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Manage
your time
How to work more effectively

A & C Black • London

Revised edition first published in Great Britain 2010
This electronic edition published 2010 by A & C Black Publishers Ltd

A & C Black Publishers Ltd, 36 Soho Square, London W1D 3QY

www.acblack.com

Copyright © A & C Black Publishers Ltd, 2010

First edition 2004 © Bloomsbury Publishing, 2004

Reprinted 2007 by A & C Black Publishers Ltd

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Print ISBN: 9-781-4081-2800-82
Electronic ISBN: 9-781-4081-2801-5
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Contents

How well do you manage your time?

1 Organising your time
2 Avoiding information overload
3 Delegating tasks
4 Managing meetings
5 Keeping on top of e-mail
6 Maintaining a healthy work--life balance
7 Developing decision-making skills
Where to find more help
How well do you manage your time?

Answer the questions and work out your time management

profile, then read the guidance points for ideas on how to make
more effective use of your time.

How often do your tasks take longer than expected?

a) Hardly ever b) Sometimes c) Regularly
How often do you clear out your desk and e-mails?
a) Regularly b) Seldom c) Hardly ever
How would you rate your delegating skills?
a) Good b) Average c) Poor
When you plan a meeting do you schedule in extra time in case it
overruns?
a) Always b) Sometimes c) Never
How often do you work late?
a) Hardly ever b) Sometimes c) Almost always
How often do you make commitments that you can’t stick to?
a) Hardly ever b) Sometimes c) Regularly
How often do you say ‘no’ when asked to do things you have no time
for? have no time for?
a) Regularly b) Sometimes c) Hardly ever
When given a task, do you ask for a deadline?
a) Always b) Sometimes c) Never
How often do you schedule in time for yourself?
a) Every day b) Every week c) Never
How do you react when someone chases you for a project that you have
put on the back burner?
a) Explain why I had to prioritise other jobs
b) Feel guilty that it has been delayed and do it ASAP
c) Panic – I had almost forgotten about it
How do you plan your daily tasks?
a) I write out a daily schedule and stick to it
b) I make a list of the most important tasks and hope to remember the others
c) I tackle jobs as they come up
What do you do when faced with many projects?
a) Get on with the most important ones first
b) Choose the most interesting job and start on that
c) Start several tasks and continue with the easiest one
How organised is your work space?
a) Very. I know where everything is.
b) Fairly. I have been known to lose things.
c) Not at all. I don’t think about the state of my desk!
a = 1, b = 2 and c = 3. Now add up your scores.

Chapter 1 is useful to everyone as it will help build awareness of the

ways in which you spend your time, and of pockets of ‘lost’ time that
you can regain.
13–20: You manage your time well already, but remember to leave
space for self-development, and time to switch off – it’s possible
you have become over-efficient or inflexible! Chapter 6 gives you
hints on managing your work–life balance. It is also important not
to be too controlling – remember to delegate so others can develop
their skills too as well as relieve the burden on you (Chapter 3).
21–31: You have a reasonably balanced approach to your working
life, but make sure your good intentions regarding time
management come to fruition. Conduct a ‘time audit’ (Chapter 1)
and avoid spending long hours at work as this will end up making
you tired and less efficient. To make the best use of your day,
manage the time you spend in meetings (Chapter 4) and learn how
to keep on top of the many e-mails that come your way (Chapter 5).
32–39: You’re at risk of becoming exhausted and doing a bad job
because your time is being used so inefficiently. You need to make
major changes in the way you work. Don’t underestimate how long
tasks will take – wishful thinking means nothing when you’re about
to miss a deadline! Learn to manage both e-mails and information
by reading Chapters 2 and 5. Chapter 7 will help you develop
decision-making skills so you don’t waste time procrastinating.
1
Organising your time

Time management is about making every moment effective by being

truly focused and not dividing your energies by worrying about the
past or future. However, it’s still important to be able to keep the past,
present and future in perspective so that you can plan and prioritise
effectively. In this way you’re able to set tasks in the right context. This
gives a sense of order, structure and security for those who are
dependent upon your time management skills.
In our working lives, time is the one thing that is in ever increasing
demand. Many tools are now available that offer instant access to
information and each other, the idea being that more time is released
for increased efficiency and productivity. Although these tools are
designed to save time, they can be so complex that they use up a great
deal of time and as a result put additional pressures on managers.
Step one: Conduct a ‘time audit’
As a first step towards organising your time well, do a ‘time audit’ on
your life. What is the balance between the demands that are placed upon
you at work and the obligations and pleasures that define your private
life? Does this balance satisfy you, or do you find yourself sacrificing
one activity or part of your life for another?
The key to good time management is being aware of the world in which
you live and the interrelationships between the component parts, then
choosing how you divide your time between each one.

