Ain't Nobody Got Time For Dat

Five Timely Time Management Tips

I'll be quick about this: you're probably busy. Yeah, you're busy, always feeling like there are not enough hours in the day. You are drowning in tasks??. The last thing you need is someone preaching at you about using your time better.

Instead, how about I share a few quick tools that work really well for me, and they might help you feel like you have some control over your life.

1. Delegation

You have some things to do. Which ones can be delegated? No, seriously, which ones can be delegated?

"If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." Heard this before? It's crap. What it really says is that I am not able to empower others around me, and I have trust issues. That could be a reason you are really busy.

Genuinely try to critically review your activities and who should best own them. Dedicate some time to that, and you will be able to scale your magic.

2. First things, first

Stephen Covey has offered plenty of great, simple resources to be more effective. The time management matrix is a great way to force you to compartmentalise your tasks appropriately into four quadrants, with the axes representing important and urgent tasks.

Covey found that many people incorrectly prioritised urgent matters over important matters. With this matrix, you can more easily determine what is important and what is urgent, so you can spend more time on tasks that are truly important to you, not just urgent stuff.

The percentage numbers in the diagram above come from a study by Covey (1996, 2020) showing the amount of time participants spent on different types of tasks. It highlights that a disproportionate amount of time is spent on urgent matters, ignoring their importance. I imagine the percentage of time spent in quadrant 4 has only increased with the proliferation of social media and content streaming services.

• Quadrant 1: urgent and important—this can be unforeseen events, looming deadlines, or health matters. If there are too many items in quadrant 1, then you need to be more ruthless with your classification of urgency and importance. This stuff obviously has to be done. But if we dedicate more time to quadrant 2, then you can actually reduce the volume of tasks in quadrant 1. Ideally, quadrant 1 has space to cater for unforeseen crises. If quadrant 1 is too full, you will be too stressed.
• Quadrant 2: not urgent but important—this is harder to prioritise but critical for time management over time. Here, we make investments in ourselves and others. Activities like planning, preparation, learning, self-care, and creative thinking all go here. This is proactive work that is often neglected due to a lack of urgency. But it is essential to avoid future urgency in these matters. More urgency means more stress. Allocate more time to quadrant 2 and you can reduce your stress, feel more fulfilled, and do better work.
• Quadrant 3: urgent but not important—contains activities that try to get into Quadrant 1, but with good discipline, you put them here. Things like unnecessary meetings, always being available for calls or chats, responding to phone notifications, creating unnecessary reports, and taking on board other people's issues. Give this quadrant less of your time so that you have more time for quadrant 2 and quadrant 1 activities. This will reduce stress.
• Quadrant 4: not urgent and not important—this is the quadrant of waste. gossiping, social media scrolling, mindless TV, arguing and video games. Minimise your time here, as it typically does not reduce your stress levels but robs you of the satisfaction of achieving important stuff.

3. What inspires you?

If you have a situation where you still have numerous competing tasks, then you can always consider what inspires action. We are all inspired by different things. If you have, for example, two competing tasks of equal importance and urgency, then choose the one that inspires you more. That will kick you into action. Then you can ride the high of a job well done to get straight onto the next task you are less passionate about.

Roughly 80% of results or outcomes come from 20% of effort or inputs.

4. Pareto's Law

Pareto's Law, named after 19th-century Italian economist and sociologist Vilfredo Pareto, is better known as the 80/20 rule. It states that roughly 80% of results or outcomes come from 20% of effort or inputs. If you have competing tasks, then considering the effort needed for those tasks against the resulting benefit can help you prioritise what gets done first.

Still reading? Great. The last point I promise.

5. Respect your time.

Oh, by the way. It is OK to say no to more tasks. Respect yourself and teach people how to respect you. You will be less stressed, more effective, and more valued. Enough said.

...

?? Now, back to work, you. Unless you feel compelled to share your important and urgent thoughts on time management in the comments section. That would be greatly valued.

Further Reading:

Covey, S. 1996, First things first, Simon & Schuster, New York.

Covey, S. 2020, The seven habits of highly effective people, Simon & Schuster, Australia.