So, you’ve read ‘The Top 10 Tips To Great Time Management Skills’. Are you ready for more? When you get good with your time, you will reap the following rewards:

• You gain time to devote to other activities.
• You get more done.
• You are more motivated.
• You reduce avoidance of unpleasant tasks.
• You become more productive.
• You prevent cramming.
• You reduce stress.

So how do you go about managing yourself and thus your time? It all boils down to five crucial skills:

1. Know the way you work best (we’re all different and you must play to your strengths)
2. Set good goals around your purpose.
3. Set priorities aligned to your goals.
4. Concentrate single-mindedly on one thing at a time.
5. Develop good work habits around the right tools and systems for you.

For me, the most crucial of all of these are setting priorities and working on them in a focused way. Since there is never enough time to do everything that needs to be done, you must continually set priorities on your activities. Perhaps the very best question that you can memorise and repeat, over and over, is, ‘What is the most valuable use of my time right now?’ This question will do more to keep you on track, hour by hour, than any other single question.

“No matter how far you have gone on the wrong road, turn back”
Turkish Proverb

The natural tendency for all of us, myself included, is to ‘major in minors’ and to give in to the temptation to clear up small things first. After all, small things are easier and they are often more fun than the big, important things that represent the most valuable use of your time. However, the self-discipline of organising your work and focusing on your highest value tasks is the starting point of getting your time under control and lowering your stress levels.

When you discipline yourself to working non-stop on a single task, you get more and more high quality work done in less and less time. Each time you stop working however, you break this cycle and move back to where every part of the task is more difficult and time consuming.

Here are ten more of my Top Time and Self Management Tips that have helped make me and my clients more productive, and helped me increase my business by a factor of ten in the last year!

1. Pick The Right System. There are all kinds of diaries, TM systems, planners and online programmes you can use. Whether you’re an old fashioned paper type, or something more technologically sophisticated, pick what works for you and work with what you pick.

2. Plan Tomorrow Today. Schedule your day the night before if you can. It’s a great way to end the day and means you don’t waste valuable time planning stuff instead of doing stuff.

3. Avoid Avoidance! When you catch yourself procrastinating, ask yourself, ‘What am I avoiding?’ Catch yourself when you are involved in unproductive projects and stop as soon as you can.

4. Eat a Frog! Start your day with the big and nasty calls or the most difficult parts of projects. If you know you have to eat a frog, and it sits there all day on your desk, looking at you, it will probably be there the next day. This principle is sometimes called the Big Rock, which comes from classifying your tasks and filling up a huge jar. Instead of putting all your small rocks and pebbles in first and then not being able to fit the bigger ones in, it’s better to start big and the rest go in easy! And there is something very satisfying about getting the worst stuff done.

“Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task”
William James

5. Delegate or Outsource. If you’re being paid £20 per hour, how much of your day is spent doing £5 an hour tasks? Likewise, it makes sense to pay someone £20 an hour if you can then go hunting for work which pays you £50. This applies to stuff at home – if you’re cleaning and filing, can you possibly outsource that so you can perform more of the higher level activities?

6. Seek Wise Counsel. Cut your learning curve by asking for advice and help when needed, especially if there are people and resources that have conquered the task you’re tackling. Search for the people you know or have heard of that get lots done and are famous for their self and time management. Ask them this question and pin your ears back for some pearls of wisdom!: 'What is the single best piece of advice you have ever been given about getting more done with your time?'

7. Don't Be a Perfectionist. Trying to be a perfect person sets you up for defeat. Nobody can be perfect. Difficult tasks usually result in avoidance and procrastination. You need to set achievable goals, but they should also be challenging. There will always be people both weaker and stronger than you.

8. Learn To Say No. Politely saying ‘no’ should become a habit. It empowers you and frees up time for the things that are most important. Practise saying no and have a few different phrases depending on who you’re talking to. This might be the biggest thing that frees you up if you’re a common ‘victim’ who gets dumped on with all kinds of tasks because you always say yes!

9. Practise Priorities. Most of you will know this, but it bears repeating as few do it well. A good TTD (Things to Do) list places items in order of importance. One method is the ABC list. This list is divided into three sections: A (must be done that day), B (must be done that week) and C (done within a month). Some people add a D (wouldn’t it be nice if...). Whatever method you use, once you've put your tasks in order of importance you won’t waste time deciding what to do next every time you finish something. Great SM people know what’s coming up next.

“Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated. You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps."
David Lloyd George

10. Multi Task. I’ve heard conflicting views on this. I still think combining two or more several activities into one time spot makes good sense. Not all the time, but some of the time. Examples include listening to self-development audios in the car or while exercising, showering while making a mental list of the things that need to be done and watching TV while you sign cheques (laugh as you pay your bills!)

In conclusion, the true test of your character, your willpower and your resolve is starting a high priority task and persisting with that task until it is 100% complete. And that means being persistent. Persistence is actually self-discipline in action. The good news is that the more you discipline yourself to persist on a major task, the more you like and respect yourself, and the higher is your self-esteem. And the more you like and respect yourself, the easier it is for you to discipline yourself to persist even more.

Just in case you’re thinking this is difficult, here are a couple of thoughts from people more famous and accomplished than I:

"All things are difficult before they are easy."
Thomas Fuller, physician

"Difficulty is the excuse history never accepts."
Edward R. Murrow, news broadcaster

If you want to be more productive and less over-loaded, you must develop good habits. It is easier to find something to do with extra time then to find extra time to do something. Most importantly, make it work for you. And if you have any great tips to make me better, let me know! Now what are you going to do today to make a difference for tomorrow?

>>Part 3

Rob's Quick Tips