Time Management Articles

In the last blog article, I suggested that we might be introducing too much technology into our lives too quickly. The smartphone has already replaced your family landline, your wristwatch, your camera, your calendar, your alarm clock, and even your calculator and TV...

After finding the source of word deadline, I urge all businesspersons not to confuse deadlines with due dates or target dates. The term deadline first appeared in the 19th century when prisoners were shot if they crossed a certain perimeter line. That's how it got the...

In the book called The Power of When, author Michael Breus sheds new light on when to schedule our writing projects. We know that prime time is the time that we are at our peak energy level and alertness. Most of us believe that we should schedule our priority...

When we have a lot of things to do and we start to get behind in our work, we tend to speed up.  This could backfire since the faster we go, the more we focus on how much we are getting done and less on what it is we are doing.  It goes well if we are always doing the...

If you want to get the right things done in this digital age of speed, work slower, not faster. Your progress is greater when you do not undertake too many projects or tasks at the same time. Have you ever taken on several large projects only to realize that you have...

Lastt week’s blog article, as well as the next one, are based on my latest eBook, “A Positive Attitude that Gets Results,” soon to be published by Bookboon. Dr. Edward Creagan in his book, How not to be my patient, refers to research indicating that pessimists have a...

If you want an easy way to set goals stop thinking of it as some structured process that takes a lot of work. It doesn’t have to be any more structured than keeping a “To Do” list. And you don’t have to be afraid of losing the spontaneity and flexibility of simply...

In the last blog article I discussed energy sources, and this article, drawing on information from my eBook, Manage your personal energy, published by Bookboon.com, I indicat how our energy is quickly depleted. Excessive use of technology. We seem to be obsessed with...

Proactive people are always looking ahead at future activities, projects and events and anticipating needs, problems and possible outcomes. For example, if they are attending a conference in a different city, they go beyond actually booking air travel, arranging...

 The difference between mechanical and behavioral ideas The various ideas on saving time fall into two major categories: "mechanical ideas" and "behavioral ideas". The mechanical ideas are those that can be put into practice immediately without the necessity of a...

It takes time to manage time Time Investments are those activities that eventually free up more time than they initially consume. For example, many people fail to plan because planning takes time. There would be no visible tangible task completed as testimony to this...

Make the best use of your time. By Harold Taylor Here are a few of my favorite suggestions for managing time. Put your goals in writing. Determine where you would like to be in 10 years and 5 years and one year and put those goals in writing. Then each week schedule...

Good news - We don’t have to manage time, only ourselves. By Harold L Taylor Effective time management is a difficult process since it involves resisting four of the following five natural tendencies of people. Effective time management involves managing ourselves,...

When you leave the office, the interruptions follow We are ill-equipped to deal with the onslaught of interruptions introduced by technology. Our brain's natural inclination is to react to them. We coped with this in the old days by isolating ourselves from...

Organizing is the act of rearranging items that are in a disorganized, cluttered state so that everything can be retrieved quickly with less effort, maximizing both their utility and visual appeal. Time management refers to increasing both the efficiency and the...

The History of Time Management Dates Back to the Late 1800s People have always searched for better and more efficient ways of doing things, whether it involved a more effective way of trapping animals for food or a more efficient way of starting a fire with friction....

B The most important thing you can do when facing a customer, or anyone for that matter, is to engage in active listening. There is no greater way of displaying respect than listening attentively to what people have to say.  Lean forward to show interest....

We communicate with our whole body and our actions and behaviours must be consistent with what we are saying. Although the oft-used figures that came from Albert Mehrabian’s experiments have been convincingly debunked long ago, it is normally agreed that our body...

When we are confronted with multiple priorities, all of which seem to be urgent, we sometimes freeze – like a deer caught in the headlights. It’s a case of paralysis by analysis as we try to decide where to start. If this happens to you, stop and take a deep breath,...

Do you dive into the day like some people dive into a swimming pool without even testing the water temperature? Or do you start by dipping a toe into the shallow end and inching your way gradually into deeper water where you can start your serious swimming? Different...

What about writer’s block that you hear so much about?  Well if you know what you have to say, you won’t have writer’s block.  Some writers spend more time staring at a blank computer screen than they spend writing.  Others may freeze after a paragraph or two.  What...

Myth #6. The biggest time wasters are interruptions, which include email, meetings and rush jobs. I call that a myth because none of those are really time wasters – not if you follow my definition of a time waster, which is an activity, within our control, that does...

Having purpose in life refers to being dedicated to a cause that is bigger than you. One that you will never fully attain in a lifetime. Whereas goals are specific, measurable and have a deadline, purpose is general in nature, a way of living as opposed to a means of...

Attitude is an important aspect of success In a previous blog article I discussed how gaining control of your life affects both your health and productivity. But controlling events and projects in your life are not easy. The fact that only about 10 percent of people...

