Time Management

Course Objectives
• Explain What is Time Management
• Explain the Benefits of Time Management
• Describe the Various Elements of Time Management
• Explain the Principles of Time Management
• Explain the Various Time Management Styles
• Explain the Steps for Managing Your Time
• Describe the Various Components of Time Management
• Explain the Tools for Time Management
• Explain the Role of Technology in Time Management
• Explain the Urgent/Important Matrix
• Explain the Action-Priority Matrix
• Explain the Role of Biological Clocks in Time Management
• Explain How to Avoid Multitasking
• Explain the Common Time Management Pitfalls
• List the Tips for Effective Time Management

Introduction
• Dave Gotham is a Project Manager in
Globus Inc., a leading software
manufacturer.
• Let us look at what is going on in Dave’s
mind on a typical workday.

Introduction
Oh no! I am
late to office
again!

Introduction
So many emails to check!
I don’t even have time left for
morning tea now.

Introduction
Where did I put the file for the
Maxwell Project?
I’ll have to search for it now
and my desk is a mess.

Introduction
Oh no! I still haven’t got the
presentation ready for today’s
client meeting.

Introduction
I’ll have to skip my lunch to
complete the status report
which I need to send to boss.

Introduction
Oh! I forgot I
also have to
attend the
Parent-
Teacher
meeting of
my kid today!

Introduction
I think I’ll be
late for my
wedding
anniversary
party in the
evening as I
don’t think
I’ll be able to
leave office
on time.

Introduction
• As you can see that Dave is surrounded by
various kinds of troubles such as that of
completing his tasks, reaching his kid’s school
and even his anniversary party on time.

Introduction
• So, what do you think is
the root cause of all of
Dave’s problems?

Introduction
• Yes, all of Dave’s problems arise due to
lack of proper time management.
• If Dave had managed his time well, he
would have been able to pack in a lot of
chores into a single day and yet complete
each and every one of them successfully.
• Let us see how Dave suffers from poor
time management.

Introduction
Oh no! I am late to office again!
Here, you can see that Dave has started the
day on a wrong note itself. He is late to office
to begin with and hence it is natural that he
would not have enough time to complete all
his office work and would have to work extra
hours to complete his tasks.

Introduction
Dave is late and does not have enough time to
check emails. Also, if he sits to check all of his
unread emails, it is obvious that he would be
late in completing his other important tasks.
Hence, it would have been better if Dave had
a habit of managing his emails effectively and
following proper email etiquette.
So many emails to check!
I don’t even have time left for
morning tea now.

Introduction
Dave will now have to search for the Maxwell
Project file that he cannot find. So, he would
waste time in searching for a file that he needs
urgently and will need to find the file on his
cluttered desk. Such a cluttered desk would
make him waste more time in finding the file.
Where did I put the file for the
Maxwell Project?
I’ll have to search for it now
and my desk is a mess.

Introduction
Dave was aware beforehand that he had a
client meeting today. It is crucial that rather
than putting off getting the presentation ready
on the same day of the meeting, Dave should
have completed the presentation in advance.
Oh no! I still haven’t got the
presentation ready for today’s
client meeting.

Introduction
Dave is well aware of the fact that he needs to
send a status report to his boss regularly.
Hence, it is important that he should manage
his time in such a way that he keeps aside
some hours in a day for completing the status
report.
I’ll have to skip my lunch to
complete the status report
which I need to send to boss.

Introduction
Dave forgot about his kid’s Parent-Teacher
Meeting. As he has forgotten he has also not
put aside some time to attend the Parent-
Teacher Meeting at his kid’s school. If Dave
had pre-planned his day and kept a reminder
to remind him of the meeting, he would not
have forgotten about the meeting. Dave’s kid
will feel neglected and uncared for as his father
did not bother to attend his school meeting.
Oh! I forgot I also have to
attend the Parent-Teacher
meeting of my kid today!

Introduction
I think I’ll be late for my
wedding anniversary party in
the evening as I don’t think I’ll
be able to leave office on time.
Dave will be late for his wedding anniversary
party. It was important that to be on time for
the party Dave should have planned his
workday well and managed time effectively.
His spouse will resent Dave being late for his
anniversary party.

Introduction
• Thus, you can see that
when a person does not
manage his time well, he
tends to suffer not only on
the professional but also on
the personal front.

Introduction
So, it is crucial that whether you are a student, a working professional or
a homemaker, you should learn to manage your time effectively.

Objectives
• Explain What is Time Management
• Explain the Benefits of Time Management
• Describe the Various Elements of Time Management
• Explain the Principles of Time Management
• Explain the Various Time Management Styles
• Explain the Steps for Managing Your Time
• Describe the Various Components of Time Management
• Explain the Tools for Time Management
• Explain the Role of Technology in Time Management
• Explain the Urgent/Important Matrix
• Explain the Action-Priority Matrix
• Explain the Role of Biological Clocks in Time Management
• Explain How to Avoid Multitasking
• Explain the Common Time Management Pitfalls
• List the Tips for Effective Time Management

What is Time Management?
The art of arranging, organizing, scheduling, and
budgeting one’s time for the purpose of generating
more effective work and productivity is known as
Time Management.
So, time management involves exercising conscious
control over the amount of time spent on specific
activities with a focus to increase effectiveness,
efficiency or productivity.
Hence, time management helps an individual
to be more organized and more productive.

Time Management
• Time management is the act
or process of exercising
conscious control over the
amount of time spent on
specific activities, especially
to increase efficiency or
productivity.
• Time management may be
aided by a range of skills,
tools, and techniques used
to manage time when
accomplishing specific tasks,
projects and goals.

Why Time Management?
Look at the questions given below and try answering them with a ‘Yes’
or ‘No’.
Do you feel the need to be more organized and/or more
productive?
Do you spend your day feeling very busy and yet wondering why
you haven't accomplished much?
Do you wish you had a more than 24-hour day to complete all
your tasks?
Do you feel stressed by an ever busy schedule with no time for
yourself?
Do you feel you rarely achieve your 100% production capability?

Why Time Management?
• If you have answered ‘Yes’ to any of the
earlier questions, then the solution to your
dilemma lies in ‘time management’.
• Time management is an effective tool that
anyone and everyone can use to pack in
more into their 24-hour day and achieve
more in the same time than they achieved
before.
• Also, time management is equally efficient
for work and study related activities as well
as for personal activities.
• Thus, time management is needed by
anyone who performs some task or the
other.
Roll your mouse
over the icon,
to learn more.

Did You Know?
Time is the point or period at which things occur or simply put, time is when stuff
happens.
There are two types of time:
Clock Time: In clock time, there are 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24
hours in a day and 365 days in a year. In clock time, all time passes equally. For
example: When someone turns 60, he is exactly 60 years old, no more or no less.
Real Time: All time is relative in real time. Hence, depending on what you're doing you
would feel that time flies or drags. For example: Two hours waiting for an appointment
may feel like 5 years whereas two hours at the movies may fly by like 15 minutes.

Importance of Time Management
Time management is important as it helps to manage your time efficiently. It is
beneficial to every individual as proper time management helps us to:
Have time for
ourselves
Be Relaxed &
less stressed
Be Organized
Be Efficient
Be Self-disciplined
Prioritize tasks
Schedule efficiently
Plan efficiently

Who can Use Time Management?
• Time management has become
crucial for everyone in the
today’s modern busy world of
technology and fast paced
lifestyle.
• Each and every person from
different walks of life can use
time management techniques
and tools for managing their time
better and carrying out their
daily chores and activities
efficiently and in a relaxed
manner.

