Increase Personal Productivity with a Time Log

The heart of the lecture of Randy Pausch really dwells on what is important for a particular person.  The goal of this is not to be more efficient, although this is one of the effects that need to be achieved.  The end goal is so that you can have more time to spend with your loved ones, because they are really the ones that matter and are important.

Randy did mention a number of steps to take to manage time effectively.  Here are a few of those tips:

Create a “to do” list – some people may spend a lot of time at the start of the day just thinking of what needs to be done during the day, and the time spent on this thinking may further be increased by trying to remember the next task after the first is done.  In order to shorten this, you can create a list that can be consulted at any time just so that nothing is missed, and nothing is forgotten.

Rank the items that need to be done – a “to do” list is not something that would work on its own.  Some items there would be more important than others.  In order to effectively rank which is more important, Randy Pausch lifted Stephen Covey’s time management matrix in order to identify which items are:

a) important and due soon

b) important and not due soon

c) not important and due soon

d) not important and not due soon. 

These tasks need to be ranked and done in the same order, and it would be helpful in managing time because all those in the “b” category will not have the chance to fall in the “a”, and those in the “c” category may not deserve your time in the first place.  Ultimately, this can help reduce the time you spend stressing over items that you need to finish immediately, or other items that should not even be stressed over.

Learn to say “no” – People will always come to us for help at one time or another, and we have a hard time turning them away.  If we do have enough on our plate though, we will need to learn to say no, even if we have to do it somewhat graciously.  This can be done by saying that you can only spare five minutes of your time, or that you have other things that are important as of this time and will help even if there is no one else.  These additional burdens will only take away more of your precious time from your loved ones, and add stress to the life that is burdened already as it is.

Do not wait for the deadline – a lot of people procrastinate, especially when the deadline is far off.  Stress is injected into the situation when the deadline looms near though, and this should be avoided.  If you know that something needs to be done but not immediately, create a false deadline for yourself and treat it as real.  At least if you fail to meet it, you still have some leeway to finish it and do a good job of it.

Randy Pausch time management has some very good insights into how we can make ourselves productive while being available to our loved ones at the same time.  Following these time management principles will surely bring better control into your life, and lessen the stress that you have to deal with on a daily basis.

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