100 Ways To Be A Better Time Manager

Want a quick list of tips to be a better time manager? Then read, apply and develop these 100 great hints and your effectiveness as a time manager will zoom overnight. Practise them all and you'll discover that you'll get more done, improve the quality of your time with others, and have a better balance between all the demands on your work and life.

1. Value your time.
2. Treat time as a resource to be managed.
3. Measure your time.
4. Assess how much time you have to manage.
5. Negotiate more control over your working time.
6. Decide the best work pattern for yourself.
7. Get control of your tasks.
8. Have the freedom to balance your tasks.
9. Work at an even pace.
10. Plan ahead.
11. Balance the demands on your time.
12. Don't work more than you need.
13. Be a pearl diver: look for the gifts that time brings.
14. Use time to get results not just fulfil duties.
15. Do something productive and enjoyable each day.
16. Ask "what is the best use of my time now?" questions.
17. Identify your time robbers.
18. Have a purpose to your life.
19. Be effective...
20. ...and then efficient.
21. Don't rush or overwork.
22. Inject variety into your daily tasks.
23. Spend up to a quarter of your day on routine tasks.
24. Do routine tasks in the shortest time possible.
25. Develop good time habits.
26. Experiment with different methods for doing routine tasks.
27. Use the Shoe-shine principle of doubling-up routine tasks.
28. Make the most of shortcuts.
29. Prepare your materials in advance.
30. Tidy up as you go.
31. Question every bit of paper you use.
32. Automate.
33. Identify bottle-necks and eliminate them.
34. Create easy work flows.
35. Use just-in-time systems to minimize clutter.
36. Bunch similar tasks together.
37. Identify the quickest work methods and then train everyone.
38. Know which jobs can be speeded up and which can't.
39. Have a regular time slot for chores.
40. Put aside time for maintenance tasks.
41. Don't encourage unnecessary paperwork.
42. Organise your filing systems.
43. Back up your computer records at fixed times.
44. Clear your files out regularly.
45. Keep your desk clear.
46. Handle every piece of paper just once.
47. Eliminate junk mail and spam.
48. Phone rather than write.
49. Don't photocopy anything unless it is essential.
50. Send replies on the same piece of paper.
51. Keep your communications sweet and short.
52. Manage your projects with time, cost and quality estimates.
53. Run projects with detailed time plans.
54. Add on 20% to your initial project plans.
55. Have detailed lists of your project tasks.
56. Create a series of deadlines for your projects.
57. Look for weak links in your project and have back-up plans.
58. Streamline low-priority project tasks.
59. Keep on top of what's going on in your project.
60. Track and monitor your project progress.
61. Spend up to a quarter of your day on progress work.
62. Have a clear vision of your goals.
63. Align your goals with your values.
64. Be certain of achieving all your goals.
65. Write down your goals.
66. Plan your key result areas.
67. Set SMART goals for short-term tasks.
68. Identify jobs you hate and delegate them.
69. Break down big jobs into smaller chunks.
70. Prioritise your tasks according to their importance.
71. When you're overwhelmed, write out to-do lists and prioritise.
72. Leave loose ends so you can come back easily.
73. Use little scraps of unused time for itsy-bitsy jobs.
74. Plan 60% of your day; leave the rest for what comes up.
75. Put big jobs in your diary first, then the little ones.
76. Celebrate reaching your goals.
77. Spend up to a quarter of your day on non-doing tasks.
78. Take time out to sit and think.
79. Look after your health.
80. Get a sense of the times.
81. Take time to enjoy and appreciate.
82. Use the energy of the moment.
83. Occasionally just do what you want to do.
84. Take breaks at least every 90 minutes.
85. Review your day or week.
86. Spend up to a quarter of your day with others.
87. Always turn up to meetings on time.
88. Be courteous and brisk with others.
89. Only hold meetings that have a clear purpose.
90. Let people know when you're not free.
91. Minimise unnecessary interruptions.
92. Learn to say No to jobs that aren't yours.
93. Avoid time-wasters.
94. Control your phone.
95. Screen all incoming calls.
96. Devise a team time policy.
97. Keep a clock on the wall.
98. Know your time manager personality.
99. Check whether you have a tendency to overwork or underwork and adjust.
100. Enjoy your time.

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Getting Things Done: Accountability 101

It seems strange that an obvious goal like losing weight or taking the garbage out would need some sort of external encouragement. After all, the results of these things are clear: you lose weight, and you get the garbage taken out.

But from time to time, we all need a little push. We know we could swim if we walk off the end of the dock, but other than "swimming is fun," there doesn't seem to be any incentive to do it.

What's needed in cases where task-specific motivation is a challenge is some form of accountability. After all, you manage to drag yourself up and out of bed and off to the unpleasant challenge of your daily commute. Why? Because you have a job, and you're accountable for your presence (unless you're Timothy Ferriss, that is). Someone is keeping you honest, and there's a consequence if you don't do it.