Human interaction is not a waste of time It has been nearly forty years since I presented my first time management seminar to an enthusiastic group of young managers. They were anxious to improve their personal productivity and eagerly took notes and absorbed...

Speed is the enemy of time management Just as gulping your food and rushing through meals takes the enjoyment out of eating while doing nothing for your health, so rushing through life has its consequences. If you can’t remember what you had for dinner last night, you...

Trying to do too much can cause multitasking and multitasking can cause big problems You may have driven along a highway while listening to your car radio or daydreaming or talking on a cell phone and actually missed your turnoff – even though you had taken that same...

You can’t make the clock run slower; but you can slow the perceived passage of time by setting and achieving significant goals. Just as inactive waiting makes time drag, so a slow-paced, boring, non-eventful life seems longer while you’re actually experiencing it even...

Planning for your retirement is not just about money It’s never too early to plan for your retirement. You don’t have to be preoccupied with old age, but recognize that you will be old someday – and it’s a lot better than the alternative. You may never want to...

The problem of interruptions has not only persisted during the thirty-five years that I have been conducting workshops; it has increased. This digital age of speed has more than doubled the impact of interruptions on our personal productivity because we now have so...

About 30 years ago when I designed the Taylor Planner, I decided to have a week at a glance planner with all seven days showing and a weekly To Do list instead of a To Do list for each day. I had no survey data or other statistics to back me up. I just felt it was...

Don’t be an activity packrat by taking on too many commitments for yourself or your family. In general, people’s lives are too busy. If it’s not critical that you do something, then it’s critical that you not do it. Keep your life free of clutter. Take time to fully...

The number of choices we have to make on a daily basis has increased exponentially during the past thirty years. It’s interesting that no generation has had such a long lifespan and so much leisure time as the current generation; yet a third of all Americans report...

Charles Handy in his book, The Age of Paradox, makes an interesting case for launching a second career before the first one starts going downhill. Or a second business before the first one starts to falter. Or a new product before the sales on the first one starts to...

Working on two or more jobs at the same time reduces the efficiency of each. Researcher David Meyer, PhD., claims that not being able to concentrate on one task for significant periods of time may cost a company as much as 20 to 40 percent in efficiency. I have seen...

There are many misconceptions about time management. Here are five time management myths that may appear to be true at first glance. Myth number 1: We can manage time. We cannot manage time. Nor can we save it. Time ticks away relentlessly in spite of our efforts to...

Did you ever watch the movie, Titanic? A few days ago I noticed a re-run of the original movie that was made back in the fifties and it reminded me of the series of errors and omissions that caused this terrible tragedy. Similarly, errors and omissions in managing...

Set goals on your own timetable; but don’t make New Year’s resolutions. People who make New Year’s resolutions are usually those who are the least motivated to follow through with their plans. They have already procrastinated by saying they will delay any change until...

There are advantages to working at coffee shops. Coffee shops are opening earlier. Most are equipped with wireless Internet. There are.no trophies or family photographs to distract you. There are few interruptions; no water cooler gossip or morning sports updates. And...

Effective delegation may be impossible since many managers and entrepreneurs have limited staff, if any. In that case you might consider outsourcing the more repetitive and time-consuming tasks. Delegation ranges from minor assignments such as sorting through some...

Always focus on the critical, the crucial and the quick tasks in order to maximize your use of time. People tell us to prioritize or work on important things first or avoid the tyranny of the urgent or to draw a priority grid consisting of four possible combinations...

Why do we think that time management is not for seniors? When looking at time management for seniors we see that something strange happens to many of us during the final third of our lives. During the retirement stage, many of us seem to forget everything we learned...

In everyday life, planning always saves time. Planning, according to Wikipedia, is the process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Whether the goal is to write a book or buy a head of lettuce, the same process of...

Time management for students should refer to most of us since most of us never stop being a student. Learning is a lifelong process. At least 20% to 30% of what we have learned and understood to date is now obsolete. So we must continue with our education just to keep...

As far as organizing advice for seniors is concerned, the best advice I can give is to recognize that as you age, your body and mind change, and you have to pay more attention to organizing your environment and yourself as you may have done in the past. As an...

The best time management strategy is to live longer, healthier and happier. Until now there has been little or no attempt in time management books and training sessions to help a person extend the amount of time at their disposal by extending their lifespan. That is...

Prioritize in advance and you can save a lot of time and grief in the future. And there’s little excuse for not anticipating many of the events that will occur. For instance, you know that the car will eventually run out gas. Similarly, you can bet your bank account...

All multitasking is not the same. There are three types of multitasking. By multitasking, I mean the apparent simultaneous performance of two or more tasks. And since research has confirmed that it is impossible for the brain to fully focus on two things at the same...

Not knowing how to listen effectively can waste time, cause stress, and generate costly communication problems. But there’s more to effective listening than meets the ear. It’s hard work. It requires an active participation in the communication process. It takes...