Time Management

Julie Morganstern's book entitled Time Management from the Inside Out aims to help people organise their time better. Julie says that getting organised is a completely 'learnable' skill. One common reason she has identified for people not getting things done, be it tasks at work, study objectives, or things they hope to achieve in their free time, is that they don't set aside a specific time in which to do these things.

In other words, they're always trying to fit new activities into an already full schedule, or allowing themselves to be distracted by things other than the task in hand. What's more, because they underestimate how long tasks are actually going to take, such people are always running behind schedule, and always having to apologise for not meeting deadlines.

To avoid this, Julie suggests making a list of 'must do' tasks and putting a time estimate next to each. This will allow a direct comparison to be made between time spent on each task and how long you originally thought it would take you. In no time at all, you'll be able to make an expert judgement about how long activities really take, allowing you to be more realistic about how much you set out to achieve in the first place.