Time to manage

Five ideas—grounded in research not populism—to help you schedule

American contemporary business author Louis Bone once quipped, “I am definitely going to take a course on time management . . . just as soon as I can work it into my schedule.” Being busy afflicts us all. Numerous courses, books and charismatic gurus offer the latest trend to “work smarter, not harder.” If promoted often enough, this becomes entrenched as fact without any foundation.

Rather than jump on the bandwagon, an article in Insight by the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University offers five ideas grounded in research instead of populism. Each provides fascinating examples and practical suggestions to help you schedule your day. Here’s a summary:

1. Tackle the hard stuff first. When feeling overwhelmed, we tend to gravitate toward the easier and simpler tasks to feel some sense of accomplishment. Instead, break the bigger more difficult projects into bite-sized pieces.
   
2. Plan around end-of-day fatigue. Certain sequences of tasks or times of day can change the quality of our work. Find what or when then incorporate this into your scheduling.
   
3. Multitask smarter. Rather than spreading yourself too thinly, become more efficient by completing fewer tasks rather than pushing forward on many.
   
4. Collaboration costs. Collaboration can come at a cost, usually through interruptions that negatively impact on your productivity. Incorporate this into your scheduling.
   
5. Communication can be as important as scheduling. Providing transparency on projects through updates can enhance your productivity by keeping stakeholders in the loop on your terms.

Discovering proven practices that help with your scheduling is important because the way we spend our time can define who we are.