14 Top Tips from Traditional Time Management Techniques

Ok, let's get right to the point. Throw time management out. It doesn't work.

We're much better off focusing on managing our own resources, our focus, our energy, and our own behavior. Nevertheless, there is something to be said for all those tried and true traditional time management techniques.

Read through this list of traditional time management techniques and you'll realize that they aren't about managing the clock, or trying to actually save hours from today and apply them to some day next week. That would true time management and it's ridiculous to think anybody would even attempt it.

However, when you look at this list of "traditional time management techniques," you'll find that most of them are dealing with your own behavior, any way. Take a look at this list and see if you agree or disagree about how applicable these tips are to your own efforts at improving your self-management skills:

Tip #1: Follow a daily plan. The old cliché is true: plan your work and work your plan.

Tip #2: Prioritize your tasks. The best system will categorize them into an A, B, or C. Then, within each category, you can rank them as to which you'll do first, second, third, etc. What you end up with are A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, B3, B4, C1, C2, etc., etc., etc.

Tip #3: Always spend time dreaming and thinking big picture. This is important for both your life and for your professional career.

Tip #4: Break down the big picture into long-term and short-term goals. When you take a look at the steps it will take to get there, you can start planning properly for your success.

Tip #5: Take into account the best time for you to be more productive. Everyone has their best time of day. Do the most important, not the most urgent tasks, during your most productive time of the day.

Tip #6: Once you do tackle your work, do the more difficult things first. Usually getting started on something that's hard to do really is half the battle. Once started, the rest of it frequently follows quickly and easily.

Tip #7: When something you had scheduled is cancelled or dropped from your day, don't just pick up the next thing that grabs your attention. Take that 30 minutes or hour that you would have spent in the meeting and spend it on the most important item that's not urgent. You've probably been neglecting it anyway. Now, you've just gained some time to work on it.

Tip #8: Always, always, always allocate time for yourself. Take the "standard 15-minute breaks" and at least a 30-minute lunch break. I know you're busy. But, when you short-change yourself on these kind of breaks, you're really cutting short your effectiveness.

Tip #9: Learn and make it a habit to say no, when you are supposed to say NO to somebody.

Tip #10: Avoid being a perfectionist. Strive for excellence, not perfectionism. Perfectionism is the number one killer of creativity, relationships, and strong teams. It leads to individualism, lower productivity overall, and fractured working relationships. Remember, good enough is good enough. Perfectionism MUST give way to Excellence.

Tip #11: Deal with interruptions by preventing them. How? Simply post a sign that says you cannot be interrupted for the next 30 minutes. Put a time when you're available. Then, stick to it. People will learn and will come to respect and honor your commitment to becoming more effective by minimizing interruptions during critical times of the day.

Tip #12: Overcome procrastination. Your best defense against procrastination is an aggressive offense. Study your behavior and learn when you typically procrastinate. Identify the typical patterns of when you do procrastinate. Then, tell others you're working on overcoming procrastination and enlist their help.

Tip #13: Reduce stress. You hear this a lot, but are you doing anything about it? Learn a few simple relaxation techniques and make them a habit in your life.

Tip #14: Develop the habit of questioning everything that is included in your list to do. Just because you put it on your list yesterday, doesn't automatically mean it must be done today. Realize that some things do lose their value and importance. It's okay to eliminate them from your list without doing them.

Now, as you look over that list, tell me you didn't find that every single one of them actually dealt with your behavior, not the clock?!!

Here's the challenge. Look over the list and pick three suggestions that you could start doing, or start doing better than you are now. Then, rank these three from highest to lowest, 1-2-3, with 1 being the highest and the one you want to work on the most.

Now, start right now and implement your #1 item.