Great Time Management Techniques
The Six Keys to Success

Key #1: What, Part 7/7

The last thing we need to do before going to the next great time management techniques key is develop a clear, succinct definition for each of our 5 CTS* objectives.

We want objective statements to be crisp, coupled to tactical goals, obvious, quantifiable, time-based and one sentence long. The chart below will give some pointers on how a well crafted statement should be developed.

UNDESIRABLE	DESIRABLE
Fuzzy Language Learn a foreign language.	Crisp Language Complete two semesters of Spanish at the community college by the end of the year.
Blurred Link to Tactical Goals Increase company profitability by reducing customer returns.	Coupled to Tactical Goals Increase company profits by 5% by reducing customer returns by 20% in Q2.
Murky Change my diet and exercise more over the next few weeks.	Obvious Lose 1 pound per week for the next 15 weeks.
Unquantifiable Increase our customer base.	Quantifiable Increase our customer base by 30.
Open Ended Increase our customer base by 30.	Time-based Increase our customer base by 30 before the end of July.

Each step taken in the great time management techniques process will build upon the previous and position us to proceed efficiently to the next. We want to save all our work because often we will reuse portions of the content in later steps or as we complete one objective we will want to select another to replace the completed one.

By this point we have learned much through these time management techniques about what is truly important to us. The choices we have made have not been easy and we may still be unsure about the priority of one or two of our CTS’s*.

Don’t be overly concerned because we all probably have 10 items that are just as good as another. Even the most experienced at using great time management techniques will have periods when we second guess ourselves over a selection.

The thing to remember is that if we tried to focus on all 10 at once we wouldn’t be successful on any of them. If we only take 5 we can achieve them with sustainable excellence over a reasonable period of time.

So, let’s get going. Stay focused on the task at hand because the quicker we get this done the sooner we will have mastered our objectives and can move on to some of the other great CTS’s* we have identified.

We have completed the What key and are now ready to move on. Click here for How, Part 1 in Great Time Management Techniques.

*CTS – Critical to Success activities

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