14 Jun 2010, Posted by Cris Buckley in Strategy, 4 Comments. Tagged creativity, entrepreneur, Strategy, value

Right-Brain Time Scheduling Strategy

Photo by Migraine Chick

Those of us who are right-brained don’t think linearly or sequentially, so trying to schedule our time with a DayTimer and to-do-lists is a losing battle. We need a new strategy!

We do need a structure—but it needs to be big enough that we can bounce around in it. Because we’re not sequential—we’re random. We’re not going to start at A and go to Z.

We may start at Q…then D…then L…then T. We see the big picture and go from there—then we randomly tackle the parts that make up the whole.

With that as background (it probably only made sense to you if you are a hardcore right-brainer!), I want to share with you a tool that I use to strategize the way I use my time as a right-brained and entrepreneurial person.

I’ve adapted this from the Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create Grid from Blue Ocean Strategy by Kim and Mauborgne. Their book is brilliant. They use this grid to help companies think entrepreneurially and create value innovations that set them totally apart from their competition.

I love the grid for its original purpose, but it also captured my imagination as a tool that could be strategically applied to time.

So here’s the grid and how I use it:

You’ll see that I’ve taken the Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create Grid and added another section—Reflection. This is my big picture of where I will spend my work time—in these five areas.

Some days, I may spend time in all five areas. Some days in just one or two. The time spent in a given area can vary, and I don’t have to spend equal time in each area. This is a very versatile framework, and also establishes that I will spend my time in the areas I consider most important.

Here are the areas and their significance to me:

1. Reflection. This is my quiet time first thing in the morning. It’s my time to be alone and think, journal, walk, reflect, whatever before I take on the rest of the day. Leo Babauta of Zen Habits wrote that the #1 Habit of Highly Creative People is….solitude.
2. Eliminate. What can I clear from my workspace, my time or my mind? I’ve eliminated all phone calls unless they’re scheduled. Bear Files eliminated all meetings on Monday. Clutter can be eliminated.
3. Reduce. If I can’t eliminate it, how can I reduce the amount of time and resources I spend on routine tasks and areas that are not in my strengths? What tools, systems, organization, or people could help? Tim Ferris reduced email management to 1/2 hour once a week!
4. Raise value. Spend time in one or two areas of my greatest strengths–where I offer the most value. Increase my value—hone skills, learn, create, keep abreast of what’s new, participate.
5. Create. Spend time being creative. New ideas, new value, new products or services. New, new, new!

Kyle Durand, the Entrepreneurial Advocate says, “Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential for success.”

Strategically planning to eliminate and reduce helps me maximize the amount of work not done, so I can spend larger blocks of time and resources on raising value and creating.

That’s my right-brain time scheduling strategy!

The areas where I choose to spend my time may not be yours. What would you substitute? What new or different ideas do you have for a right-brain time scheduling strategy?

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