How great leaders manage their time (9 Powerful Tools)

"Effective executives, in my observation, do not start with their tasks. They start with their time” – Peter Drucker

Why it works

Early in my career, I used to run my workday off my to-do lists and email inboxes. I’d capture everything that came to mind on an ever-growing list of things I needed to get done. Also, there was the email inbox, which is – let’s face it – a to-do list put together for us by other people. As a result, I’d spend my days reactively instead of proactively, continuously multitasking, and never truly focused. At the literal end of the day, I’d end up stressed out, overworked and ultimately unproductive.

Bestselling author Nir Eyal compares managing your day with to-do lists to running your life on Windows 95. As he shares in this eye-opening article, to-do lists “allow us to get distracted by the easy or urgent tasks at the expense of the important work. We get pulled off track by the most pernicious form of distraction—the kind we succumb to without realizing it’s happening. We run faster and faster in the name of getting things done, without realizing we’re headed in the wrong direction.”

But as captured in the quote from management Guru Peter Drucker’s (pictured above) 1967 book “The Effective Executive”, there’s a better way to win your day as a leader: managing time instead of managing tasks. Here are 9 powerful tools you can use to pull this off.

How to do it

1) Task batching
Complete similar tasks together to enhance efficiency by reducing transition time. Group these tasks, schedule them together and work on them in one session. The prime candidate for task batching? Email. The average knowledge worker sends and receives 126 emails daily and opens 70% of them within six seconds of receipt. The associated transition time wreaks havoc on their productivity. If you want to get started on batching emails, check out my 3-2-1 Method.

2) Pomodoro Technique
Work in intervals and take regular breaks to improve focus and prevent burnout. Choose a task, set a timer for 25 minutes and then pause for 5 minutes. While Francesco Cirillo’s method is helpful for shorter tasks, it’s far from ideal for challenging deep work that requires extended focus. That’s why, for longer focus intervals, I use an altered version of that method called Pomodoro 2.0. Learn more about it here.

3) Eisenhower Matrix
Sort tasks by urgency and importance to manage priorities effectively. Created by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and popularized in Stephen Covey’s book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, the Eisenhower Matrix is arguably the best tool for determining what’s urgent, important, both or neither. Learn more about the Eisenhower Matrix in this article.

4) Two-Minute Rule
Handle tasks that take less than two minutes first. This classic method by productivity guru David Allen allows you to prevent buildup. A note of caution: if you apply this rule indiscriminately, you’ll keep yourself busy doing easy or urgent tasks at the expense of important work all day long. So, only use the rule in a way that is aligned with your timeboxed schedule (see #7).

5) Parkinson’s Law
Use tight deadlines to finish tasks faster and avoid task time extension. According to C. Northcote Parkinson, “work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion”. This law can work for or against you – including regarding how long you work. With a set time for calling it a day, you’ll get more done in less time. Without such a time, you’ll probably end up working late, or at least longer than necessary. Learn more about how to avoid this fate here.

6) ABC Method
Rank tasks by importance and prioritize critical ones. With this classic method from bestselling author Alan Lakein, you’ll categorize work into A items (must-dos), B items (should-dos) and C items (tasks that can wait). He also came up with a simple but powerful question —which became popular as “Lakein’s Question”—that I ask myself whenever I’m overwhelmed throughout the day: "What is the best use of my time right now?"

7) Timeboxing
Popularized by Nir Eyal in his book Indistractable, this method is how the most successful and busy entrepreneurs of our time – including Bill Gates and Elon Musk – win their days. You start by ​​deciding what to do, estimating time for the tasks, and scheduling them on your calendar. Then, you follow the plan and adjust if needed. If you want to delve deeper into timeboxing, read this popular article.

8) Mind Mapping
Visualize tasks and ideas around a common theme when planning or brainstorming. Bestselling author Tony Buzan developed a seven-step process for creating mind maps. The process revolves around brainstorming a central idea, drawing branches from that idea to represent key subtopics, and using imagery, colors, and other visual stimuli to make the mind map more appealing, accessible and memorable. If you want to delve deeper into Mind Mapping, read this.

9) Skill / Will Matrix
When delegating work to others, match tasks with skills and motivation to assign them effectively. Shake Shack co-founder Danny Meyer uses a simple (but brilliant) 2x2 matrix to pull this off: high-will, low-skill employees get trained and mentored; high-skill, high-will ones receive the complex, most challenging tasks; low-will, high-skill colleagues are motivated and engaged; and low-will, low-skill ones are moved to a different role. If you want to learn more about the Skill / Will Matrix, listen to this podcast (starting at 1:03:19).

Effective time management can be learned.

Unlock your potential and move toward success.

Start managing your time to focus on what truly matters.

And please share this post with one person who might benefit from doing the same.

Until next week,
Christian

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