Going into a long weekend in the United States, I came across John Rampton's list of 20 time management tips, Manipulate Time With These Powerful 20 Time Management Tips at Forbes. Many of them sound familiar, but they are good reminders nonetheless. Here are the entries, go to the article for full commentary.
- Create a time audit
- Site a time limit to each task
- Use a to-do-list, but don’t abandon tasks
- Plan ahead
- Spend your morning on MITs (Most Important Things)
- Learn to delegate/outsource
- Eliminate half-work
- Change your schedule
- Leave a buffer-time between tasks and meetings
- Get organized and single-task
- Follow the 80-20 rule
- Use an online calendar
- Stop being perfect
- Just say "No"
- Establish keystone habits (a la The Power of Habit)
- Don't waste time waiting
- Telecommute
- Find inspiration
- Batch similar task together
- Do less
For me, these all help me to focus-and-finish, a mantra that has come about with a lot of the project management work I have been doing with clients. It is endemic in our world that we have zillions of things clawing at our attention. Anything we can do to focus on one thing at a time will be beneficial to all those around us.