One of the first sessions I attended at last week’s AIHP Knowledge Sharing Summit and Marketplace was presented by David Mayfield from ResNexus. Effective time Management. Some do it well, others not so much. But everyone can learn new techniques. In business and daily private life, time is precious, and worth the time to explore better ways to manage it.

Have you ever heard the term, ‘eat the frog’? It all started with Mark Twain, a guy who said a lot of smart things. His point…”if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long.”

So what does this have to do with time management? Fast forward a few decades to a publication by Brian Tracy, ‘Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time.’

David Mayfield based his session on many of the points in this book.

Let’s go back to that frog. “If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest and biggest one first. This is another way to saying that if you have two important tasks before you, start with the biggest, hardest, and most important task first.” Brian Tracy.

I think we have all felt the satisfaction of tackling and completing a dreaded task first, without procrastinating. And we have all sat and stared into the bulging eyes at that ugly frog and let it hop away and hide, only to return another day!

“The hardest part of any important task is getting started on it in the first place. Once you actually begin work on a valuable task, you seem to be naturally motivated to continue.” Brian Tracy

I would like to emphasize ‘valuable task’. Innkeeper (name withheld) knows that they must enter expenses in QuickBooks, they have been putting if off for weeks. But the lawn needs cutting. Which task is the biggest and ugliest? Time to be honest and time to eat that frog.

I think you get the frog analogy by now, lets continue. Here are a few of David Mayfield’s 7 keys to better time management that I picked up from his session.

Assume Responsibility

This was the first ‘key’ David listed. It is your business, and you are the one responsible to manage and complete the most important and valuable tasks.

Write it Down

Write your goals down, the non-techy way, with pen and paper, each day. Then find the frog (the most important task/goal) on your list, you know what to do next.  It may be possible that other less timely important goals/tasks on your list you can delegate to staff? Delegating effectively is a real time saver.

Review Your Day

Checking off everything on your list at the end of your day can be very satisfying. But sometimes ‘life happens’ and tasks are left undone. Don’t fret, as long as one frog gets eaten you can sleep well. Burp!

This is just a snapshot of all that David had to offer in his session. ResNexus as well as other property management systems (PMS) offer many time saving automated services. Once you find the right PMS for you, using all the tools will help you streamline your operations and help you control the running of your business.

Another great tip…two monitors. Have your reservation system on all the time on one monitor during business hours. The other monitor could be your laptop. So when that call for a room, or online reservation comes in, you and your monitor are up and ready. Thought, install a photo of a frog as your screen saver.

Thanks for Listening,

Janet Wolf