You Don’t Need More Time. You Need a Better System.

There are only so many hours in every day and despite what people like to tell you, you don't get to decide what to do with most of them.

Yeah, yeah, I hear it all the time:

“We all have the same 24 hours.”

“If you really want to be successful, you just have to use your time wisely.”

Sure.

But let's actually break down those 24 hours.

I have to sleep. There goes 7.

I have kids who need lunches made, breakfast, help getting ready for school and a trip to the bus stop. The dog apparently expects to be fed and walked too. There goes another 2.

Drive to work and back? Another hour.

Let's say I only give two golf lessons today. Two more hours.

Customer questions, emails and whatever problem decided to show up at the golf course today? Let's very conservatively call that another hour.

Then it's time to get the kids off the bus at two different times, of course. Homework. Snack. A little time to actually hang out with them.

Oh, that's right. Tonight is dryland AND hockey practice. And naturally we're supposed to be there an hour early.

Add the drive both ways and there's another smooth five hours off the clock.

Do I get dinner?

Probably should.

Workout?

Maybe.

Spend some time with my wife?

That seems important.

Shower? Bedtime stories?

Wait...

Did I run out of day?

And somewhere in there I'm supposed to run a golf course.

The funny thing is, I wouldn't have it any other way. I like being busy. I like having things going on. Sitting on my butt binge watching some dumb show while sucking down beers every night just isn't for me.

But there is a management lesson buried in all of this.

Stop Trying to Remember Everything

When you don't have a lot of extra time, you have to make the time you do have incredibly efficient.

One of the simplest things I've done has been keeping a task system.

Nothing revolutionary. Nothing expensive.

I use Google Tasks right alongside my Google Calendar.

But here's the important part:

I put EVERYTHING in it.

First, I programmed all of my recurring responsibilities.

Payroll. Scheduling. Month end taxes. Deposits. Reports. Regular orders. Anything that happens repeatedly goes in automatically.

Then I added the simple things I want to make sure I'm checking regularly.

Check the bank.

Check in with the AM staff.

Check in with the PM staff.

Check the weather.

Write a blog.

Whatever needs my attention that day shows up in front of me.

And then there's everything else.

Someone needs grips put on?

On the list.

Need to order paper?

On the list.

Someone asks me to follow up with them next Thursday?

On the list.

Something pops into my head while I'm walking through the clubhouse that I need to handle later?

On. The. List.

Because here's what I've finally accepted:

My brain shouldn't be my task management system.

Get It Out of Your Head

As GMs, Golf Pros and managers, we have hundreds of little things coming at us every week.

Most aren't difficult.

The problem is remembering all of them while you're being interrupted by the next customer, employee, phone call, email or problem.

Writing everything down does two things.

It keeps things from getting forgotten, but more importantly, it lets me focus on what I'm doing right now instead of constantly thinking about the 15 other things I need to remember.

That's been the biggest benefit for me.

I don't have to keep reminding myself:

Don't forget that.

Don't forget that.

Don't forget that.

It's already on the list.

Now I can just work the list.

And when something gets done?

Check it off and move on.

There are few better feelings than getting ready to leave work, looking at that list and realizing everything that needed to happen that day actually happened.

I'm probably never going to find more hours in my day.

But I've gotten a hell of a lot better at using the ones I actually have.

If you're constantly feeling like you're forgetting something, stop trying to remember everything. Build a system that remembers it for you.