Time training often mentions Carlson's law: completing a task at once takes less productive time and energy than finishing it several times. In other words: you stay better focused, which is more effective.

Carlson observed CEOs of large companies thoroughly and, however, discovered even more insights in the same study...

Carlson's sightings

1. the managers in question often worked very fragmentarily: different types of jobs are very varied.


2. on average, a manager was interrupted every 20 minutes: almost no time to go to the toilet undisturbed!


3. too much administration time: In his book, Carlson talks about administrative pathology when: on the one hand, administrative procedures differ too much from the more effective and efficient processes and, on the other hand, if too few processes have been agreed, ambiguity and chaos.
4. looking for the right information was reported as an extremely time-consuming activity;
5. insufficient preparation or too many details lead to inefficient meetings;


6. but the biggest problem was that managers ran out of space for their main task, which they were hired for
!

Serious consequences!

The CEOs interviewed reported the following symptoms: falling productivity, rising stress levels, shifting the most important tasks over and over again, starting earlier and/or ending later to get results, an increase in the risk of failure, falling motivation, loss of overview, rising disagreements and frustration...

Does this sound familiar?

And that was - hold on - in the 1950s. Has much changed since then?

What is your biggest frustration meter and time eater? Grab it and see if you can do something with it...

How practical is it to go with it?

1. interruptions: block your calendar/reserve uninterrupted time. Get smart tips and you're uncomfortably disturbed: buffer for work that requires your focus!
2. work in a fragmented way; group your small similar tasks into blocks. Suppose you have to approve the invoices every month, it is best to group them, e.g. in a separate folder or with flags on a specific date and finish them once a month, avoid
zapping and multitasking!
3. administritis: make proposals for administrative simplification, tackle what bothers you the most first. A pragmatic two-step plan for all delays, by the way, is something you'll never read: prevent, buffer and keep it realistic.
4. the right information/tools: ask your boss the right support, what you need to do your job better, faster and make sure it is continuously available.
5. meetingitis; suggest better meetings, see our focus on meetings and how can you still manage the meeting as a non-chairman?

And action!

• Which time-waster has the biggest impact on you?
• How are you going to approach this in the future?
• What help do you need with that?
• What first step do you take to do this?

You as a manager?

• What is the most important time waster for your team?
• What would it be like if that were resolved?
• What action are you taking for this?