TIME MANAGEMENT
project-management, personal information
management, and customer relations software
programs that help you create and manage
lists, designate priorities, and set up multiple
reminders and alerts. People in your company’s
IT department can help you identify tools that
would be particularly useful.
Some people prefer to jot their lists on yellow
legal pads. Others print them out or program
them into handheld devices. Most computer-
ized or preprinted to-do list templates ask for
the item or task to be done and when it’s due. In
other words, what’s the time frame or deadline?
There are also places for you to make special
notations. If you’re making your own to-do list,
you can simply label the columns “ Tasks,” “When
Due,” and “Notes.” That will cover just about
everything you need to know.
Managers who are visually oriented sometimes
use a dry-erase marker board and hang their list
in clear view. You can easily update it, you can
mark the priority items in red, you can refer to
it easily if someone calls with a scheduling ques-
tion, and, best of all, as you accomplish your
tasks you can draw a line through them—a vis-
ible reminder that you are getting things done
and moving forward.
The most important thing is to have a par-
ticular place where you keep your list, whether
paper or electronic. You don’t want to waste time
hunting for your time-management list! Jotting
notes on the backs of envelopes that get stuck in
your pocket is not a good system. Neither is writ-
ing lists on loose sheets of papers that too easily