14 Strategies for Better Time Management

One of my clients recently asked for some time management strategies for busy executives.  Here they are:

1. Take a positive attitude toward time. If you believe time overwhelms you, it will. If you believe YOU manage your time effectively, you will.
2. Break large tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks.
3. Establish SMART Goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-bound [have the Smith Report on my desk by close of business Friday]).  Reviewing these goals will show what you need to do.
4. Solicit help from others by telling them that you’re working on Time Management—they’ll help keep you on track.
5. Know your internal biological clock, your Prime Time—the time of day when you’re at your best, and you do your best work. Then, operate by it. (If you’re a morning person, schedule those more important, difficult tasks for the morning, when you’re sharpest.)
6. Establish priorities by differentiating between Urgent and Important. Ask, “Is it important? Is it urgent?” If the answer to both is yes, it's Crisis Work.  If it's important, but not urgent, it's Work to Do.  If it's urgent, but not important, it's Trivial Work.  If it's neither important nor urgent, it's Time-Wasting Work.
7. Set aside quiet time for when you can’t be disturbed unless it’s an absolute emergency, and then hold people to it.
8. Reward yourself for Time Management victories, large and small.
9. Schedule specific times to perform certain tasks.  Funny how tasks that aren't scheduled seem to slip through the cracks.
10. Spend a few minutes at the beginning and end of each day for planning and scheduling.
11. Get rid of paper To-do Lists, and use software (Outlook, ACT, etc.) to track all your important To-do’s.
12. Identify Time Guzzlers—people who show up unannounced, interrupt your day, talk too much, etc.—and tell them they have to change their interactions with you. (Be careful if it’s your boss!)
13. Learn to say no.
14. Start delegating appropriate tasks.

There you have it, 14 Strategies for Better Time Management.  Any questions, just let me know.