Leading Practices Toolkits To Enhance Good Time Management Skills
A few of the universal toolkits available in the world wide web and applicable in various professional fields to support productivity and time management skills are:
- Vilfredo Pareto 20/80 Rule (alias Pareto 20/80 Principle,
- Dwight D. Eisenhower Matrix (alias Eisenhower Matrix) ,
- Ivy Lee Method and Commodore Francesco Cirilo Method.
The common prescriptions propelled by the above productivity and time management toolkits are the importance of:
- Having proper perspectives on time value.
- Having clear understanding and visibility of the needs, problems, goals and objectives to be achieved at any given time, the delivery timelines, the required tasks and other resources which may include finance, people, roles and responsibilities, cost implications, permissions and authorization levels.
- Starting the day with effective task plans or Prioritized To-Do-Task-List prepared well ahead of time.
- Appling self-discipline and commitment in the execution of the plans according to the schedules.
- Staying alert to spot unavoidable and unexpected surprises that may cause distractions and being prepared in adopting proactive actionable strategies to addressing emergencies and unexpected surprises.
- Proactive review of the plans and execution results to ensure continuous relevance to the achievement of the driving goals and objectives.
- Maintaining healthy work-life balance by appreciating and respecting self and other peoples’ limits, boundaries, wellbeing and knowing when to take work breaks to avoid stretching too far thereby preventing burnouts and damaging relationships.
- Consistently and objectively reflecting on how well or badly one is doing on time management and taking proactive actions to addressing the gaps while reinforcing the positives.
The real key challenge in executing the above eight (8) steps is knowing how to prepare effective Task Plans or Prioritized To-Do-List.