"It is a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you are ready. I have the feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any." - Hugh Laurie

One of the topics my colleagues approach me most often for help with is time management. This isn’t surprising to me as I see how busy they all are, and how many competing demands for their time they face. While I always do my best to help them with ideas for improving their time management skills, I also always acknowledge that this has always been a challenge for me, too!

I’ve written some about this topic in the past and today I will focus entirely on time management and  priority setting. I appreciate the opportunities those who work for, and with, me have given me to think about this topic as we work to improve our skills. I especially appreciate the time I have spent with my protegees in our university’s mentoring program over the past four years talking about time management. It seems likely we will always benefit from finding more effective ways to manage our precious time.

For me, time management and priority setting are inextricably linked. In managing my time, I am always working to make more time available for the most important activities by finding ways to spend less time on things that are less important. There are many well-received approaches to meeting this challenge, including David Allen’s GTD (Getting Things Done) system, Stephanie Winston’s TRAF (Toss, Refer, Act, File) method, and the 4-Ds (Delete, Do, Delegate, Defer) approach that is related to a popular decision matrix that classifies tasks based on their urgency and importance.

Many of these systems, and other approaches, share some common ideas. They all encourage us to delegate work that is better done by others, to act immediately on tasks that will not require significant time, and to recognize that some tasks do not deserve our time and attention. They also recognize that some work should be deferred to later, and provide guidance to help us get organized in how we manage that work. Some also provide ideas for how file the information we receive that is not actionable. They all recognize the importance of understanding the difference between urgency and importance represented by diagrams like this one.

Another interesting approach to time management is one called personal kanban. This method is based on the Japanese manufacturing system pioneered by Toyota in the late 1940s. Personal kanban focuses on one aspect of this approach and uses the idea of a “kanban board” with three zones. Work “to do”, work “in progress”, and work that is “done”. This approach also borrows the idea of using a “queue limiter”, that some also refer to as a “kanban number” to define the number of tasks can be in progress at any given time. The essential ideas here are that each person has their own number of simultaneous tasks they can work on, and that any time a task can no longer be worked on effectively it should be moved back to the “to do” queue and replaced with another task that is ready to do.

The key with all these systems is to recognize the best way to deal with each task or demand we are presented with throughout the day. I’ve also found it very helpful to check in with myself to verify that I am spending my time in the most appropriate way. It’s not uncommon for me to find that I’ve drifted into doing things that seem urgent, but aren’t that important. It’s also vital to honor the time I schedule for the important, but not urgent, work of building relationships, maintaining my health, thinking through strategic or meaningful issues, and similar work.

As I’ve worked with others on time management, I usually start by talking with them about the challenges they are facing with time management and options for meeting those challenges. I often hear about the competing demands of multiple projects and priorities, and balancing the needs of different people including the boss, key stakeholders, and our students. We almost always discuss the challenge of finding a good balance between the demands of work and the time we want to devote to our loved ones and life goals. I’ve found that knowing what you consider important is vital to good time management.

I share some of the ideas I’ve written about above and assign homework to my colleague asking them to look at some of these systems, and other resources, to see which seem to fit best with their own approach to work. I’ve also found it useful in some cases to arrange, or even facilitate, some discussions with others about time management techniques that work for them.

Once they have chosen some tools to use, we work to help them adopt these tools, monitor their effectiveness, and talk through the inevitable challenges that crop up. I’ve also found that coming to grips with the idea of what is important, versus simply urgent, usually helps people have more effective conversations with those they serve, or share their lives with, about setting priorities and managing their time to achieve common goals.

In my experience, the process of working to improve how we manage our time to make the greatest difference is never ending. There is always more we could do than we have time to do, and our understanding of what is truly important evolves over time. Ultimately, I’ve found that the goal of effective time management is entirely consistent with my desire to make a difference and to do what is right with love. I’ll always be seeking the best choices, and I know that retirement will bring me brand new opportunities to make the most of my time. I’m going to make sure to include lots of time for my loved ones, time in nature, and quiet moments with my own thoughts and feelings.