By Sandy Wieber

[Reprinted from The Baltimore Sun, December 21, 2008]

They say that time is money, and at this time of the year, it seems like there isn’t enough of either. How many times a day do you look at the clock and think “If I only had more time in the day!”

Of course, we just got an “extra” hour when we changed the clocks back to standard time in November. If you’re like most people, you probably felt like you did have more time, at least for a week or so.

But by now, that bounce is gone. And with year-end projects, the tightening economy (which means more work for everyone still employed), along with the holiday craziness, you probably can use all the time you can get. So let’s get started squeezing those hours, and getting more done in a week.

Manage Your Energy,
Not Your Time

“Time management is sooo twentieth century,” says Greg Conderacci, president of Good Ground Consulting in Baltimore. “The number of hours that you have in a day is fixed; you can’t create more time. You can, however, create more energy.”

Conderacci knows a thing or two about energy. At 60 years old, he has the energy of men half his age.

“I’m an ultra long distance bike rider,” he says. “These are trips of 750 miles in three days—and that’s a kind of energy that most people don’t even try to tap. I take an athlete’s strategies for maximizing energy and I teach people how to use the same energy in their every day lives.”

Conderacci says there are four kinds of energy—physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual—and when all four of them are working together, your energy is so high that you’re more efficient, more positive, and it seems as if you’ve found more time in your day, because you’ve found more productive time.

“I teach people to see what is working for them, and what they need to work on,” says Conderacci. He also explains what each of the four areas means.

Physical energy is the easiest, he says, and it involves getting enough sleep, not abusing caffeine and sugar and eating right. Intellectual energy means that you are engaged in what you’re doing, your desk and office are organized, and you have a plan for accomplishing your goals. Emotional energy means that you’re positive, and surrounded by a positive team, one that encourages and supports you. Spiritual energy is the knowledge that you have a purpose, and that the work that you’re doing matches up with that purpose.

“Once these all line up, the effect is multiplicative,” Conderacci enthuses. “You simply cannot fail.”

Of course, Conderacci admits that you can’t perform at that level all the time; it’s simply not human.

“Think about an athlete. They practice and prepare 90% of the time, so they can perform at a very high level the other 10%. That’s what managing your energy means—knowing when you’re ‘on’, and knowing when it’s time to read or research or answer email,” he says. Conderacci has taught his energy management class throughout the Baltimore area; information is available at www.goodgroundconsulting.com.

You’ve Got Mail

Speaking of email, studies show that most people spend more time during the workweek on email than they do with their families. And it’s not just the time spent deleting emails you’ve been copied on for no known reason—it’s the time that’s spent recovering from the interruption of reading email at all. According to an April 2008 New York Times article, 28% of a knowledge worker’s day is spent on things like unnecessary email messages, and refocusing after the interruption.

Thankfully, what technology has wrought, technology can fix (or, rather, people can use technology to fix). Consider Jared Goralnick of Set Consulting in College Park. Goralnick calls himself a “productivity evangelist” and has a blog, a company, and now a cool new web application that helps other people become more productive as well.

AwayFind allows people to check email just once or twice a day (or once a week, or whatever you decide), and still get all emergency messages through a text message to your cell phone. This allows people to send you “emergency” messages without giving them your phone number, and it drastically cuts down the number of emails that you receive.

In addition to the technology (available for free at www.awayfind.com), Goralnick offers educations, including the eBook “The Guide to Not Checking Email”, and online videos to explain the concept.

“My company has always been about productivity,” says Goralnick. “Our latest product combines productivity with technology, and it has proven very effective at helping people find more time in their day.”

A Little Help
From Your Friends

Hillel Glazer, principal and CEO of Entinex, Inc., outside of Baltimore, uses a host of technology applications to manage his time. In addition to AwayFind, he uses Intelligent Office (an application that allows him to email voicemail as a sound file), GotVoice (which transcribes voicemail to text), GoToMeeting (which allows him to hold meetings on the web rather than in person), eFax (which allows him to fax both to and from his computer) and a long list of other tools, including, he says, “copious use of the “rules” in Microsoft Outlook.”

“I use technology to filter information,” he says. “What’s critical gets addressed first, and so on. Once you perform a quick analysis on the information, you often find that it’s really not as urgent as it may seem on the surface.”

Streamlining your operation, however, is just the beginning—what about staying in touch with colleagues, or staying on top of news in your industry? As you might imagine, there are tools for that as well.

Greg Cangialosi, CEO of Blue Sky Factory in Baltimore, stays connected to both his colleagues and his industry by using Google docs for collaboration within his company, and using RSS (Really Simple Syndication) to give him access to the top industry publications and blogs, all in one place.

“I also am a big advocate of Twitter,” he says, the social networking and micro-blogging site that allows users to post personal or company updates, ask questions, and keep track of what others in his industry are doing. “I also stay connected with my [personal] network on Facebook and LinkedIn.”

The key, he says, is to use these tools as a way to stay in touch, without allowing them to become a drain on your energy and your time. “Balance is everything,” says Cangialosi.
And that might be the best advice of all for finding more time in your day.

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Sources:

Greg Conderacci, Good Ground Consulting, 443.756.8213, gc@goodgroundconsulting.com
Jared Goralnick, Set Consulting, 240.296.0800, jared@setconsulting.com
Hillel Glazer, Entinex, 410.369.2062, hillel@entinex.com
Greg Cangialosi, Blue Sky Factory, (contact Amy Garland at agarland@blueskyfactory.com; 410.230.0061, ext.105)