I decided this week that I was going to get TACFIT Commando certified. It's a workout system...that's the core of it. Each of three levels of difficulty lasts three cycles of 28 days, for a total of 84 days per level. That's three months, which means the entire program runs to nine months.

Nine months is a long time to stick to anything. However, studies have proven that it takes five weeks for an activity to become a habit.

That's all well and good, but we all know that life can really get in the way of our best-laid plans. Still, this system requires half an hour a day. Can I move for half an hour a day? Yes I can. Will I? Well, that all depends...what's my motivation?

There are several motivations here. First and foremost is getting tactically fit. I'm not a soldier of course, but the program provides "combat readiness" in the sense that the musculature is trained to be highly mobile and neurologically active. Think martial arts plus bodyweight plus yoga.

The second motivation is financial. Any time you train and become certified in something there's a possibility of extending your business to that field. Certification means you're qualified to instruct, and if it's something people want or need, being the expert is always a good thing.

But that sort of motivation will only get you so far. We as humans are designed for equilibrium. When things are "good enough," we taper off and get comfortable (this routine is NOT comfortable). For this reason, it's essential to have a good accountability factor. In many cases, this means something real and tangible, not just drive or desire. I have the desire to achieve it, but that may not be enough to muscle through the equilibrium.

To this end, I've enlisted the help of my long-time friend and ass-kicker, Paul. Paul is the guy, you'll remember, who helped me with the house cleaning a couple weeks back. He's a big dude. This is important...because he's not just going to make sure I do my workouts every day. If I skip a workout, I owe him a Chinese dinner.

For most people, that doesn't mean much. It's affordable. But this guy can eat. He's 6'7". He's around 350lbs of major muscle (just pulled a 385lb. bench for 6 reps...he once deadlifted the front end of my Corolla out of a snow bank!). That means a Chinese dinner is a pretty sizable investment...around $60 for every missed workout.

Not something I want to be indebted to!

At the same time, Paul wants to eat healthier. For him that means cutting back on things like...huge Chinese dinners. Hmmm...

So right there, he's got his incentive for kicking my butt. I can make sure he doesn't cheat on his diet by making sure he keeps my workouts on track (I know...who thinks of a free dinner as punishment, right? It's all in the framing). What this means is I have to check in every day and tell him when I've done my workout. Sure, it's a bit of an honour system, but we can't have it all. Just knowing when I skip is enough for me.

If you're trying to get focused up on something and you're not quite motivated enough to be totally dogged about it, get someone to keep you accountable for it. It works wonders, and you'll never have to worry about cheating yourself.

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House Cleaning Tips: Operation Clearout

I have a lot of stuff.

Just...stuff. You never really realize how much crap you accumulate until something major happens...like, say, a flood in your basement. Suddenly the burst of activity required to salvage all that junk really drives home the point.

I have a lot of stuff.

But here's the weirdness of it: if I can clear out and move an entire house full of stuff in just two days, why does it take so long to sort through all that junk? 90% of it is just old papers anyway.

Well, to be perfectly frank, once it's in place and in piles it's basically taken care of. In other words, once you move it in and the pile is stable enough, there's little incentive to pick through it a sheet at a time.

Until now.

I'm sick of all that junk, and a lot of it is in my way. So it's time to forge ahead. I'm giving the green light to Operation Clearout.

This is the process: I'm going to take a weekend and tackle a major section of the house. Last weekend, my buddy Paul came over and we tackled the kitchen and the front entrance. That was an all-day event...certainly much longer than I expected. I had hoped we'd be able to at least do the entire main floor, but that didn't pan out. That's coming though. To do the living room and dining room shouldn't be too bad, actually, because there isn't much stuff in there apart from toys.

Oh yeah...and all the books and bins of music that got hauled up during the flood. Ugh.

There's a reno team set to come and deal with the basement shortly. That means a portion of Operation Clearout will have to take a hiatus. Most of the rec room will have to be moved out to somewhere else so they can do the work, which means the basement portion of the operation won't really get done until they're done. No problem...the office and the kid's room need to be tackled in a big way. My own bedroom mess is actually from the accumulation of my daughter's books on my dresser! We're going to solve that shortly too. No more baby stuff in Daddy's room.

Unless there are monsters, of course.

So, Operation Clearout is underway. After that, it'll be Operation Keep-Your-House-Clean. Much harder to do, now that super important mission critical Operation Yard Work is also underway. At least in the winter the only chore is shoveling the driveway.

Too bad the dandelions are so unforgiving this year.

Suggested Reading:


Jeff Campbell's Speed Cleaning is one of the coolest books on the subject of house cleaning I've ever read. It outlines how to basically clean any room in fifteen minutes using some simple efficiency strategies. And a tool belt!

If you feel like you're bogged down with spending hours and hours just keeping your house tidy and keeping up with the drudge of weekend cleaning, this is a book you have to check out. It's so simple you'll never go back to dragging your butt off the couch when it comes to cleaning.

Plus, check out that best price!

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