Time management is one of those topics with a generic name, and the idea of managing time is on par with herding cats: you just can’t do it. Time will march on, no matter what. The best we can do is learn to make good use of our time.
For me, the phrase ‘time management’ conjures up images of expensive, unused planners collecting dust on the shelf.
But it’s still a convenient shorthand.
Several of my previous posts have dealt with making good use of our time, and I’ve decided that good time management is nothing more developing a particular skill set. Some of these skills include:
- working on projects that matter and ignoring those that don’t.
- using your time instead of filling it.
- defining your work.
- overcoming procrastination and laziness.
- staying focused.
- eliminating time wasters.
Today I thought that I’d share what a few other writers have to say on this topic.
1. Ali Hale Luke is a busy freelance writer. On her excellent blog Aliventures, she writes about motivation, why we abandon projects, and writing. Her article Blocking Out Time for What Really Matters explores how she makes the best use of her time.
^Link is dead, leave a suggestion in the comments! (remember kids, cool URIs don’t change)
2. Somehow I ended up on Dragos Roua’s site and managed to find my way out an hour later. Check out this article “Manage Your Time As You Manage Your Money.”
3. Steve Pavlina’s blogosphere-classic article Triple Your Personal Productivity features a good way to look personal efficiency by keeping a time log.
4. Dave Navarro’s Rock Your Day is a great resource for people who want to stop settling for less. He’s also ridiculously generous with his ebook giveaways. One of these ebooks is the 40-page How to Free Up 1000 Hours a Year.
5. Mark McGuinness also offers a free time management ebook:Time Management for Creative People The subtitle is right on: Manage the Mundane – Create the Extraordinary.
^Link is dead, leave a suggestion in the comments!
6. Ash, a fellow ESL/EFL vetern at The Middle Finger Project, explains why the U.S. Concept of Time Prevents People from Finding Their Passions.
7. I think most debts are draining, and time debts are no exception. Sierra Black’s guest post on Get Rich Slowly details how she eliminated her time-debt by quitting everything and learning to say no.
8. The Positivity Blog has a nice list of 7 Common Time Management Mistakes and How To Avoid Them. These mistakes include taking on too much, overcomplicating your time management system, and being busy instead of being effective.
9. For those of you working from home, Casual Keystrokes has a list of 8 Time Management Strategies.
10. Finally, I heartily recommend that all my readers watch Randy Pausch’s last lecture. This is an incredibly moving talk. If you’ve already seen it, Psychology Today writer Timothy A. Pychyl has a brief summary of Randy’s key points on using your time effectively.
“Time is all you have. And you may find one day that you have less than you think.” Randy Pausch
Photo credit: ceardach
Update: Lifehack Bootcamp has a nice roundup of 19 Effective Time Management books. I can vouc
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Huge thanks for the link — wow, what great company I’m in here! 🙂
Pah, can’t seem to change my name on the Twitter-disqus profile. I’ll comment twice. 😉
You’re very welcome. Thanks for all the great articles.