The Time Management Decalogue

Andrei Monenciu is the community manager at a company called Paymo, and they make a neat tool that does time-tracking. I've consistently tracked time by hand and found a lot of advantages to doing that (and no compelling software that made me want to switch), but I like Paymo a lot. Their Desktop App that syncs with online is great for breaking down where time is going, and their native iPhone app is good for figuring out how much time is spent eating, walking, going to the gym, etc.

He gives ten points here to muse over, that he calls "the time management decalogue" --

The Time Management Decalogue

1. Know your enemy - what’s stopping you from being efficient? We all know that before starting a fight, you need to pinpoint what’s keeping you from being efficient. You need to know what’s eating up your time. In order to do that, you need to track it, either using a time tracker or some other way of recording how your day goes.

2. Plan your day - you need to see your daily tasks as parts of a project, make sure to take some time to plan and cover everything that needs to be done that day. One common practice (almost all of us do it) is to think about what you need to do either before going to bed or in the morning before starting your day. Set your to do’s in such a way that you can check them off when they’re done, there’s nothing better than seeing how the to do list shrinks.

3. Prioritize - it’s imperative to deal with the most important and harder tasks first, because these will require most of your attention and you need to have a rested mind to tackle them. Although you might need a great deal of tasks taken care that day, they have different levels of importance, work out a rating process and go with that.

4. Have a system - everyone has a pattern in tackling tasks, most of them are repetitive. Find a system on how to do these faster, especially the ones that aren’t that important. If some tasks could be be done by other people with a minimal cost, you should outsource your work and focus on more important things.

5. Have milestones - you need to split your tasks in stages using milestones, this way you will be able to keep an eye on your progress and be efficient. “Mile markers” are important in order to know how far along you are.

6. Don’t multitask - multitasking will ruin your concentration and will make it even harder to keep track of your work. It’s common knowledge that you’re not working at maximum capacity when you’re trying to do more things at once.

7. Limit interruptions to a minimum - if you’re working in an office or at home, make sure that you have at least a couple of hours when you can work uninterrupted, those hours will be the most fruitful. Studies show that it takes you longer to get back on track than it takes to complete  some of the actual tasks.

8. Know when you’re at your best - we all have a certain time range when we’re the best we can be. Some work better in the morning, some work better in the evening or at night. Try to set up your work in such a way that you tackle the hardest tasks when you’re at your best.

9. Don’t waste time - if you want to be efficient, wasting time is not an option. Time is the most precious commodity we have, use it and if possible, monetize your time.

10. Recharge - not only does all work and no fun make you dull, but it also kills your creativity and drains you. We’re social beings, we need to be with family, friends, take a well-deserved vacation. Most successful people take at least a couple of weeks per year to get away from it all. This is a must if you want to grow both professionally and as a person.

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Guest post by Andrei Monenciu, Community Manager at Paymo.