Time Management: Putting it all together
Some people seem to be naturally good at managing their time. I'm not one of them.
Over the years, I've read a lot of books and articles on the topic. Many have great tips. But each author stresses a different aspect of time management.
Stephen Covey reminds us to think about all the roles in our lives as we plan. What's the point of of scurrying from one urgent task to the next, while neglecting what's really important? Covey writes, "The key is not to prioritize your schedule, but to schedule your priorities."
However, David Allen points out that when we focus on just the important things, minor, but necessary tasks get neglected. These unfinished tasks waste a lot of mental energy and can turn into urgent problems. But even Allen concedes the need to prioritize. He suggests asking this question: "What on the list, if completed, would positively affect the most things of importance in my world?"
In Getting Things Done, Allen recommends listing and doing tasks by their contexts: phone calls, computer tasks, errands, etc. He also suggests looking at each project and asking what is the next action that needs to be done. I've found the focus on the next action is a helpful way to organize my work.
FlyLady Marla Cilley brings out an aspect of time management that many systems ignore: routine chores. All of us have small things we do daily. But do we really want to or need to write "wash the dishes" on a to-do list each day? Devising a routine to do these everyday chores is a simple way to handle them.
Cilley also showed me the power of 15 minutes. Big projects can be broken down and tackled 15 minutes at a time.
So this year, I'm trying to put it all together: scheduling my priorities, getting my next actions done and handling everyday chores routinely.