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It’s a common refrain—“So much to do and so little time.” Everyone has things they want out of life—goals to achieve, dreams to make real, and the time to enjoy the fruits of our labors. And yet time itself feels like the enemy. It runs out too fast and gets filled with distractions.

Achieving big goals seems too time-consuming, so we set modest goals and keep busy with life’s immediate demands. We work from jam-packed calendars and unprioritized to-do lists that always seem to keep getting longer. Before long, we feel overwhelmed, and even modest goals seem unattainable. All the while, we often think that there must be some way to manage our time to get more out of life and our careers while not always feeling that there’s too much to do.

In this Master Guide, we’ll discuss how to prioritize what you spend time on, how to plan your schedule and keep track of how you use your...

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The Master Guides: Time Management Summary Step #1: Set Priorities and Goals

To make the best use of your time, you first have to decide what you’re using it for. Time management experts generally agree that instead of trying to do too many things at once, you need to focus on one or two major priorities every day and that these priorities should be in service to a larger goal. In this section, we’ll explain why and help you determine what your priorities should be.

In Eat That Frog!, Brian Tracy frames the importance of having a singular focus in terms of the 80/20 Rule, which states that 20% of the tasks you perform account for 80% of your results. Therefore, if you have five things to do, completing your single most important task will have a greater impact than the other four combined. Each of your tasks may take the same amount of time, but one will generate more value than all the others. Tracy says to resist the temptation to shrink your to-do list by getting your easy tasks out of the way first. Instead, before you start any task, ask whether it’s a top 20% or bottom 80% task, and only do it if it’s in the top 20%. Don’t work on...

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The Master Guides: Time Management Summary Step #2: Make a Plan

Once you’ve identified your priorities, you can plan out your day, your week, or even your month. A time-management plan isn’t just a to-do list—you need to schedule time to focus on what’s important and organize your time around your true priorities. First, we’ll explain why planning is important, and then we’ll go into detail about how to block off your day and your week while giving tips on how to remain flexible enough to adjust your schedule when the unexpected happens.

Brian Tracy says that taking 10 minutes to plan your day can save as much as two hours in wasted time and effort. Although planning has been shown to increase productivity and efficiency, surprisingly few people do it. Even if it sounds difficult, Tracy insists it’s really simple: First, write down everything you have to do. When something comes up, add it to the list. When you work from a list, you can increase your productivity by 25%, so each night you should start your list for the next day, including unfinished tasks from the day before and new tasks to start on tomorrow. A benefit of making a list the night before is that your...

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The Master Guides: Time Management Summary Step #3: Track Your Time

It’s not enough to have a general plan of how you’re going to use your time in advance. It’s also important to track what you’ve done so you can measure how much time you spend on any task, judge how effectively you use your time, and determine what adjustments you should make to your schedule. There are several productivity tools to help you do this. The ones we’ll cover here are bullet journaling and the kanban technique.

Bullet Journals

A bullet journal is an organizational tool introduced by Ryder Carroll in The Bullet Journal Method to help you be intentional about how you spend your time and energy. It’s a system that archives your life—past, present, and future—tracking not only the day-to-day details but also your choices, your actions, and how you’ve changed over time. Carroll claims that bullet journaling can aid you in three areas: getting organized, living in the present moment, and finding clarity on what’s important to you. Better yet, the only tools bullet journaling requires are a notebook and a pen.

Carroll explains that [throughout the day, you’ll write down tasks, events, and...

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The Master Guides: Time Management Summary Step #4: Stay on Target

Once you start regularly tracking your time, you may become acutely aware of all of the forces trying to derail your plans. It takes practice and a conscious act of will to stick to your schedule and avoid distractions, whether they’re external (such as phone notifications) or internal (such as procrastination). We’ll look at the easy part first—external distractions—before tackling the more difficult emotional hurdles that trigger procrastination. If you can overcome your emotional roadblocks, you can make time work for you rather than be something you have to fight against.

Digital Distractions

The barrage of modern media is so overwhelming that it takes more than sheer strength of will to keep it at bay. In Make Time, tech industry insiders Jake Knapp and John Zeratzky assert that you have to deliberately put barriers in place to keep your devices from stealing your time. The single most pernicious device that impinges on your schedule is your smartphone. Knapp and Zeratsky recommend that you delete all social media apps, games, and even your...

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The Master Guides: Time Management Summary Step #5: Balance Your Life

The psychological benefits of flow illustrate the most important point to remember when managing your time—you’re not a machine. The ultimate goal of time management isn’t just increased efficiency; it’s finding a way to improve your quality of life. To conclude this guide, we’ll discuss modern attitudes about the scarcity of time, how to make room for activities you enjoy, and why it’s healthy to acknowledge that time will never be completely under your control.

In Do Nothing, Celeste Headlee says that though people today aren’t working longer hours than we did during the Industrial Revolution, we still feel exhausted and overworked. This is partly because as hourly wages and salaries increase, we perceive our time as more valuable, and as a consequence, it also feels more scarce. Thus, we feel anxiety at the prospect of wasting time and being unproductive, so even when we’re not at work, we feel we should still engage in some form of self-improvement or advancement.

Headlee's first piece of advice is to [do more focused...

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Shortform Exercise: How Can You Make Better Use of Your Time?

Experts on time management agree that it’s important to identify your most important tasks, keep track of how you spend your time, and develop strategies to stave off procrastination, whether self-induced or otherwise. Think about how you manage your time at present and what you can do to manage it more effectively.


Make a list of the things you hope to accomplish tomorrow. Which one or two items will help you the most when it comes to achieving your larger lifetime goals? Are there any items on the list that you can delegate to others or not do at all?

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