25 Time Management Tips - Manage Your Time Wisely

Consider taking a look at these time management tips. One, or two, or three, may work for you:

1. Obvious tip one: Make a to-do list (electronic or paper). Put the most important item first and work down from there.

2. Obvious tip two: At the end of your day, review what you’ve done and make a new list for the next day. In order of importance.

3. Be ruthless about setting priorities. Make sure that what you think is important is really important.

4. Learn to differentiate between the important and the urgent. What’s important is not always urgent. What’s urgent is not always important.

5. Carry your to-do list with you at all times.

6. All things being equal, do the hardest, least fun thing first. Just get it over with!

7. If a task takes less than five minutes, do it right away. If it takes longer, put it on the list.

8. Schedule some uninterrupted time each day when you can concentrate on important tasks, even if you have to take refuge in a conference room or at the library.

9. For a couple of days, take an inventory of how you spend your time to find out where and how you’re wasting it.

10. Value your time. Eliminate the time wasters (e.g., if personal phone calls are taking up too much space in your workday, set reasonable limit).

11. Cut big jobs into small chunks. Order the chunks by importance. Work on one chunk at a time.

12. For big, complex tasks, schedule wiggle room (flexibility). Projects tend to take longer than you think/hope. Give yourself a buffer.

13. If part of your day involves routine repetitive tasks, keep records of how long they take and then try to do them faster.

14. Go one step further and set specific time limits for routine tasks. Work tends to fill whatever amount of time you happen to have.

15. Establish smart efficient systems for all your tasks, big and small, and stick to them.

16. When and where necessary, say no. Trying to do everything everyone asks you to do is a recipe for failure.

17. Learn to delegate, wherever and whenever you can.

18. Deal with E-mail at set times each day, if possible. Read them and deal with them. Deal with spam E-mail immediately so that they will not interrupt important E-mail.

19. Reward yourself for completing tasks on time. No fun stuff until the work stuff is done.

20. Organize and declutter your workspace so you don’t waste time looking for things. Create a conducive working environment.

21. Schedule demanding tasks for that part of your day when you’re at your peak.

22. Group related tasks (e.g., sort papers on your desk and then file them). It’s more efficient.

23. Use down time (e.g., waiting for meetings to begin) to, for example, update your to-do list or answer E-mails.

24. Don’t be afraid to get projects done early. It takes them off your mind, and it doesn’t mean you’ll just be given more to do.

25. Don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today!

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