The third group of wounded was the group that would survive only if they got immediate medical attention. This is where the doctors and nurses focused all of their energies, to save those would die in the absence of treatment.
Divide Products/Services into Three Groups
123
Time Power
In your business, you can apply the idea of corporate triage to your products and services. They can be divided into three groups: Winners, Survivors and Losers.
Sometimes they are called “Cash Cows, Stars and Dogs.” Which of your products and your services are your winners? These are the ones that sell well, that are profitable, that generate steady, predictable cash flow, and for which your company is known. These are products and services that you take excellent care of, but which do not require immediate or emergency attention.
What are the products and services that have great potential? If you spend time on these products and services, in sales and marketing, or if you redesign or repackage them, you can turn them into winners in the market.
These are the products and services that require immediate attention, and the best energies of your most talented people.
The third group are your losers, or your “dogs.” No matter how much effort you put into marketing and selling them, no matter how you repackage them or reformulate them, they are still not making much of an impression in the marketplace. They are a drain on funds and on time and energies of your key people. These are the products and services that will die sooner or later because, for whatever reason, the market doesn’t want them.
Focus Where Excellent Results Are Possible
124
Time Power
In setting priorities for your business, your winners represent the top 20% of your business activities. You must never take them for granted. You must do everything possible to upgrade and improve them and assure that they continue to be good sellers and generators of cash.
Your potential “stars” are the products that have the potential of becoming big sellers if you spend enough time, attention and money on them. They are your potential winners for the future. Investing time and money in these products and services is a high priority.
The products and services that will die anyway, no matter how much time or money you invest in them, become your “posteriorities.” Especially in times of reduced markets and profitability, you must have the courage and decisiveness to accept that, although it seemed like a good idea at the time, this product or service does not justify the expenditures necessary to make it successful. It should be discontinued or abandoned so you can devote your energies to those products and services that represent the future of the business and the cash flow of tomorrow.
Priorize Your Personal Life
You can practice “personal triage” in your life, as well. There are some things in your life that give you tremendous pleasure and satisfaction. These are high priority uses of your time such as your family and your personal activities. You should pay close attention to them and never take them for granted.
125
Time Power
There are potential uses of your time, activities and money that represent the possibilities of the future. These are areas where you need to invest more of yourself and your time if you want to maximize everything that is possible for you in those areas.
Finally, there are those people and activities in your life that, knowing what you now know, you wouldn’t start up again today. These are the time traps and activities that you should downsize, minimize and eliminate so that you have more time for those few things that give you the greatest pleasure and satisfaction.
Look Into the Future
A key part of personal time management is for you to take the time to look into the future. Project forward five years and think about where you want to be. Create a mental picture of your ideal future and then think about the steps that you would have to take, starting today, to make it a reality.
Remember, “It doesn’t matter where you are coming from: all that really matters is where you are going.’
Focus on the future rather than the past. Focus on opportunities rather than problems. Think about solutions and what specific actions you could take rather on things that have gone wrong, and who is to blame. Keep asking,
“Where do we go from here?” As John Maynard Keynes said, “We must give a lot of thought to the future, because that is where we are going to spend the rest of our lives.”
126
Time Power
In many companies, fully 80% of the time of senior people is spent on the problems of yesterday rather than on the opportunities of tomorrow. Keep thinking of ways that you can change the things that you are doing today to assure that your future is consistent with what you desire.
Project Forward Five Years
Gary Hamel and C. K. Prahaled, the strategic planners who wrote the book Competing for the Future, encourage decision makers to project forward several years when they do strategic planning. They encourage them to imagine that their company is the top company in the industry some years in the future. They then identify the products, services, markets and especially skills, talents and abilities that they will need to be industry leaders five years from now. Finally, they encourage business leaders to begin immediately to develop the core competencies they will need to be market leaders in the future. You should do the same.
Focus On the First 20%
In setting priorities, remember that the first 20% of any task usually accounts
for 80% of the value of that task. The first 20% of time that you spend planning and organizing the resources necessary to achieve the task usually account for 80% of your success once you begin working on the task. In setting priorities, always focus on the first 20% of the task. Get on with it and get it done. The next 80% will tend to flow smoothly once the first 20%
is complete.
127
Time Power
If you are in sales, getting the initial appointment, getting face to face with the decision maker, is the first 20% of the transaction. But it accounts for 80% of the value in the sales process. The presentation, the closing of the sale, the follow-up, the delivery of the product or service, and so on, is the second 80% that only accounts for 20% of the value.
Forget About the Small Things
In setting priorities, never give in to the temptation to clear up small things first. Don’t start at the bottom of your list and work up to the important tasks at the top. Don’t allow yourself to get bogged down in low priority activities.
Don’t major in minors. As Goethe said, “The things that matter most must never be at the mercy of the things that matter least.”
The natural tendency of human nature is to follow the Law of Least Resistance. In time management and personal work, this means that we have a natural tendency to start on small tasks, thinking that as soon as we get warmed up, we will launch into our big tasks and we will be more productive.
Here is what we have found. When you start in on little tasks, they begin to multiple, like rabbits in the springtime. When you begin clearing up your small tasks, you seem to attract more and more small tasks to work on. The longer and harder you work, the more small tasks seem to arise. By the end of the day, you will be exhausted, and you will not have accomplished anything of value. Start with your most important work first.
128
Time Power
Five Key Questions for Setting Priorities
There are five key questions that you can ask yourself regularly to assure that you are working on your top priorities, and getting the very most done that is possible for you.
Question one: “Why am I on the payroll?” Ask yourself if what you are doing right now is the most important thing that you have been hired to do.
If your boss were sitting across from you watching you, what would you be doing differently from what you are doing at this moment? Here is an exercise. Make a list of everything you feel you have been hired to do and take it to your boss. Ask your boss to organize this work list by priority.
Have him or her tell you what is most important and what is least important.
From that moment onward, work single-mindedly on those tasks that your boss considers to be more important than anything else.
Question two: “What are my highest value activities?” Remember, there are only three things that you do that account for most of the value of your work. What are your activities that contribute the greatest value to your company? If you are not sure, ask the people around you. Everyone knows the most important things that other people should be doing.