Who can Use Time Management?
Thus, time management is important and can be used by anyone such as:
Business Leaders
Politicians
Executives
Students
Teachers
Laborers
Writers
Working Professionals
Home Makers
Actors
Freelancers/Consultants

Need for Time Management
Each and every individual needs time management as Time is of essence to
everyone, whether a student, a professional, a daily wage laborer or even a
home-maker.
Every person has only a 24-hour day. Also, there are numerous tasks and a long
list of tasks that each person needs to perform on a daily basis. Also, how
much a person may achieve in a day will depend on the individual’s energy,
motivation, use of resources and skills and capabilities. So, to make best use of
all the resources both internal and external that you have at hand, it is crucial
that you should learn to use some strategies for more effective time
management. Thus, Time Management is a means to help you work smarter to
accomplish your work more easily and rapidly.

Need for Time Management
Time management is needed by everyone and is important for various reasons,
such as follows:

Less stress
Improved self-esteem
Good work-life balance
There are several benefits of time management, such as follows:
Increased productivity
Prevention of panic in times of workload
Benefits of Time Management

Achievement of goals quickly and easily
Increased efficiency in fulfilling tasks
Achievement of greater success, dreams and visions
There are several benefits of time management, such as follows:
Increased confidence of fulfilling tasks
Increased energy and competency to achieve success
Benefits of Time Management

Elements of Time Management
There are various elements that have to be considered and managed for effective Time
Management. It is important that for you to manage your time well, you should learn be
aware of and use the elements of Time Management diligently. The following are the
various elements of Time Management:
Being aware of your Time
Being aware of your Time Wasters
Priorities
Self-management
Management of your Personal Resources
Goal Setting
Measures of your Achievement
Planning

Principles of Time Management
Always have a great
clarity of objectives
Always work with a focus
centered on achieving
the set objectives
Before beginning your work
for the day, make a list of all
your activities
Set priorities to achieve
more in the same day
Reserve large blocks of
time for important
activities
Develop a habit of
eliminating at least one
time waster from your life
each week
The following are some of the core principles that you should
follow for successful time management. Roll your mouse
over the icon,
to learn more.

Did You Know?
No matter what type of work you do, your work will be composed of
only three items. So, the only thing that you need to do to manage your
time well is to decide the proportion of the distribution of these three
items in your work. People can spend their time in only the following
three ways:
• Thoughts
• Conversations
• Actions

Time Management Styles
Different time management styles are used by different people because
every individual is different. There are a few tools and techniques that prove
to be more effective for one time management style than for the other
styles. There are five time management styles that are identified, which are:
Let us look at each in detail.

Achievement Management
About
Achievement Management style includes
and describes people who measure their
success by how much they take on. Such
people cannot say “no” to accept more
projects and can get overwhelmed. Such
people find it difficult to do everything to
the best of their ability and may tend to
forget a task.
Pros & Cons Best Tools

• Pros:
o Others see such people as
dependable and helpful.
• Con:
o The lack of completion of projects.
About Pros & Cons Best Tools

Tools that help keep track of the
over-committed schedule such as:
• To-do Lists
• Supply Lists
• Committee Lists
• Event Lists

Casual Management
About
Casual Management style includes
and describes people who are the
procrastinators of the world. Such
people believe that they will get the
work done when they have time and
as a result easily lose track of time.

• Pros:
o Casual managers think with their
“right brain” and hence tend to be
more creative.
• Con:
o A tendency to miss deadlines or to
leave things unfinished.
Casual Management

• Timelines help to remind such people
how much time they really have.
• Timelines also help them to focus on
deadlines.
• Alert systems like alarms or electronic
reminders should be used to provide a
reminder of the tasks that are put aside.
Casual Management

Crisis Management
About
Crisis Management style includes and
describes people who consider each event
of their life as if it is the top priority. Such
people tend to take on several projects all
at once. They have trouble deciding
between which one is a priority and which
is not. Hence, many projects may get
started but don’t get finished.

• Pros:
o Tendency to work well under pressure.
o Tasks get finished as the deadlines help
to drive such people.
• Con:
o Getting easily stressed and distracted.
Crisis Management

• Different types of visual reminders can be
used to remind what is coming down the
pipeline and to help them be focused.
• Visual reminders that can be used are:
o Desktop calendar
o Alert
o PDA.
• Block-scheduling can be used to set aside
the time that is needed for each task.
Crisis Management

Precision Management
About
Precision Management style includes and
describes people who are the
perfectionists of the world. Such people
tend to work to deliver work that is
consistently of high quality. However, the
high quality is delivered at the expense of
a lot of time.

• Pros:
o People are considered detail
oriented and highly capable.
• Con:
o A waste of time and energy due to
spending of an outrageous amount
of time and resources on a project.

• Day planners help such people to keep
on track by staying focused on the big
picture as it helps to block out time
allotments.

Social Management
About
Social Management style includes
and describes people who are the
social butterflies of the world. Such
people would rather “talk” than “do.”
Social managers often lose track of
time as they busy themselves chit-
chatting the hours away.

• Pros:
o Such people tend to have excellent
communication skills.
o Such people are great contributors in
brainstorming sessions and can effectively
get ideas across to others.
• Con:
o Wasting of valuable time in meaningless
conversations.
Social Management

Social Management
• Alert systems such as a wristwatch,
with an alarm, that provides a
reminder of time. This will help to
keep conversations short and to finish
projects in a timely manner.

MCQ
Q. Which of the following styles
include people who work well
under pressure?
Click on the
radio button
to select the
correct
answer!

MCQ
Q. Which of the following styles
include people who work well
under pressure?

Uses of Time Management for Individual
Help overcome Stress & Procrastination
Help being Better Organized
Help in being total control of the situation
Help balance work & personal priorities

Helps prioritize effectively
Helps meet deadlines / targets / goals
Clutter free workspace
Creates happy work environment
Uses of Time Management at Workplace

Uses of Time Management for Organization
Improved productivity - improved use of time by the personnel
Reduction of stress - crisis management by reducing the incidence of
crises through better planning
Better performance - on time delivery to customers
Increased profitability - better use of resources
Improved planning and control

Steps for Managing Your Time
Step 3: Revisit and Revise Your Plan
Step 2: Develop a Schedule
Step 1: Set Goals
The following are the key steps that you need to follow for effective time
management:

Step 1: Set Goals
Step 1: Set Goals
The first step towards managing your time is to ‘Set Goals’. While setting goals,
you should always keep in mind that you should set goals that are specific and
concrete. Never define vague goals. Also, make sure that you determine and
set both long-term goals and short-term ones to support them. Another
important thing while setting goals is to also set a deadline for your goals.

The next step after you have set goals for yourself is to develop and plan out a schedule.
Initially, planning may seem a hard task, however, with practice it would become the
easier and more natural.
There are a few considerations that you need to keep in mind while developing a
schedule. Hence, while making a schedule, ask yourself these questions:
• What goals do I expect to accomplish?
• What approach do I need to adopt to reach these goals?
• What tasks are more important than others?
• How much time will each task require?
• What time of the day is best fitted to do each activity?
• What provisions do I need to keep my schedule flexible to allow for unexpected
things?

Now, you know the goals that you want to reach and you have developed a
planned schedule to reach those goals. The next crucial step in time
management is to check whether the plan is working and check how you are
actually using your time. This step will help you identify the deviance between
your planned schedule and your actual followed schedule. You need to then
alter your schedule or your actions and revise your plan for better time
management.

Components of Time Management
The following are crucial Components of Time Management:
Planning
Organizing
Delegating
Managing Interruptions
Scheduling
Prioritizing

Planning
For effective planning it is important that you know the difference between
‘Urgent’ and ‘Important’.
Urgent tasks assume importance as they demand immediate attention.
However, you should also bear in mind that important tasks may become
urgent if left undone. Such important tasks when are left undone may usually
have a long term effect.

Planning
So, how can you judge or gauge the balance between important versus urgent
tasks?
You should always decide to do the tasks based on the following two
considerations:
• Impact of doing a task
• Effect of not doing a task
One of the best ways to decide between ‘Urgent’ versus ‘Important’ tasks and
to balance between them is to use the ‘Stephen Covey’s Urgent Vs Important
Matrix’.

Organizing
Organizing is an important component of time management. When you are
better organized, you are better prepared to do your tasks more quickly and
diligently. You do not waste time in searching for and locating misplaced things
or gathering resources at the last minute to do a task.

Steps of Organizing
The following are the three principles or steps of
organizing:
Prioritize
Set Goals
Form Good Habits

Steps of Organizing
organizing:
Prioritize
Set Goals
Form Good Habits
Set Goals
Set Goals:
• Organizing begins with setting goals
both short-term and long-term goals.
• Goals should be ‘SMART’
• Always remember that all Goals have a
beginning and an end and to identify
these beginnings and endings is
important.

Steps of Organizing
organizing:
Prioritize
Set Goals
Form Good Habits
Prioritize
Prioritize:
• Put first things first.
• Priority is a ‘must’ to do rather than a
‘want’ to do.
• Scheduling is an important part of
Prioritizing.

Steps of Organizing
organizing:
Prioritize
Set Goals
Form Good HabitsForm Good Habits
Form Good Habits:
• Never Procrastinate.
• Good habits require self-discipline.
• Keep focus with a journal/day planner.

Delegating
Delegation is an important concept when you learn about time management.
Delegating is:
‘The act of delegating, or investing with authority to act for another’ or ‘the
distribution of responsibility and authority to others while holding them
accountable for their performance.’
Hence, delegating means asking someone else to perform a task that is one of
your responsibilities or work that you are being paid to do.
It is entrusting responsibility and authority to others who then become
responsible to us for their results but we remain accountable to our boss for
what our subordinates do.

Elements of Delegation
The following are the three elements of
delegation:
Responsibility
Authority
Accountability

delegation:
Responsibility
Authority
Accountability
Authority
Authority:
Authority can be defined as the power and
right of a person to use and allocate the
resources efficiently, to take decisions and to
give orders so as to achieve the
organizational objectives.
Authority must be well- defined.
People with authority should know the
scope of their authority.
Authority always flows from top to bottom.

delegation:
Responsibility
Authority
Accountability
Responsibility
Responsibility:
• Responsibility is the duty of the person
to complete the task assigned to him.
• A person who is given the responsibility
should ensure that he accomplishes the
tasks assigned to him.
• Responsibility without adequate
authority leads to discontent and
dissatisfaction among the person.
• Responsibility flows from bottom to top.
• The person held responsible for a job is
answerable for it.

delegation:
Responsibility
Authority
AccountabilityAccountability
Accountability:
• Accountability means giving
explanations for any variance in the
actual performance from the
expectations set.
• Accountability cannot be delegated.

Importance of Delegation in Time Management

Flowchart for Delegation Decision
You can use the following flowchart to come to a decision whether the task
can be delegated.
Does this NEED to be done?
Does it need to be done by
ME?
Does it need to be done
NOW?
Resist & Stop
(Dump)
YES
YES
YES
DO IT!
Consider
Delegating
Plan and ...
NO
NO
NO

Steps of Effective Delegation
Step 1:
Clarify your
goals &
opportunities
Step 2:
Decide
what goals
and
projects can
be done by
others
Step 3:
Select the
right
person
Step 4:
Organize
the tasks
being
delegated
Step 5:
Give clear
instructions
& request
feedback
Step 6:
Set
deadlines &
ask for
reports
Step 7:
Support
and
monitor
Step 8:
Provide
Recognition

The following are some of the methods to
manage various kinds of interruptions:
Managing Documents
Managing Workspace
Managing Drop-in visitors
Managing Phone

Managing Documents
Managing Workspace
Managing Phone
Managing Workspace
Managing Workspace:
• De-clutter your desk by clearing it at the
end of each working day
• File documents once they have been
used
• Organize a work flow system in your
space

Managing Documents
Managing Workspace
Managing Phone
Managing Documents
Managing Documents:
• Define what you need to keep and for
how long
• Arrange file materials logically
• Facilitate easy access to materials
• Purge the files on a regular basis

Managing Documents
Managing Workspace
Managing Phone
Managing Drop-in visitors:
• Create a visual barrier at your
workspace to reduce the ‘drop-in’ visits
• Don’t have extra chairs in your
workspace as people would not hang
around long if they have to stand
• For important work , move to another
space
• Learn to say ‘NO ‘in a polite way

Managing Documents
Managing Workspace
Managing PhoneManaging Phone
Managing Phone:
• Batch your outward calls
• Delegate calls that you don’t have to
make personally to one of your team
members
• Terminate calls once the business has
been done
• Set up a rotation of team members of
your team for handling incoming calls

Types of Interruptions
The following are some of the culprits that could act as an interruption:
• Over socializing on Job
o Unnecessary Meetings
o Setting Unattainable Goals
• Telephone Interruptions
o Ineffective Prioritization
o Junk Mails
• Poorly Run Meetings
o Poor Planning
o Misfiled Information
• Drop-in visitors
o Cluttered Workspace
o Extended Lunch Breaks
• Procrastination
o Waiting/Delays
o Ineffective Delegation

Scheduling
Scheduling is the process by which you look at the time available to you and
plan how you will use it to achieve the goals you have identified.
By using a schedule properly, you can:
• Understand what you can realistically achieve with your time.
• Plan to make the best use of the time available.
• Leave enough time for things you must absolutely do.
• Preserve contingency time to handle 'the unexpected'.
• Minimize stress by avoiding over-commitment to yourself and others.

Prioritizing
The process of deciding which of several options or tasks is most important is
known as ‘Prioritizing’. Hence, determining your priorities or prioritizing
involves deciding that Activity ‘A’ is more important than Activity ‘B’.
You should keep in mind that your priorities may change over time and in
relation to various situations. The essence of Time management lies in
managing ourselves in relation to time. So, the crux of time management lies in
setting priorities and taking charge. You should keep in mind that your
priorities are influenced by your values and your goals.

How to Prioritize Your Tasks?
The following questions need to be considered to determine the
priority of any activity:
What am I doing that doesn’t really need to be done?
What am I doing that could be done by someone else?
What am I doing that could be done more
efficiently?
What are the costs versus the benefits of doing this
activity?
How well does this activity fit into my goals?

How to Prioritize Your Tasks?
The following questions need to be considered to determine the
priority of any activity:
Does this activity have a deadline for completion?
How much do I enjoy doing this activity?
Have I promised or agreed to do this activity?
Which of my needs will be satisfied by doing this
activity?
How much time does this activity require for completion?
Roll your
mouse over the
icon, to learn
more.

MCQ
Q. Which of the following is NOT a
component of time management?
Click on the
radio button
to select the
correct
answer!

MCQ
Q. Which of the following is NOT a
component of time management?

Let us now look at a
real life example to
understand the role
of prioritizing in
time management.
Real Life Example

Dave Hudson is a Project
Manager at Helios Inc. Dave is
always very busy with a list of
numerous tasks to complete in
a single day. Dave suffered
from poor time management
and hence ended up postponing
most of his tasks and leaving
many of the tasks incomplete.
Real Life Example

Dave’s boss Kevin advised Dave
to attend a workshop on time
management to help him learn
about managing his time well
and performing his work better.
Dave attended the workshop on
time management and learned
about the importance of
‘prioritizing’ in time
management.
Real Life Example

So, Dave decided to plan his
day in advance for managing
his time well. Dave now knows
that he needs to prioritize his
tasks in order of their
importance. He has made a list
of the tasks that he needs to
complete in a particular day.
Real Life Example

The following is a list of the tasks that Dave has to complete on
the particular day:
• Check and identify mails to be sent today.
• Conduct the morning team meeting.
• Discuss with a colleague about last night’s cricket match.
• Complete fortnightly status report to submit to boss.
• Schedule a meeting with boss about my career progression.
Real Life Example
• Make a phone call to a friend enquiring about his health.
• Buy a gift for friend’s birthday party in the evening.
• Conduct a quality review meeting with each team member.

Can you help prioritize Dave’s
tasks for him in the order of
their importance?
Real Life Example

Given below is the list of Dave’s
tasks that have been prioritized
as per their importance. Please
keep in mind that the following
list is just an indicative answer
and there may be a few
variations in the list depending
upon your sense of priority and
the way you tend to manage
your tasks.
Real Life Example

1. Conduct the morning team meeting.
2. Check and identify mails to be sent today.
3. Complete fortnightly status report to submit to boss.
4. Conduct a quality review meeting with each team member.
5. Make a phone call to a friend enquiring about his health.
Real Life Example
6. Buy a gift for friend’s birthday party in the evening.
7. Schedule a meeting with boss about my career progression.
8. Discuss with a colleague about last night’s cricket match.

Hence, you can see that by
prioritizing the tasks, Dave
now knows which of the tasks
are urgent and important. As
Dave has a list of prioritized
tasks, he now knows which of
the tasks he can postpone for
completion at a later date; if he
is pressed for time on the
particular day.
Real Life Example

Scope of Time Management
• There are various skills, tools,
and techniques that can be
practiced for effective time
management which helps an
individual to manage time to
accomplish specific tasks,
projects and goals complying
with a due date.
• The various tasks that are
included in the scope of time
management include: planning,
setting goals, delegation,
allocating, analysis of time spent,
organizing, monitoring,
scheduling, and prioritizing.

Tools for Time Management
There are various tools that you
can use for Time Management,
such as:
Planners 1
2
3
4
5
To-do
Lists
Diary
Calendar
Activity
Logs

Planners
2
3
4
5
Planners1
• A very useful tool for time management is a 'Planner'.
• You can use 'Planners' to effectively plan a day, a week as well
as a month in advance.
• Always keep in mind that you make sure to note down
important meetings, deadlines, project milestones etc. in the
planner.
• Whenever you commit any due dates or social events, always
enter the same into the planner at once.

Calendar
• Another useful time management tool is a paper or an
electronic calendar. You can use a calendar to record meetings,
appointments and due dates for a monthly view as well as an
yearly view.
• For a person who handles multiple responsibilities and loads
of tasks at the same time, an annual calendar should be used.
• You can organize the annual calendar by areas of
responsibility and then jotting down the tasks and events on
such an annual calendar.
Calendar
2
3
4
5
1

To-do
Lists
You can use a to-do list to list down all the tasks that you need to
complete and in the order of priority in which they have to be
completed. So, a to-do list has the most important tasks listed at the
top of the list, and the least important tasks at the bottom. Also,
such a list helps you to work as per the set priorities as you have
listed the important tasks on top.
To-do Lists
2
3
4
5
1
To-do lists prove to be greatly useful for someone who has a list of
multiple tasks that need to be completed. To-do lists help to keep
track of the tasks that need to be completed and help in avoiding
forgetting to do a few of them when caught in the midst of all the
activity. A to-do list proves to be greatly useful as it helps to avoid
forgetting tasks as you have all the tasks listed in one place.

Activity Logs
2
3
4
5
1
Activity
Logs
Most people are not aware about how they spend their day and time.
Generally, people do not have the habit of keeping track of and are
unaware of the amount of time that they wasted in breaks, idle chit-
chat, checking emails, browsing through useless sites etc.
An ‘Activity Log’ is a vital tool that helps you to keep a track of your
time. You can use an activity log to keep track and later analyze how
you actually spend your time. You can use it to see at a glance, the
amount of time you wasted and the activities that you waste your time
on. Always make a habit of keeping an Activity Log for several days.
Then, you should analyze your daily activity log
after you have logged your time for a few days.
Keep a track of the areas on which you have
wasted time and also track the low value jobs.

Diary
• One of the most common and effective tools of time
management is a ‘diary’.
• You can use a diary as a journal to list down your daily
experiences, action plans, your techniques to save time,
resources etc.
• Hence, you can use a diary to reflect back on your day and help
you to save time and plan for the future.
Diary
2
3
4
5
1

MCQ
Q. Which of the following is an
appropriate tool for Achievement
Management Style?
Click on the
radio button
to select the
correct
answer!

MCQ
Q. Which of the following is an
appropriate tool for Achievement
Management Style?

Technology and Time Management
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
In the modern technological world, there are many modern-day tools that are
offered by technology which can be used for time management and save time
efficiently . Some such tools offered by modern-day technology are:

Telephone
1
• Telephone is a great time-saving tool when
used correctly.
• Telephones help you to communicate with the
other person without having to waste the time
of meeting a person face-to-face.
• It also helps to save money and time as
communication can be carried out without the
need to travel.
• For efficient time management, it is important
that you plan your calls in advance before
making them.
• If possible, set aside a block of time for making
and receiving calls.
• While on a call, make sure you keep track of
the time and do not waste time on idle chit-
chat.

Email
• Email or electronic mail is a form of electronic
communication. For efficient time
management, the best way to handle emails is
in batches at regularly scheduled times of the
day, just like other routine tasks.
• Inform and ask your contacts to use specific and
meaningful subject lines to help you identify
the purpose of the email at a glance.
• Use specific and meaningful subject lines in
your emails.
• Classify the emails as you view the subject lines
as business or personal, urgent or trivial.
• First of all, make a habit of reading the urgent
emails and responding to them as and when
you view them
2

Teleconferencing
• An important tool that you can use for
more personal contact than emails is
‘Teleconferencing’. Teleconferencing
proves to be greatly useful when real-
time sharing is needed. There are various
teleconferencing systems available today
that you can use as per your needs such
as: Adobe’s Acrobat.com, Microsoft Live
Meeting, or Citrix’s GoToMeeting.
3

Chat
• Chat is another modern-day
technology tool that proves to be
useful for saving time. Usually,
while writing through emails, a lot
of time may get wasted in to and
fro emails. On the other hand, the
option of using chat saves a lot of
such to and fro time that may get
wasted in sending emails. In
situations where the participants
of a meeting are located in
different locations, you can use
instant messaging applications and
chat rooms as a great alternative
to meetings.
4

Web Meeting
• Web meeting is a modern-technology tool
that proves to be greatly useful in saving
valuable time and at the same time having
the same advantages as that of a face-to-
face meeting.
• Web meeting or web conferencing is also
known as webinars.
• Web meeting is usually used for interactive
conferences as well as online workshops.
• Web meeting is a service that is basically an
online conference.
• It allows the conferencing events to be
shared with remote locations.
• Such webinars allow real-time point-to-point
communications.
5

Email Lists and Online Groups
• Emails are used by many
people for both personal as
well as professional purposes.
• However, another useful
technology tool that uses a
variation of emails is the email
lists and online groups.
• Email Lists, Forum and Online
Groups prove to be greatly
useful to share communication
with a meeting group that
requires ongoing and
interactive communication on
a regular basis.
6

Email Lists and Online Groups
6

Collaboration Applications
• Collaboration Applications are another
modern-day technology tool that help in
time management.
• Such various kinds of collaboration tools
can be used to save a lot of time that gets
wasted in meetings or phone calls.
• Users can use various systems like
Microsoft SharePoint, Wrike, Pelotonics,
Google Docs, and Basecamp for interaction
and collaboration with each other from any
location.
• Such collaboration tools prove to be most
useful for project meetings, or situations
where users need to peer review each
other’s work.
7

understand the
methods of time
management.
Real Life Example

Real Life Example
You had seen in the
introduction scenario that
Dave is surrounded by
various kinds of problems
due to lack of proper time
management.

Real Life Example
You had seen that Dave did not
manage his time well and hence
he is not able to complete his
daily chores and also suffers on
the professional as well as
personal front due to poor time
management.
Let us now see how Dave could
manage his time well and pack
in more in the same 24 hours of
time that everyone has in a day.

Real Life Example
In order to manage time well,
Dave should pre-plan each of his
days on the previous day. By
planning each of his days in
advance, Dave would know the
tasks that have to be completed
on the same day, the meetings
that have been scheduled for
that day, the tasks that he can
delegate for completion at a
later date and any odd tasks of
the day such as Parent-Teacher
Meeting, Anniversary Party etc.

Real Life Example
Also, to begin with, in
order to avoid getting
late to the office, Dave
should get up early by
means of using devices
such as alarms and start
early from home to
reach the office early. If
Dave reaches his office
early, he would have
more time to complete
his tasks of the day.

Real Life Example
A good way that Dave can manage his
emails and avoid wasting time is by
checking the important and urgent emails
first. He can identify important emails by
seeing the sender’s name, subject line,
attachments etc. Also, Dave can set
filters, sorting and tags to his emails so
that he can view the latest and important
emails first. Dave should also make a
habit of replying to each important email
as and when he views them to avoid
putting off and forgetting to reply to
them later.

Real Life Example
One of the best ways that Dave as
well as everyone can manage time
well is by avoiding wasting time on
unnecessary activities. One of the
best methods to avoid wasting time
is by keeping your workplace
organized. When Dave keeps his
desk tidy, organized and uncluttered
then he knows where each of his
files and important things are lying.
Also, he would not have to waste his
time in searching for files and things.
He can use this saved time to do
some productive and useful work.

Real Life Example
Dave could be ready with the
presentation for the client meeting
rather than panicking on the last day
by using tools such as planners, diary
etc. to remind him of his future
scheduled meetings and tasks to be
completed. This way he could have
set a reminder for himself that the
client meeting is due on a particular
day and could have completed the
presentation at a leisurely pace
rather than working on it under
stress and pressure on the day of the
client meeting itself.

Real Life Example
Dave could avoid skipping his lunch to
complete the status report which he
needs to submit to his boss by keeping
the status report ready one day in
advance. He could fix a slot of a few
hours in each day which he could
dedicate solely to working on the status
report only. This way he could complete
the status report each day and also not
have to skip his lunch to complete it.

Real Life Example
It was natural for Dave to forget about
his kid’s Parent-Teacher meeting, which
is not a routine activity that he
performs on a daily basis. To keep tab
of such odd activities and tasks, Dave
should keep a diary and reminder to
keep him abreast of the activities or
tasks that are not a part of his daily
work routine but will have to be
completed on a particular day.

Real Life Example
Dave knew very well about his
anniversary party well in advance. The
only thing he needed to do to reach his
anniversary party on time is to plan his
day well and keep a reminder that
would let him know when the party is
just in case he tends to forget the date
when it arrives. If Dave had planned his
workday well, he could have got off
work and could have left the office on
time or even early. This way he could
have reached his anniversary party on
time and also delighted his spouse by
reaching the party early.

Real Life Example
Thus, you can see that there are
several methods that Dave could
use to manage his time well. By
proper time management, Dave
would have been able to pack in
a lot of chores into a single day
and yet complete each and every
one of them successfully.

Urgent/Important Matrix
The Urgent/Important Matrix is an important concept for time management.

Steps to Use the Urgent/Important Matrix
The following are the steps to use the Urgent/Important Matrix to prioritize
your activities:
List down all the activities and projects you feel you have to do
Make sure that you include all tasks that take up your time
at work, even if you feel the task is unimportant.
Now, use a scale of 1 to 5 to assign importance to each activity
To decide if a task is important or not is by looking at it and
identifying whether the task helps you meet your goals
Next, determine the urgency of each activity, after you
have assigned importance to each activity.
Next, as per the assigned importance and urgency, you
should plot the listed items on the Urgent/Important
Matrix.Schedule your priorities by analyzing the matrix by using
the strategies described for each quadrant.

Strategies to Evaluate Urgent/Important MatrixImportant
Not Urgent
NotImportant
Urgent
1.
Quadrant of Manage
2.
Quadrant of
Leadership & Quality
3.
Quadrant of
Deception
4.
Quadrant of Waste

Quadrant I of Urgent/Important MatrixImportant
Not Urgent
NotImportant
Urgent
1. Quadrant of Manage
ACTIVITIES
• Crisis
• Pressing Problems
• Deadline-driven Projects
2.
Quadrant of
3.
Quadrant of
Deception
4.
Quadrant of Waste
• Quadrant I represent things that are both “urgent” and “important”. Hence,
you should make sure you spend your time on the activities listed in this
quadrant. This is the Quadrant of Manage.
• This is where you manage; you produce, where you bring your experience
and judgment to bear in responding to many needs and challenges.
• Many important activities become urgent through procrastination, or
because you don’t do enough prevention and planning.

Quadrant II of Urgent/Important MatrixImportant
Not Urgent
NotImportant
Urgent
1.
Quadrant of Manage
2. Quadrant of Leadership &
Quality
ACTIVITIES
• Prevention &
• Relationship Building
• Recognize New Opportunities
• Planning & Recreation
3.
Quadrant of
Deception
4.
Quadrant of Waste
• Quadrant II includes activities that are “important, but not urgent”. This
is the Quadrant of Quality.
• Here’s where you do your long-range planning, anticipate and prevent
problems, empower others, broaden your mind and increase your skills.
• Ignoring this Quadrant feeds and enlarges Quadrant I, creating stress,
burnout, and deeper crises for the person consumed by it.
• Investing in this Quadrant shrinks Quadrant I.

Quadrant III of Urgent/Important MatrixImportant
Not Urgent
NotImportant
Urgent
1.
Quadrant of Manage
2.
Quadrant of
3. Quadrant of Deception
ACTIVITIES
• Interruption
• Some Calls, Mails, Reports &
Meetings
• Proximate
• Pressing Matters
4.
Quadrant of Waste
• Quadrant III includes things that are “urgent, but not important”. This is
the Quadrant of Deception.
• The feeling that a task is urgent creates the illusion of importance. The
actual activities, if they’re important at all, are important to someone
else.
• Many phone calls, meetings and drop-in visitors fall into this category.

Quadrant IV of Urgent/Important MatrixImportant
Not Urgent
NotImportant
Urgent
1.
Quadrant of Manage
2.
Quadrant of
3.
Quadrant of
Deception
4. Quadrant of Waste
ACTIVITIES
• Trivia
• Busy Work
• Some Mails & Calls
• Time Wasters
• Pleasant Activities
• Quadrant IV is reserved for activities that are “not urgent, not
important”. This is the Quadrant of Waste.
• You often “escape” to Quadrant IV for survival.
• Reading addictive novels, watching mindless television shows, or
gossiping at office would qualify as Quadrant IV time-wasters.

For efficient time management, increase your Q-2 and ensure your tasks are
important but not urgent.
Urgent Non-Urgent
Important Q-1
Quadrant of Necessity
Examples: Deadline-driven
project, crisis, resolving
immediate problems
Q-2
Quadrant of Quality and Personal
Leadership
Examples: Problem prevention,
relationship building, finding your
life partner, building your dream
career, personal development,
improving your health.
Not
Important
Q-3
Quadrant of Deception
Examples: Interruptions, certain
phone calls / emails / meetings /
reports, certain pressing
matters.
Q-4
Quadrant of Waste
Examples: Time wasters, surfing
TV channels, mindless web
surfing/chatting, etc.

MCQ
Q. Which of the following Quadrants
when ignored cause stress,
burnout, and deeper crises for the
person consumed by it?
Click on the
radio button
to select the
correct
answer!

MCQ
Q. Which of the following Quadrants
when ignored cause stress,
burnout, and deeper crises for the
person consumed by it?

Action-Priority Matrix
Quick Wins Major Projects
Fill Ins Thankless Tasks
High
High
LowImpact
Low Effort
• A simple technique to help you decide and choose which activities/tasks to prioritize, and
which ones you should drop is the ‘Action-Priority Matrix’.
• The Action-Priority Matrix helps you in prioritizing the tasks and hence helps you make
the most of your time and opportunities.
• A variant of this tool is the ‘Impact-Feasibility Matrix’, which substitutes ‘Feasibility’ for
‘Effort’ on the horizontal axis.
• The ‘Impact-Feasibility Matrix’ gives a different perspective by looking at the
organization’s ability to deliver important changes.

Quick Wins Major Projects
Fill Ins Thankless Tasks
High
High
LowImpact
Low Effort
• The figure given above shows the ‘Action-Priority Matrix’.
• To use the Action-Priority Matrix, you should look at each activity from two viewpoints -
firstly on the impact the activity will have and secondly on the effort involved in
completing the task.
• Now, after you have looked at each activity from these two viewpoints and scored it, plot
each activity on the Action Priority Matrix using these scores.
• Now, you can see at a glance, the tasks that give you the greatest returns on your efforts.

Steps to Use the Action Priority Matrix
The following are the steps to use the Action Priority Matrix:
Make a list of
all the
activities that
you would like
to complete. Score all the
activities based on
their impact such
as: 0 for no impact
to 10 for maximum
impact.
Score all the activities
based on their required
effort such as: 0 for no real
effort to 10 for a very
major effort.
Now, plot all of
the activities on
the Action-
Priority Matrix.
Next, you can
decide to
either
complete or
drop the
activities
appropriately
based on the
matrix.

Strategies to Evaluate Action-Priority Matrix
The following are the various strategies to evaluate Action-Priority Matrix:

Quick Wins
Quick Wins (High Impact, Low
Effort):
This is the quadrant that includes
activities that are high in impact
and low in effort. Hence, these
are the activities that are the
‘quick wins’. These are the most
attractive projects, giving you a
good return for relatively little
effort. You should focus on such
activities as much as you can.

Major Projects
Major Projects (High Impact, High
Effort):
activities that are high in impact
and also high in effort. Hence,
these are the activities that are
the ‘major projects’. These
activities give good returns but
also take a long time to complete.
You should always bear in mind
that one such ‘Major Project’ can
withhold the completion of many
‘Quick Wins’.

Fill Ins
Fill Ins (Low Impact, Low Effort):
activities that are low in impact
and also low in effort. Hence,
these are the activities that are
the ‘Fill-ins’. You should never
worry about such activities too
much. So, you should complete
such activities, only if you have
got spare time. If you do not have
the spare time, you should drop
such activities for completing a
better task.

Thankless Tasks
Thankless Tasks (Low Impact. High
Effort):
activities that are low in impact and
also high in effort. Hence, these
activities are the ‘Thankless Tasks’. It
is vital for efficient time management
that you should avoid these tasks. So,
make sure that you do not waste your
time on such activities as such tasks
are low in returns. Also, as they are
high in effort, they would consume
more time which would be better
used elsewhere.

• Although it may not be
apparent to most people at
first, however, there is an
important relationship
between stress and time
management.
• Almost everyone has at
some time or the other in
their life felt frustrated,
pressurized and
overwhelmed by large
number of tasks and
commitments that they need
to fulfil.
Relationship between Stress and Time Management

• Thus, it is obvious that
such pressures and
overloads on an
individual causes stress.
• Such an overload of tasks
can lead to stress.
• So, you can understand
now that stress and time
management are related
to each other.
• Therefore, the best way
to avoid stress is through
effective time
management.

• When you practice
effective time
management, you learn
to use methods and
techniques of time
management that will
help you identify and
fulfil those activities that
are most productive and
will yield maximum
returns for you.
• Thus, in this manner
when you practice time
management methods
and techniques, you will
learn to save time.

• You will also learn to work
smart and not work hard.
• When you save time, you
are not overloaded with
the burden of completing
many tasks in a short
period of time.
• So, you can carry out your
tasks at a leisurely pace
and in a relaxed manner.
• Thus, through time
management you will beat
work overload which is a
key source of stress.

Use Your Energy Efficiently
For effective time management, it
is crucial that you should take into
consideration the energy levels of
the person. Energy levels of a
person are important because a
person can work efficiently and
quickly only when he has enough
energy to concentrate on the task.
Also, the right amount of energy
would help a person work
efficiently and quickly with
optimum mental and physical
energy. levels through the day, you
should ask yourself the following
question: At what time of the day
do you feel most energetic?

To find out the fluctuations in your energy
Evaluate your energy level at different times of
the day to answer this question. A ‘morning
person’ would feel most energetic in the early
hours of the day whereas a ‘night person’
would feel most energetic towards the end of
the day.
Now, observe your energy levels carefully for a
few days. Then, use your observations to
schedule the tasks when you have the energy
level to match that particular task. Therefore, if
you are a ‘morning person’, then schedule
study and tasks that require focus in the early
hours of the day. On the other hand, if you are
a ‘night person’, tasks that require focus should
be scheduled later on towards the end of the
day.
Use Your Energy Efficiently

The ‘biological clock’ or your ‘body
clock’ decides how of your body
works and the variance of energy
levels for different types of people at
different times of the day. Biological
clocks are also known as ‘Circadian
Rhythms’ or ‘Body Clocks’. Circadian
rhythms are internal biological clocks
that regulate many functions and
activities, including sleep,
temperature, metabolism, alertness,
blood pressure, heart rate, hormone
levels and immunities.
Understand Your Biological Clocks

The sunlight at each morning resets these
Circadian Rhythms. Your body cycles through
several metabolic and chemical changes in
about every 24 hours. It is these cycles that
determine whether you are a “Morning
Person” or a “Night Owl”. It is a well known
fact that to maximize your efficiency you
should work with your body cycles and not
against them. So, instead of fighting these
natural rhythms, you should learn to work
with these natural rhythms. Hence, you can
make more efficient use of your time by
scheduling certain activities at certain times of
the day.

It is a well known fact that to maximize your efficiency
you should work with your body cycles and not against
them. So, instead of fighting these natural rhythms,
you should learn to work with these natural rhythms.
Hence, you can make more efficient use of your time by
scheduling certain activities at certain times of the day.
There are a few time periods at which certain brain
functions are efficient. These time periods have been
described for a ‘morning person’. Please keep in mind
that if you are a ‘night owl’, then you should shift these
times about 3-4 hours later in the day.

Cognitive Tasks
Cognitive Tasks
8 a.m. - 12 noon
Cognitive Tasks
8 a.m. - 12 noon
Cognitive, or mental, tasks
such as reading, calculating,
and problem solving are
performed most efficiently in
the morning.
Note: If you are a Night Owl,
shift these times about 3-4
hours later in the day.
08 : 0009 : 0010 : 001 1 : 0012 : 00

Short Term Memory
Short term memory
6 a.m. - 10 a.m.
Short term memory
6 a.m. - 10 a.m.
Short term memory tasks such
as last minute reviewing for
tests are best performed early
in the morning.
06 : 0007 : 0008 : 0009 : 0010 : 00

Long Term Memory
Long term memory
1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Long term memory
1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Longer term Memory tasks
such as memorizing speeches
and information for
application are best performed
in the afternoon.
13 : 0014 : 0015 : 0016 : 00

Manual Dexterity
Manual Dexterity
2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Manual Dexterity
2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
You are most efficient at tasks
involving the use of your
hands such as keyboarding
and carpentry in the afternoon
and early evening.
14 : 0015 : 0016 : 0017 : 0018 : 00

understand the role of
biological clocks in
time management.
Real Life Example

Leverage
Leverage is a technique in
which a small effort can be
used to achieve something of
much/larger value.
Leverage gives us
significant power.
Time Leverage should be
used to become successful
in life.
We should leverage other
people's time, to increase
productivity to an
extraordinary extent.
To leverage YOUR OWN time:
• Practice effective time
management
• Learn to prioritize tasks
• Use goal setting techniques
To leverage other people's time:
• Learn to delegate work
• Train and empower others
• Use skill and knowledge of experts
and consultants
• Outsource non-core tasks to people
with the requisite expertise
Roll your mouse
over the icon, to
learn more.

Avoid Multitasking
People generally believe that when you
‘multitask’ and do several tasks at once, you
actually save time and get more done in the
same time.
However, this is just a myth and in reality
when you multitask, you tend to spend your
energy, concentration and focus on several
things all at once.
For example, you may be talking on the
phone with a friend while at the same time
asking a query on a chat window to your
colleague and may also try to read an email
that just came in. Hence, when you try to do
all these things together, you tend to put in
less than your hundred percent in each task
and will produce results of low quality.

Avoid Multitasking
Therefore, it is self-evident that a good time management practice would be to
avoid multitasking. So, develop a habit of finishing one task before moving onto
another. Thus, getting over the habit of multitasking will help your become
more efficient, improve the quality of your work and lower stress levels.

Tips to Avoid Multitasking
The following are a few methods to avoid multitasking and yet manage time
effectively:
Keep your thoughts
together when you feel
they are wandering
from the current task
•
•
Avoid and manage your
interruptions
Improve your concentration
and focus properly on one
task at a time
•
•
Resist the urge to
jump from one task
to another
Check emails at
designated time
intervals only
•
•
Stop immediately as soon
as you start multitasking
Plan your day in
blocks
•

Time Wasters
Some of the most common time wasters are as follows:
Stress & Anxiety
Procrastination
Lack of
Planning
Perfectionism
Interruptions
Depression
Being unorganized
Not saying ‘no’ Attempting too
much

Time Wasters
Meetings without
agenda
Fear of
delegating
No clear deadline
Problems With
Objectives/Priorities
Inadequate
resources
No passion for doing
the work
Fear of failure or success
Shifting Priorities Tired/unable to
concentrate

Challenges of Time Management
The following are the major challenges that have to be overcome for effective
Time Management:
Setting incorrect
Objectives:
• It means setting
objectives that
are unrealistic /
unattainable /
unchallenging.
Paralyzing
Perfectionism:
• It is failure to
recognize the
difference
between
excellence and
perfection.
Procrastination:
• Putting off
doing the
things that you
should be
doing at this
point!

Overcoming Challenges of Time Management
Procrastination
• List all tasks that you are currently putting off. Then, remove two from the
list by doing them now! Plan and set a schedule for dealing with the rest
• Reward when tasks are completed and punish when tasks are not
completed on schedule
Paralyzing Perfectionism
• Differentiate between Excellence and Perfection
• Excellence is Achievable, Healthy, Satisfying, Realistic
• Perfection is Unattainable, Frustrating, and Unrealistic
Setting Incorrect Objectives
• Use SMARTS criteria where the objectives are:
o Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-bound, and
Supported by the organization
• Objectives should be challenging

Common Time Management Pitfalls

Not
Keeping a
To-Do List
Absence
of Goals
Not
Prioritizing
Getting
Distracted
Procrastinating
Let’s look at each in detail.
The following are some of the most common mistakes or pitfalls of time
management:
Overburdening
Yourself
Addiction
to
‘Busyness’
Multitasking
Avoiding
Breaks
Ineffective
Scheduling

Absence
of Goals
Not
Prioritizing
Getting
Distracted
Procrastinating
management:
Overburdening
Yourself
Addiction
to
‘Busyness’
Multitasking
Avoiding
Breaks
Ineffective
Scheduling
Not
Keeping a
To-Do List
Not Keeping a To-Do List:
One of the most common mistakes
that everyone makes while trying to
manage time is not keeping a to-do
list. For effective time management, it
is crucial that you should learn to
maintain and keep a to-do list.
A to-do list will help you to effectively
prioritize the tasks on your list.

Not
Keeping a
To-Do List
Not
Prioritizing
Getting
Distracted
Procrastinating
management:
Overburdening
Yourself
Addiction
to
‘Busyness’
Multitasking
Avoiding
Breaks
Ineffective
SchedulingAbsence
of Goals
Absence of Goals:
You will not be able to manage your
time well if you do not know what
goals you want achieve by making use
of your time. Hence, to manage your
time effectively, it is crucial that you
should know where you are trying to
reach. Therefore, goal setting is a
crucial component of effective time
management. When you set goals, the
goals give you a sense of direction and
you know the destination and vision
to work toward.

Not
Keeping a
To-Do List
Absence
of Goals
Getting
Distracted
Procrastinating
management:
Overburdening
Yourself
Addiction
to
‘Busyness’
Multitasking
Avoiding
Breaks
Ineffective
Scheduling
Not
Prioritizing
Not Prioritizing:
Another common mistake that most
people commit while trying to manage
time is not prioritizing their tasks. It is
crucial that you should prioritize the
tasks that you need to complete because
there is always a long list of tasks that
need to be completed. Hence, it is
important for you to initially decide
which tasks are important, urgent and
crucial and have to be finished first.
Also, prioritizing your tasks will help you
identify tasks that can be deferred for
finishing at a later stage. You can use the
Urgent/Important Matrix to prioritize
tasks.

