File the paperwork on your desk.
Replace an old file folder.
Label a binder.
Pick up a fax and file it.
Prioritize your in-box.
Check off your completed to-do list items.
Put a few of these to work, and you’ll feel more energetic and in control at the end of the day.
Moving Ahead
You might be wondering what became of Melinda. I have good news. She started labeling and filing the mess of papers on her desk, one set each day. In less than a month, her desktop was clear, and she had regained confidence and control.
The next time we met, I asked her how she was doing. She laughed with relief. “When I realized what a time-saver my meeting binder was, I decided to apply the same strategy to other areas. Now my projects, my expense reports, basically everything on my desk is in order and easy to find.”
As two-minute pickups become part of your daily routine, you, too, will experience wonderful benefits at home and at work. You’ll be more relaxed, orderly, and efficient.
Practice sensing how long two minutes are by heating a cup of tea in your microwave for two minutes and seeing what you can do in that time. Soon it will be part of your time-saving routine. And then you can sit and enjoy your tea.
Like Interest on a Loan, Time Compounds Every Day
When you think about it, if you spend two minutes bringing one item to closure, you will save at least ten minutes to use in some other way. Compounded over longer periods of time, this really adds up.
You can work your way out of stressful situations by investing two minutes several times a day on a consistent basis. Reap the reward at the end of each month with more solutions to problems that once drained your energy. Make two-minute pickups a part of your lifestyle, and by the end of the year you’ll have saved hundreds of hours that you can use to relax, work on your hobby, play golf, or take a class.
So what are you waiting for? Start now. Simplify your time by picking up the pace in every area of your life. Ask yourself all day long, “What can I do with two minutes?” And then do it!
It’s Your Time
Save Time with Two-Minute Pickups (Time Habit #2)
■ Learn not to put things down but to put them away all day to simplify your life.
■ Practice the two-minute pickup before you leave a room or work area.
■ Learn to decide it, do it, schedule it, sign it, end it, or send it in two minutes all day long.
Nothing is beneath you if it is in the direction of your life.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson