The best kept secrets: advice from the time management gurus

Few of us would admit to working stupidly. Yet how often do you get to the end of a day and wonder where the time went? It’s possible to be productive by using what Time Management Ninja calls 'brute force'. But, this can be exhausting, and can quickly turn work into drudge.

The alternative is to create a method for time management – or borrow from the experts. Not every approach will suit you, and it can take persistence and practice to make new methods stick.

Here’s a quick round-up from the experts:

David Allen

David Allen breaks down the to-do list process into discrete steps, so you capture ideas and tasks on paper without trying to prioritise or make decisions. These are then organised into separate lists and 'next actions'. Too complicated? Steven Covey’s Four Quadrants is a tried and tested to-do alternative.

Monitor your time. Take five days to track how you spend your time and how long you devote to activities. Review your to-do lists. What’s stealing your time? If you’re stuck, try using RescueTime, a Web based time management tool.

Tim Ferriss

Tim Ferriss analyses, then reallocates ‘wasted’ time. An 80/20 analysis of how you spend your time will often reveal a clear divide between low profit/high maintenance and high profit/low-maintenance activities. Some tips from Ferriss include:

• Use your tools wisely. Ferriss doesn’t follow anyone on Twitter. Make yourself unavailable - switch off your smartphone and allocate time to check email.
• Practise the ‘manana’ principle. Collect and plan your work for the next day, marking any ‘same day’ items in a task diary. Don’t spend ages prioritising: urgency is self-evident.
• Don’t multi-task. Focus on one thing to avoid the ‘busyness’ trap. But do little, often – 15 minute intervals tend to be more manageable than hours of concentrated slog.

David Rock

David Rock advises working with your mental peaks and troughs. Do your most intensive ‘thinking’ and planning work when you’re at your most fresh and automatic tasks (email sorting, for example) to when you’re less so.

Visualise a mild fear to get your adrenaline levels up a bit, too. Likewise, bring up dopamine levels by taking a break, reading something funny or visualising a positive event.

Chip and Dan Heath

Chip and Dan Heath suggest you give yourself clear, ultra-specific directions. What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity.

Willpower is not inexhaustible. Don’t rely solely on self-control. Create cues or “action triggers” to refocus. For example, you can use a concentration timer to ring a bell every five minutes to refocus your attention on the task in hand.

Matthew Stibbe

Matthew Stibbe (that’s me!) recommends 22 ways to stay focused on writing in this Articulate Marketing blog.

[Updated: Dec 2018]