Time management in detail

Time management principles

• Anticipate: Try to plan for the unexpected
• Planning: Every hour spent planning can save 3 or 4 later
• Flexibility: Adjust to forces beyond your control
• Objectives and priority setting: More effective results are achieved through purposeful pursuit of planned tasks
• Deadlines: Helps avoid procrastination
• Consolidate: Group tasks for economies
• Concentrate effort: 20% of actions yield 80% of the benefit
• Effectiveness: Efficiency = doing the job right, Effectiveness = doing the right job right
• Minimise routine: Consolidate, delegate, or eliminate
• Meetings: Never have more people than are needed. Minimal formal meetings
• Limiting response: Calculated neglect
• Visibility: Keep visible the things you intend doing
• Brevity: Economy of words saves time, promotes clarity and understanding
• Tyranny of urgency: Constantly responding to the urgent may leave the important neglected
• Get it right first time

Time management techniques

• Identify 'progress' tasks - Not urgent, risky, need justification
• Identify 'maintenance' tasks - Urgent, safe, do not need justification
• Schedule - Use a diary
• Use a To do list
• Set aside prime time
• File the pile - keep your desk, office area and email tidy
• Make yourself unavailable
• Handling interruptions - Call back, get rid of visitors
• Dealing with a crisis - Don't over react
• Procrastination - What could go wrong, do the big job, get started - anywhere
• Schedule your time based on what is urgent and what is important
• A task is urgent if failure to complete it by a certain time will cancel or reduce the benefit of doing it, so urgency determines how soon the task must be done
• A task is important if doing it has a high benefit in helping you achieve the objectives and purpose of your job, so importance determines how long you should spend on the task

Time management self-assessment checklist

• Do you have a written summary of your responsibilities?
• Have you listed your objectives for the next quarter?
• Do you prepare a daily or weekly to do list?
• Do you prioritise tasks on the basis of importance and urgency?
• Do you effectively control interruptions and drop-in visitors?
• Is your desk, work area and email well organised and free from clutter?
• Do you delegate as much as possible?
• Do you plan and schedule your time on a weekly and daily basis with clear objectives you wish to achieve?
• Do you use travel and waiting time productively?
• Do you study ways of improving efficiency and so eliminate unnecessary and inappropriate tasks?
• Do you know when you peak energy period occurs and use it to advantage?
• Do you have a tendency to procrastinate?
• Do you leave some time for the unexpected each day?
• Have you mastered the ability to say 'No' whenever you should?
• Do you feel in control of your time?
• Do you take time each day to think about what you are doing and its relevance to the achievement of your objectives?
• Do you resist the temptation to get too involved in non-productive activities?
• Have you reduced or eliminated time wasted at meetings?
• Do you ensure your staff are fully occupied and are working productively throughout the working day?
• Have you realised that you cannot do everything and must choose the best alternatives and that means doing the things which bring results?