Ask Geoff Pierson why time management is so valuable to him, and his response speaks for itself: He's got 5 kids.

Between sports  and school activities, and just settling in on a daily family routine, Geoff lives by a rule at his house: If it’s not on his Google calendar, it doesn’t exist.

He brings the same mindset to Datamax. To focus on what’s productive, he’s got to focus on every minute of every hour of every day. One number in particular, from Forbes, makes him cognizant of his ongoing commitment to time management: Only 22 Percent of Sales Reps Use a Time Management Methodology.

One thing's for sure: The Dallas Business Technology Consultant is religiously committed to Sherpa. He marks an opportunity as the expiration day of a lease. He marks the calendar for every follow up that needs to be made. He also makes “personal” notes with individuals he meets. If a prospect's son plays baseball, that information goes into Sherpa.

“Without Sherpa, I would fail. You may think you’ll remember certain things, but you won’t,” Geoff, a Navy veteran, says. “I’ve seen a lot of good sales people leave, and you look at their notes and it’s a cluster in regards to time management. If I want to make it in this business, I have to be more than good. I’ve got to be put together.”

The last 15 to 30 minutes of his day at Datamax is spent on administrative work. He also sets up the next day by creating a “to-do” list with boxes to check off.

“I want to make sure I do everything I can to better provide for my family,” Geoff said. “Time management and not having everything put together – it’s why so many people fail (in this business).”

Focus on What’s Productive: 5 Time Management Gems from Geoff Pierson

1. Create a time audit.

When it comes to time management, the first step you need to take is finding out where your time actually goes. You may believe that you only send 30 minutes on emails, but in reality that task is eating-up an hour of your day.

2. Plan ahead.

One of the worst things that you can do is wake-up without a plan for the day. Instead of focusing on what needs to be done, you wander aimlessly and take care of more trivial matters.

That’s why you should always plan ahead using one of these options:

• The night before. Before you leave work for the day, spend the last 15-minutes organizing your office and composing a list of your most important items for tomorrow.
• First thing in the morning. During your morning routine write down the 3 or 4 most urgent and important matters that need to be addressed today and work on those when you’re most productive.

3. Spend your mornings on MITs.

Mark Twain once said, "If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first."

Gross? Sure. But, the point that Twain was making? You should take care your biggest and most-challenging tasks in the morning, aka your most important tasks (MITs) of the day.

4. Leave a buffer-time between tasks and meetings.

Jumping immediately from one task or meeting to the next may seem like a good use of your time, but it actually has the opposite effect. We need time to clear our minds and recharge by going for a walk, meditating, or just daydreaming. After all, the human brain can only focus for about 90-minutes at a time.

Without that break it’s more difficult to stay focused and motivated. Scheduling buffer-time also can prevent running late to your next meeting. I find 25-minutes between tasks and meetings an ideal amount of buffer-time.

5. Follow the 80-20 rule.

“The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80-20 rule suggests that 80% of results come from 20% of the effort put in. This is commonly used in sales as 80% of sales typically come from 20% of the customers,” writes Renzo Costarella in a Calendar post.

“When it comes to how you should manage your time this principle can also be applied. 80% of your results comes from 20% of your actions.”

Renzo suggests that you start by looking “at your schedule or to-do-list every day. For the sake of simplicity try to get down five tasks you need to accomplish. Using the principle, you can probably eliminate the majority of the items on your list. It may feel unnatural at first but overtime this will condition you to scale up effort on the most important tasks.”

Editor's Note: Geoff's Time Management Tips are based on a presentation he did in a Friday Texas-wide Zoom Sales Meeting last month. We found his insights so impressive, we decided to share them here!