Not
Keeping a
To-Do List
Absence
of Goals
Not
Prioritizing
Procrastinating
management:
Overburdening
Yourself
Addiction
to
‘Busyness’
Multitasking
Avoiding
Breaks
Ineffective
Scheduling
Getting
Distracted
Getting Distracted :
While trying to manage time and
completing many tasks, one of the
common pitfalls that most people face
is that of getting distracted. So, it is
obvious that when you fail to manage
such distractions they can prove to be
a major pitfall in time management.
So, in order to be in control of your
time and manage it well, it is vital that
you should learn to minimize
distractions and manage interruptions
effectively.

Not
Keeping a
To-Do List
Absence
of Goals
Not
Prioritizing
Getting
Distracted
management:
Overburdening
Yourself
Addiction
to
‘Busyness’
Multitasking
Avoiding
Breaks
Ineffective
Scheduling
Procrastinating
Procrastinating:
One of the most serious pitfalls of
time management is ‘procrastination’
or the habit of ‘procrastinating’. When
a person tends to procrastinate, he
tends to postpone tasks. Postponing
the tasks ultimately leads to the piling
up of several tasks together. This can
lead to stress and a failure to complete
any or all of the tasks.

Not
Keeping a
To-Do List
Absence
of Goals
Not
Prioritizing
Getting
Distracted
Procrastinating
management:
Addiction
to
‘Busyness’
Multitasking
Avoiding
Breaks
Ineffective
Scheduling
Overburdening
Yourself
Overburdening Yourself :
You cannot manage your time well if you
have a tendency of overburdening
yourself with too much at the same
time. So, it is important to understand
your limitations and capacity. You
should learn to say ‘no’ to people and to
accepting more tasks. When you do not
learn to say ‘no’ you would tend to
overburden yourself with too many
tasks. You should always bear in mind
that you are a human and have certain
limitations like any other human. So,
you should learn to take on only the
amount of work that you can complete
yourself efficiently.

Not
Keeping a
To-Do List
Absence
of Goals
Not
Prioritizing
Getting
Distracted
Procrastinating
management:
Overburdening
Yourself
Multitasking
Avoiding
Breaks
Ineffective
Scheduling
Addiction
to
‘Busyness’
Addiction to ‘Busyness’:
You should not make a habit of getting
addicted to a sense of ‘Busyness’. It
has been found that some people tend
to get a kick out of feeling that they
are forever busy. You should bear in
mind that always being busy and an
"addiction to busyness" does not
necessarily improve your efficiency or
effectiveness. Also, it does not show
that you're effective. On the other
hand, such an addiction can lead to
stress and a nervous breakdown.

Not
Keeping a
To-Do List
Absence
of Goals
Not
Prioritizing
Getting
Distracted
Procrastinating
management:
Overburdening
Yourself
Addiction
to
‘Busyness’
Avoiding
Breaks
Ineffective
Scheduling
Multitasking
Multitasking:
Most people believe that the best way
for effective time management is
‘multitasking’. However, it has been
found that you would take 20-40
percent more time to finish a list of
jobs when you multitask, instead of
when you complete the same list of
tasks sequentially one after the other.

Not
Keeping a
To-Do List
Absence
of Goals
Not
Prioritizing
Getting
Distracted
Procrastinating
management:
Overburdening
Yourself
Addiction
to
‘Busyness’
Multitasking
Ineffective
Scheduling
Avoiding
Breaks
Avoiding Breaks:
Many people believe that if they skip
their breaks and avoid taking breaks,
they would be able to complete all
their tasks and pack in more into a
day. However, avoiding breaks is a big
mistake when trying to manage your
time well. This is because you should
keep in mind that ‘breaks’ is not a
waste of time. Instead, taking a break
can act as a crucial breather in a hectic
schedule and help your brain to relax.
A relaxed brain will work more
efficiently and faster than a brain
which is overworked and stressed.

Not
Keeping a
To-Do List
Absence
of Goals
Not
Prioritizing
Getting
Distracted
Procrastinating
management:
Overburdening
Yourself
Addiction
to
‘Busyness’
Multitasking
Avoiding
Breaks
Ineffective
Scheduling
Ineffective Scheduling:
A common mistake of time
management is ineffective scheduling.
Scheduling tasks effectively is very
important. Also, you should keep in
mind that you should schedule tasks
as per your biological clock and energy
levels. Therefore, a morning person
should schedule tasks that require
focus in the mornings rather than at
later in the day and vice versa.

Tips for Effective Time Management
The following are a few tips for effective time management:
Keep a To-do
List
Plan and
Organize
Prioritize and
put first things
first
Estimate time
for tasks

Tips for Effective Time Management
The following are a few tips for effective time management:
Set clear
objectives and
deadlines
Get clear
instructions
and be focused
Avoid
interruptions
and idle-chit
chat
Always keep
additional time

Video
Look at the video given below to understand a simple rule for increased
productivity.
Click on the
video link to
play it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-Q0eP42uv0

Practice
Let us now practice
all that you have
learned about Time
Management.

Practice
Maintain a daily log of the activities that
you perform in a day and the time that
you spent on each activity. Maintain this
log for two weeks. Now, analyze the daily
log and make the following observations:
• What is the one major important
activity that you need to perform
daily?
• What are your biggest and most
frequent time wasters?
• Which time management tool is
most useful to you in managing
time?
• How can you improve your time
management skills?

Case Study
Ronald Smith is a Project
Manager in Helion Inc. He is
a very busy person and is
always loaded with
numerous tasks in a day.
1. How can Ronald use
delegation for better
time management?
2. What steps should
Ronald follow for
effective delegation?

Summary
Time Management
Tools for Time
Management
Strategies to Evaluate
Steps for Managing Your
Time
Common Time
Management Pitfalls

Summary
Steps for Managing Your
Time
Time Management
Step 1: Set Goals
Step 2: Develop a
Schedule
Step 3: Revisit and
Revise Your Plan

Summary
Time Management
Tools for Time
Management
Planners
Calendar
To-do Lists
Diary
Activity Logs

Summary
Time Management
Quadrant of
Manage
Quadrant of Leadership
& Quality
Quadrant of
Deception
Quadrant of Waste

Summary
Major Projects
(High Impact, High
Effort)
Quick Wins (High
Impact, Low Effort)
Time Management
Fill Ins (Low Impact,
Low Effort)
Thankless Tasks (Low
Impact. High Effort)

Summary
Common Time
Management Pitfalls
Time Management
Not Keeping a To-Do
List
Not Prioritizing
Getting Distracted
Procrastinating
Addiction to
‘Busyness’
Multitasking
Avoiding Breaks
Ineffective
Scheduling
Absence of Goals
Overburdening Yourself

Glossary
B
G
M
P
S
Click each alphabet to learn more.

B
G
M
P
S
Glossary
• Busy – Busy means when
someone is actively or fully
engaged or occupied
• Biological Clock - Biological
Clock is an innate mechanism in
living organisms that controls
the periodicity of many
physiological functions

B
G
M
P
S
Glossary
• Goal - Goal is a target that is
intended to be achieved and
that when achieved terminates
the behavior intended to
achieve it
• Group - Group is any number of
entities or members that are
considered as a unit

B
G
M
P
S
Glossary
• Multitasking - Multitasking means
to perform more than one task at
the same time
• Management - Management is the
act of managing something

B
G
M
P
S
Glossary
• Procrastinating - Procrastinating
means to postpone or delay
needlessly
• Project - Project is a planned
undertaking

B
G
M
P
S
Glossary
• Scheduling - Scheduling means
setting an order and time for
planned events
• Strategy - Strategy is an
elaborate and systematic plan of
action

Time Management

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