effective corporate executives, forty-nine of the fifty said
that the best time management system they had ever found
was a simple pad of paper on which they wrote down every-
thing they had to do before they began.
Sleep Better
Many people toss and turn at night trying not to forget
something they have to do the following day. If you create a
list before you go to bed, writing down everything you have
planned for the coming workday, you will sleep far better
and awake more refreshed.
According to time management specialists, it takes about
twelve minutes each day to write out a list of your tasks for
that day. But this list will save you ten times that amount of
time in improved productivity. Twelve minutes spent in
preparing a daily list will give you a payback of 120 minutes,
or two hours of increased productivity, when you actually
begin work. That’s an incredible payoff for such a simple task.
The ABCDE Method
Once you have made up a list of everything that you plan to
do the next day, organize your list by applying the ABCDE
method to your activities.
The most important word in time management is conse-
quences. A task is important depending on the potential
consequences of doing it or not doing it. When you set pri-
orities, you apply this principle to every task, and you always
begin with the task that has the greatest consequences. This
is where the ABCDE method is especially helpful.
CREATE YOUR DAILY “TO-DO” LIST 35