“I recently had a chance to look you up online, Cliff. Wow, what a résumé! You’re an author, a syndicated columnist, a professional speaker, a lawyer, a business development consultant, a TV host and lots of other things as well, I’m sure. How do you manage your time doing so many different things? I’m not just asking out of idle curiosity. I myself am doing a number of things to stay afloat right now, and am constantly getting distracted by phone calls, e-mail messages and other communications. How do you turn off the background so you can focus on what’s really important?”

THE short answer is… sleep is highly overrated. Frequent readers of this column know that I’m a big believer in having “multiple streams of income”, especially in tough times like these.

Having more than one income-generating activity is not only more interesting and satisfying than doing just one job, but it also hedges against failure, guaranteeing that you will have at least some income on a regular basis no matter what the economy is doing.

The downside, of course, is that time management becomes a real challenge when you serve multiple masters. Every morning, the first question I ask myself is: ‘Who am I going to be today, and for how long?’ The second question is: ‘Who desperately needs a piece of my time today that I cannot squeeze into my schedule, and how am I going to deal with that so I don’t have an angry client, editor or speaker’s bureau on my hands?’

As ex-Beatle Ringo Starr once sang, ‘You know it don’t come easy’.

Having said that, though, I have learned some important lessons about time management over the years.

The most important lesson is this: While you can be working on multiple projects at a given time — what is commonly referred to as “multitasking” — it is not possible to do more than one thing at any given moment in time. Right now, I am writing this column. I am not thinking about my law and consulting clients, the book manuscript that’s due next month or the PowerPoint slides I have to put together for a trade show presentation in July. I will get those done, but right this moment, I’m giving 100 per cent of my brain space to this column.

The next most important lesson is that time management is a daily process. Each day, you need to:

(1) decide what tasks must absolutely be done that day;

(2) budget enough time on your schedule so that those “must do” tasks get done; and

(3) block out all distractions: from telephone calls, e-mails, social media websites and well-meaning human beings that keep you from those tasks.

Deciding what tasks must be done

When you serve multiple clients, each one considers himself your most important priority. But they are wrong. When you are self-employed, there is only one person who decides what you should be doing at any given moment, and that is you.

Commit the following mantra to memory and repeat it every couple of hours: “I am in control of my time. Only I can decide what I should be working on this minute, this hour, this day. No one else has the right to decide that.”

Just because someone is screaming for you to do something does not mean you should drop everything and do it. If there are more important tasks at hand and someone is sending you e-mails every 10 minutes asking for a “status update” on something that is not on your “to do” list for today, send them the following e-mail message: “Don’t worry, your matter is not being ignored; it is only being prioritised. I should be able to turn this around by (date).” Most clients will get the humour and back off, confident that you are indeed “on the case”. The others will tell you they really, really need your input by a certain date or time, and that will help you adjust your planning.

Budgeting your time each day

Use a “day planner” — either a paper one or a computer-based calendar tool, such as Microsoft Outlook — to budget your time each day. For example, here’s part of my plan for tomorrow:

8:00 am to 9:00 am – Prepare for 9:00 am podcast for (name of website).

9:00 am to 10:00 am – Host podcast for (name of website).

10:00 am to 11:00 am – Review lease for (name of law client).

11:00 am to 12:00 pm – Answer e-mails and voicemail messages.

12:00 pm to 1:30 pm – Lunch and gym.

You get the idea. Note the time blocked out for answering e-mails and phone messages; I will have more to say about that later. Note also that personal tasks, such as meals and gym visits should be budgeted just like work-related matters. Otherwise, you will never get around to them.

Update your “time budget” at least daily as things change.

More next week…

— Creators News Service