Popular Time Management Systems

Three popular time management systems are road tested. If tasks are falling through the cracks develop new time management techniques and build on your time management strategies to take control today.

Getting Things Done (GTD), Franklin Covey's Achieving First Priorities and the Pomodoro time management technique are examined.

The potential of a good time management system is that you can reap the benefits of using your time well. This means that you can become more productive, effective and live with less stress.

The downside is that it may take some time to learn. The more complex the time management skills the more time it takes to learn.

I have used a number of time management systems, devouring knowledge on the Internet, reading shelves of books and applying time management skills to my own life and to the lives of many of my clients.

If there was a PhD in time management then I would have done it.

However, in the last 3 years I have managed to apply various time management principles and earned a PhD in psychology, taught at university at least 10 hours a week, while at the same time becoming a registered psychologist (at least an additional 20 hours a week of work with clients) and ran two businesses.

Probably 2-3 times a normal workload.

Doing this while holding down community service positions (which sees me teach twice a week in the evenings) and maintaining a social life is what following a time management system that fits your needs can do for you.

But there was nothing extraordinary about the amount of work I got through. All I did was find the time management system that worked for me and followed it.

Finding the right time management system is really about finding out what you want to do and then doing it. But any time management technique needs to also fit in with your individual preferences and habits.

Basically a time management system needs to evolve to suit your needs, wants, habits and preferences - otherwise it can feel like fitting a round peg into a square hole!

Stripped down to the basics a good time management system involves setting goals and ensuring that you make the time do the tasks that allow you to reach your goals.

There are many time management techniques and systems to choose from.

Here are some of the common time management skills/systems that can be a great foundation for your own time management system.

I strongly recommend that you try different time management techniques and find out what fits your habits and needs.

Getting Things Done

Getting Things Done (GTD) is a very well known time management system. When I gave GTD a try I started with a mind sweep of everything that I wanted to, or needed to do for the week.

My list included essentials, such as teaching, meeting with colleagues, or deadlines. I also included nagging worries and dreams of things that I would like to do - such as volunteering more of my time.

Next I sorted all the things I had to do into files and then identified the actions that I needed to take to achieve the task.

For example, teaching a class involved gathering materials, synthesizing the knowledge, writing the class notes and finally teaching the class.

All of this information is portrayed visually on a workflow map - which resembled a huge organizational chart when I was done....something that experienced GTD'ers tell me takes some time to master!

There are some serious benefits to using the GTD system.

For example I can see that I can clump all my phone calls together and get through them quickly when a chance arises.

Also, GTD forces me to rid my desk of piles of paper and create organized files for the information - or discard it.

Another big advantage is that all the things I need to do are on paper and importantly out of my head (like a huge to do list) - freeing me to think of other things.

FranklinCovey method: Achieving your top priorities

The FranklinCovey method is one of those time management techniques that ensures you get your top priorities done first.

This 'doing first things first' time management technique involves identifying your most valued tasks and then spending your time on these most valuable pursuits.

This involves setting goals that reflect your values and purpose and then focusing on your priorities.

The well known time management matrix helps users to distinguish between tasks that are urgent and tasks that are important.

It does this by getting you to question what is important/not important and urgent/not urgent in your life.

Here is an example of my own time management matrix of activities.

When I conducted a time management log I realized that I squandered about 20 percent of my time on unimportant stuff on the week that I carried out this time management technique.

This time management technique illustrated that I could use my time better. By developing a time management schedule I ensured that I devoted time to planning and also blocking out part of my day to ensure that I get those most valued pursuits got done.

This made a big impact on my effectiveness!

With both the GTD system and the FranklinCovey system there is a high upfront effort required.

For example you will need to identify those roles that are most important to you by developing a goal setting plan. Goals are essential to most time management systems as they help you to determine what is your most valued pursuit.

Similarly the GTD system required an upfront cost to learn and identify the tasks that needed to be done.

I have found that after trying each of these time management systems that I will probably embrace a culmination of each.

I like the idea of getting everything out of my head and onto paper (GTD) while using the FranklinCovey system to identify those most valued pursuits.

In addition, there is a lot in the Pomodoro Technique by ensuring that you remain focused on the tasks at hand.

The Pomodoro Technique

Developed in 1992, the Pomodoro Technique harnesses your focus in quick short spirts of activity.

Using a kitchen timer the Pomodoro Technique can be learned very quickly.

When using the Pomodoro Technique I had a list of the things that I needed/wanted to do that day and then with the kitchen timer I tackled each item for 25 minutes - breaking my day up into 25 minute intervals (also called Pomodoros).

When the Pomodoro was over I marked the item with an X and took a 3-5 minute break.

At a psychological level this quick burst of activity followed by a short rest maximizes your concentration levels and focuses your attention.

The idea is that nothing should interrupt your Pomodoro - which in turn maximizes your concentration for that period.

This simple time management technique ensured that you maximize your focus on the task.

When I used this time management system I became very aware of how often I was interrupted.

Users of the Pomodoro technique are asked to put an apostrophe next to their X if they are tempted to break the 25 minute interval - I had up to 4 apostrophes on a couple of my X's.

I found that this time management technique offered less scope to organize my time and prioritize my tasks - but it certainly boosted my efficiency.

I found that this technique had less impact on my overall effectiveness - as there is an assumption that you already know what your long-range goals and important tasks are.

Are you missing deadlines? Do you feel overwhelmed with what you have to do? The right time management technique can help you get on top of your work.

In my opinion a each time management system has it's strengths and weaknesses and using the strengths of each you can build the right time management system to suit your needs.

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