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Six Quick Tips for Day-to-Day Time Management

1) Try the boss-employee method. At the end of the workday, as boss, decide what tasks your employee should do the next day. The next day, read the list as the employee and get to work. The idea is to separate analysis and planning from execution, thereby eliminating the second guessing and re-evaluating that waste time.

2) Once you make a decision, go with it. Trust your judgment. Learn from your mistakes. If you don't make decisions, you won't be able to take action at all.

3) Be realistic about the amount of time you have. If you're routinely exhausted by work (not just once in a while), reassess what you're doing and why. Remember that to be effective and successful for the long term, you need to be at your best, not worn to a frazzle.

4) Use your date book consistently and fully. Make sure you schedule end times of appointments and tasks as well as start times so you don't schedule them too close together.

5) Accept imperfection. In the absence of a real boss to guide and judge you, you have to set your own goals and standards. Know when to stop. Make decisions about what's good enough and then stop when you get there. Completion is a more worthwhile goal than perfection.

6) Delegate, either to employees or colleagues you're partnering with. You don't have to do everything yourself, especially the things you're not that good at! Choose competent, responsible helpers and fully delegate, don't look over their shoulders or redo their work later.

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Claire Tompkins specializes in simple, efficient systems to help people be more productive, more easily. Before figuring out how to do something better, ask why you're doing it at all. Contact her at 510-238-8875 and Claire@clairetompkins.com.