Time management is about priority management and creating a clear pathway to success. I break down annual, quarterly, monthly and weekly strategies and action steps based on my core business focus and SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) goals. I also identify potential barriers and resources for overcoming those obstacles so that I know how to navigate my growth path with more ease and will struggle less when I hit a road bump. - Michela Quilici, MQ Consulting and Business Training, Inc.
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# 14 Time-Management Practices For Completing Your To-Do List

Forbes Coaches Council
COUNCIL POST
Expertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
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Feb 13, 2023,08:15am EST

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Managing time better always seems to be at the top of most professionals’ to-do lists. It’s a never-ending process that fluctuates and changes along with our schedules and lives. Thankfully, there are ways to get better at managing your time over the long term.

As busy and successful coaching professionals, the members of Forbes Coaches Council use time-management strategies to ensure they can give their clients sufficient time and energy while still thriving in their own professional and personal lives. Below, 14 members share time-management practices they use to manage their own work responsibilities and why they recommend these tactics to others.

Members pictured from left to right.

Photos courtesy of the individual members.

## 1. Audit Your Time

The biggest problem with time management is not knowing where your time is spent and not managing it to be most productive. Take two weeks to audit your time from the moment you wake up to when you go to bed every day. Track everything you do throughout each day, and determine what are productive and non-productive uses of your time. Then, adjust how you manage your time in the future. - John Knotts, Crosscutter Enterprises

## 2. Work In 90-Minute, Uninterrupted Increments

There is scientific evidence that proves humans can only concentrate on a task for 90 minutes at a time. Our productivity shifts to diminishing returns after that time period. To reactivate concentration, you have to rest the productive part of your brain and use another part of your brain by doing an activity such as walking or running. - Elaine Rosenblum, ProForm U®

## 3. Understand The Energy Each Task Will Require

For each major task, ask yourself, “Does this require head, heart or hands energy?” Deep thinking—versus soulful engagement or executional excellence, for example—requires vastly different physiological states. Sometimes, we’re ready to crank things out; other times, we are open to deep introspection or conversation. Be sure you are as clear about your “to-be” list as you are about your “to-do” list. - Anne Harbison, JourneyLead Consulting

## 4. Prioritize Your Work Items

I use Stephen Covey’s time management matrix to plan my week by directing my attention to the things that are most important. Use the matrix to plot work items, their level of importance and their due dates in one of four quadrants: 1. urgent and important, 2. not urgent but important, 3. urgent but not important, or 4. not urgent and not important. Over time, doing the important work first will reduce urgencies. - Alexandra Salamis, Integral Leadership Design

## 5. Look At The Big Picture First

The most impactful time-management skill I have developed is the discipline to start each month and week by telescoping my view all the way out to a year-long perspective. I remind myself of my big-picture goals before taking a look at my to-do list for the immediate future. This helps me prioritize what matters, delegate what I can and eliminate distractions from my schedule. - Stephanie Judd, Wolf & Heron

## 6. Focus On Managing Your Physical Energy

Manage your physical energy, not the time it takes to complete a task. You will become more efficient by identifying how much energy it takes to complete your most important daily tasks. The first step is to identify where and when you feel depleted, and then incorporate simple strategies, such as taking intentional breaks, rather than draining yourself with extended work hours. - Mari Carmen Pizarro, Whole Leadership Systems, Inc

## 7. Journal Your Important Goals Each Day

I start every day by journalling the most important goals of each day. Keeping my list to the top three goals, I plan my calendar so that these top goals find their way onto my calendar when I am at my most productive and least distracted. - Ron N Hurst, Developing Leaders

## 8. Plan To Work At Your Most Productive Times

I save projects that are very urgent, and especially those that need the most concentration, for my most productive time of day, which is early morning. I’ll leave other types of smaller projects that don’t require as much focus for the afternoon and/or evening. That way, I’m sure to get my most urgent projects completed on schedule. - Lee Cristina Beaser, The Career Counter

## 9. Reward Yourself For Completing Tasks

One of the most effective methods I use to complete my work is connecting a reward to finishing what I’m doing. For example, if I need to write a chapter, I’ll link it to something positive that will happen when I do it. Conversely, if there’s something that I enjoy doing, I will only get to do it once I finish what I need to do. A reward might be calling my daughter in the middle of the day! - Rick Itzkowich, Vistage Worldwide, Inc.

## 10. Handle Priority Tasks First

Time management is about priority management and creating a clear pathway to success. I break down annual, quarterly, monthly and weekly strategies and action steps based on my core business focus and SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) goals. I also identify potential barriers and resources for overcoming those obstacles so that I know how to navigate my growth path with more ease and will struggle less when I hit a road bump. - Michela Quilici, MQ Consulting and Business Training, Inc.

## 11. Create Your Own To-Do List System

I developed my own to-do list system that ensures my priorities are aligned with my available time. The to-do list is organized by end-of-day, end-of-week, end-of-month and medium-term priorities. The EOD list is split into the three priority areas that I identified at the beginning of the year and then “other.” Each night, I move items from EOW to EOD depending on what’s realistic based on my next day’s availability, and I work on my tasks in priority order. - Parul Somani, Silver Linings

## 12. Timebox Your Work

I break larger projects into chunks, put them into my calendar and timebox the work so I don’t allow a project to take more time (or much more) than I have allotted. If I spent all the time I wanted to or felt that I should on projects, I would never complete anything! - Christine Allen, Insight Business Works

## 13. Do The ‘Hardest’ Thing First Every Day

“Hard” is not necessarily related to a task’s level of difficulty—it’s often that thing we don’t like or want to do, that task or conversation that keeps moving from one to-do list to the next. When you tackle this task first, everything that follows feels like a gift, and your energy soars. You free up mental, emotional and calendar space, too! - Joanne Heyman, Heyman Partners

## 14. Use The Pomodoro Technique

Francesco Cirillo’s Pomodoro® technique works for me. My most productive work happens during 25-minute slots when I work on one task at hand with absolutely no multitasking—no phone, no email, no browsing and no chitchat. It is surprising how much you can accomplish, even in 25 minutes, when you stay focused on the job. I track how many Pomodoros I do daily, which is a surrogate metric for my productivity. - Sandeep Jain, Value-Unlocked Private Limited