USING YOUR TIME EFFICIENTLYor more every morning to writing and returning
e-mails. That clears the rest of the day to work
on tasks unrelated to e-mail. If you think this
approach would work for you and for your par-
ticular job, try making it a routine. Knowing that
you’ve dedicated a particular amount of time to
dealing with your e-mail and papers will help
you schedule your daily tasks and create a more
realistic agenda for the day.
Manage the Telephone Trap
Although the telephone is a useful communica-
tion tool, it can become a problem when your
phone habits fail to follow the principles of your
time-management system. Incoming calls are
Do use your cell phone and other
wireless devices to turn dead time
into productive time.
Don’t allow your cell phone or
other wireless devices to interrupt a
meeting. Set boundaries.
Don’t rely on Post-it notes to write
down phone messages, which are
likely to get lost or buried under
other work. Keep a dedicated note-
book for this purpose by the phone.