11 Practical steps to time management

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  Carry a notebook: during the course of every day, write down at different times the things you do. (Can be work or not work related)

At the end of the week look for patterns, and measure the productive and unproductive things you do. This will allow you to modify your habits to become more productive with your time.

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  Make an appointment schedule for yourself

  : Keeping specific blocks of time during the day for important tasks is a must. Make sure you have the discipline to not go over the scheduled time for each task.

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  50 % RULE

  : Make sure that throughout the day you spend at least 50% of your time doing things that are the most productive and important.

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  Schedule for the unscheduled

  : Things happen every day that you did not plan for, so make sure to keep some free time for this situations.

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   30 minutes a day: Take 30 minutes a day to plan your next day’s schedule, or the same days schedule if you could not do it the day before. A day with a schedule delivers results.

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  5 minute phone call rule

  : Take 5 minutes prior to a call to decide what result you want to accomplish. Then take 5 minutes after the call to analyze the results and see what else if anything might be missing.

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  Do not disturb

  : Do not disturb signs are not just for hotel rooms. Make sure you let people know not to disturb you when you really need to focus on something.

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  Distractions

  : Keep distractions to a minimum during your scheduled day. Anything that keeps your mind for more than 10 minutes thinking about something unrelated to your task is a distraction.

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  Be realistic

  : Remember that 20% of your plans produce 80% of your productivity during an average day. You cannot accomplish everything in one day. So prioritize.

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  Take breaks

  : It is a known fact that the brain cannot maintain high levels of precision for long periods of time. To make your decisions more effective and actions deliver results, make sure to take a 10 to 15 minute break after finishing a difficult task. When you give your brain a rest after a difficult task, you allow it to see solutions and come up with new ideas that before were not there.