Time is of the essence. And in business, time is money. We all agree to that, but what do we seem to have the least of? And what can we do about it....

If you only had half the hours in your week, what work would you feel took priority? How would you be able to do just those things and still have time left to get on with other priorities?

This week the challenge is to let go of some to the 'stuff' that gets in your way. And better, to stop doing much of what you do - especially if it is someone else's agenda.

Time to pass the buck that has been so handily passed to you, back to the giver - with thanks!

Work is all about behaviours. Over time, our own behaviours take on a life of their own. They are not who we truly want to be (nor where we perform our best) and we get all uncomfortable with how those behaviours dictate our time. It truly is like forcing a square peg into a round hole - can you feel that pressure?

To get round this you need to take a look at all the things that are getting in the way of doing and effective and efficient job.

Sometimes this means getting out of the nice-to-do-but-a-bit-of-a-waste-of-time things - your 'comfort-blanket' things that keep you busy, if unproductive. Time to get real about where you best add value at the level you are at.

Couple of examples? Sure!

• What about that member of your team who needs following up on all the time - how much is that wasting your time?

• What about that boss you have who is always dropping extra work on you that you haven't planned time for?

• And then there is the time you spend chasing after new recruits, because you are losing people way too often.

To dump some of this waste, it's time to get deep down and honest with yourself and decide what is not serving you best and dump it - tough though it might be.

Time to assess where those wasted hours go and lose them, one by one, to the benefit of you, your job and the rest of the people in your team.

So, take a look at the job you do and get together that wish list that would free up half of your time in the next week.

What are the jobs that waste your time - look hard and if you can't find much, have the balls to look more closely at you, yourself because that's the place to start - and finish!

Martin Haworth

Thanks for taking a look at me! I work with people to help them realise their potential and make the most of their life. I also help managers to get the very best from their people, to make their businesses, teams, departments, whatever, to be successful.

Usually this is through my 'Coaching Managers to Coach' workshops, delivered worldwide, which includes experiential and hot-seat coaching for all participants - a great, fun learning experience. Click the big green link panel on any of the website pages!

There are over 1000 hints and tips, and that doesn't include the blog, which is updated pretty well daily, if not more often!

With a background in team management of groups from 6-300 and a great ICF coaching accreditation, I reckon I'm almost unique in my experience and training to make this work for you.

So take a look, checkout my other articles and maybe even set the blog page as a favourite:-) And, you know, if you want to get in touch, give me a call. I'll talk about almost anything, but I love helping people make the best of their workplace. Or e-mail me through the contact page on the site.

Ooops, I nearly forgot, I do manager soft-skills analysis with a programme called 'Intercept' and if you just want some one-to-one business coaching, I do that too. There's also a button on the navigation bar on the website pages for that too.

Fees, well, let me see, can I say that we can work something out? That's the way I work.

Thanks for happening by!

Martin