How to do a time audit

 1 Take a large sheet of paper and write your name at the centre.
2 Place words around your name that represent the demands upon
your life. Include contracted work hours, travelling/commuting
time, social hours at work – lunches, dinners, and post-work
socialising – and family commitments, remembering that your time
demands are likely to increase according to the number of
children/dependents that you have. Also include your wider family
and friends, sporting or fitness activities, socialising time and time
spent on hobbies or areas of personal interest.
3 Mark on the sheet the number of hours that are dedicated to each of
these areas throughout the day. (You may want to use half-hour
intervals if you think they’d be more meaningful.) For example,
you may have: work (8), commuting (2), picking up children from
school (0.5) and so on. This will graphically represent your life in
terms of the choices and trade-offs you’re making in those areas
that are important to you.
4 Ask yourself, ‘Is this how I want to live my life?’ You may sacrifice
some important areas of your life in the short term, but be aware of
what happens when a particular phase of your life comes to an end.
How will you manage this transition, particularly when it’s
unexpected or sudden, such as a change in work circumstances or
retirement?
5 Take a highlighter pen and mark those areas on your chart that need
attention. If, for instance, you feel you’re spending too much time
at work, you need to re-establish the objectives of your role and the
demands placed upon you by others. Perhaps it’s time for you to
think about requesting flexible working hours, for example.
Evaluate how you’re going to get a better balance. Some of the time
management toolkits outlined on page 8 will give you ideas on how
to do this.

Step two: Make adjustments

1 Be aware of your choices
The desire to improve your time management skills is half the battle but
you need to be aware of the choices you have to make. These relate to your
overall life balance and the values you hold.
Look at what you’re being asked to do at work and why. Is this because
it’s related to your role or because you hold a particular skill or
expertise? If you’re being asked to do many things outside your area of
responsibility, you may need to speak to your boss to clarify your job
boundaries.
There are always choices to be made. You may find that you can win more
time by avoiding time spent on commuting and working from home.
However, make sure that your family doesn’t automatically see this as
additional time you’ll be able to spend with them. You will need to create
boundaries to ensure that your productivity remains high and that this new
environment does not disrupt your efforts.

TOP TIP
Don’t make commitments that you know you
can’t meet. If you’re concerned about
a potential time conflict, talk to the
people involved rather than waste
more time by worrying about it.

2 Plan for lost time

Look at your chart and see the effects of unpredictable delays and how
they can affect the rest of your day or week.
Lost time accumulated over a period has a surprisingly large impact on the
time available for other activities. You get a ‘build-up’ of negative time. If
you can, plan pockets of space in your day to accommodate them. This
releases pressure and allows you to get back on track.
 TOP TIP
If you use any time management systems,
start off simply for a better chance of
success. You may find you have to manage
expectations better. Build in some slack
when you plan schedules so that you don’t
back yourself into a corner. Sometimes
when people are aware of your timings,
they build in slack as well.

3 Be prepared to change behavioural habits

Be aware of any patterns that characterise the way you manage your
time. You may find that you’re constantly overrunning in meetings (see
Chapter 4, ‘Managing meetings’) or that you pick up a lot of spurious
work because you aren’t assertive enough in saying ‘no’. Both these
consume time that you may not have available.

Dealing with disorganised team members

In order to run an efficient team, every person in the team needs to
know exactly what they’re doing and how that fits into what
everybody else is doing.
If a team member is disorganised, you need to get this person to
stand back from what they’re doing and look at the patterns or
behaviour they’re exhibiting and the deadlines they and the
department are working to. How does this person’s contribution fit
in and what are his or her priorities?
Often time management requires a change in habitual behaviour. For
this reason, you cannot expect to become a good time manager
overnight. Learning the skills is one thing, using them is another – it
 takes time and can only be achieved by building awareness, charting a
clear route and rewarding success.

TOP TIP
Be as honest as you can about how long
things take. Overestimating the amount of
time needed can be counterproductive: you
might end up panicking because it looks
as if you can’t possibly fit everything in. But
underestimating can be just as dangerous –
you run the risk of feeling that you’re forever
catching up. So get into the habit of jotting
down how long it takes you to do regular
tasks. Then when you need to plan your
day in detail, you’ll be better equipped
to make an accurate estimate of how long things take.

Step three: Prioritise and plan ahead

Look at your workload and categorise your tasks into those that are
important to your overall role, those which will add benefit to your role
but may not be central and those things that you do that you may be good
at but which are outside your area of responsibility.
Set yourself definite and specific goals. What do you want to achieve in
the time that you have? It is best to write these goals down. Make sure
that they are achievable and set yourself a realistic time limit in which to
achieve them. It may help to divide the task up so that you can take it
step by step. This will make the completion of the task more rewarding,
as you can measure your progress on the way.
We often get caught up in responding to others’ expectations and sacrificing
our own choices. As you undertake your time audit, make sure that you’re
not spending time on unnecessary activities that don’t serve your purpose.
Delegate wherever you can but don’t expect others to do what you can’t do
or pick up the mess you leave behind you.
The central point is that planning is essential. It will help you prioritise,
anticipate problems and potential conflicts and see where you’re going. Be
aware of time pressures as you plan. Awareness must always precede
action.

Time management toolkits

There are a number of time management toolkits that help people
order their days but they’re only as useful as the time invested in
using them. Many time management courses teach you how to use
processes to prioritise your tasks and activities. Remember that your
view of what is a priority may be different from someone else’s. In
using these toolkits, remember to spend some time talking to all the
relevant people involved at work to make sure that misunderstandings
don’t occur.
Some commercially available toolkits and techniques include:
BlackBerrys® or iPhones
organisers
‘to do’ lists
categorising work according to its level of importance and focusing
only on the essential
aligning tasks to business goals and objectives and cutting out the
‘nice to do’
shared diaries – team, secretarial, professional groups
It’s not easy to make the transition from depending on a diary and
Post-It™ notes to organising your life with a computerised device
such as a BlackBerry® or iPhone.