10 Steps to Better Time Management

Act on It! by Sam Deep and Lyle Sussman has some great information for tough management challenges.  They have put together a list of 10 steps that can help you manage your time better.  If you’re doing the first 5 steps, you need some help managing your time!

1. Make the best use of the assistance available to you. Delegate!
2. Ask yourself “Is this the best use of my time right now?”
3. Use an effective calendar-management system.
4. Use the time productively when you are waiting for others.
5. Be sure to have what you need at your fingertips with minimum of searching.
6. Less than 10 percent of your workday should be spent on routine activities such as record keeping and repetitive tasks.
7. Avoid misguided activities such as aimless conversations and working on tasks other than your highest priority.
8. Do not spend your day on wasted activities such as nonproductive interruptions and procrastinating. Interruptions are time stealers.  Make them quick and to the point!
9. Crisis activities such as responding to emergencies and dealing with interpersonal conflict should be less than 20 percent of your day.
10. At least half of your workday should be spent on strategic activities such as learning, planning, creating and achieving.

Tags: delegating, leadership, Management, productivity, task management, Time, time management