What is the golden rule of time management?
Written by
David Nelson
Reviewed by
Prof. Benjamin Murphy, Ph.D.The first rule of time management is determining priorities -- Always distinguish urgent requests from critical objectives. Urgent tasks are shouting for your attention based on deadlines, while important tasks best align with your vision for your future. This choice prevents daily fires from extinguishing your future.
A wise way to prioritize your tasks is to consider both the urgency and importance of each task. Urgent tasks effectively boil down to emails tagged ASAP or ringing phones. Important tasks tend to be the big-picture things, such as strategic planning or skills training. People spend days on urgent matters and, unfortunately, avoid the important. I had an executive do this once, and they got back 15 hours a week.
Daily Prioritization
- Start each morning identifying truly important tasks
- Limit these to 1-3 critical items requiring deep focus
- Schedule them during your peak energy hours first
Urgency Filtering
- Create criteria for what qualifies as truly urgent
- Delegate or postpone non-critical urgent requests
- Set specific times for handling unavoidable urgencies
Goal Alignment
- Review long-term objectives weekly
- Ensure important tasks directly support these goals
- Eliminate activities that don't advance your priorities
Frequent traps include equating busyness with productivity. It feels urgent to respond to every email, but the time spent is seldom important. Keep track for three days to see this pattern. Most people realize that they are originally spending less than 20% of their budget on essential things.
The Eisenhower Matrix App or quadrants in a journal are an effective tool. Ideally, I like to start clients with paper planners. Physically writing tasks reinforces the mental categorization. Digital reminders can help individuals stay focused on important tasks during scheduled time blocks.
Begin now, start using this rule today. Reference a significant task that you've put off. Plan it for tomorrow morning. Guard that time as if you had an important meeting scheduled. Observe how simply switching your typical paradigm begins to boost your productivity and alleviate the pressure of urgency.
Read the full article: 10 Essential Tips on How Manage Time
