Is Everything Called Strategy, Really a Strategy?
I have seen many articles that judging by the headline claims to deal with the concept of time management strategies. Most of them fail to touch the subject very deeply. Instead, they are just random ramblings about general time management, where the word strategy is used as a synonym to tips, tools, or practices. These articles do not provide real value, as they cannot even define what they discuss about.
Time Management Solutions is about providing structure to the field of personal productivity and time management, and I will now throw in my thoughts about what the three basic time management strategies are.
Perhaps it is also a good idea to start by taking a few steps back, and remind ourselves what the meaning of the word strategy is:
Strategy, a word of military origin, refers to a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal.
In game theory, a strategy refers to one of the options that a player can choose.
Referring to the above, I would not extensively discuss the benefits of using a to-do list in an article about time management strategies. For me, that is detail level discussion. Instead, when discussing strategies, we need to take a look at available time management approaches from a higher level.
The high level picture looks like this:
A picture illustrating the 3 main time management strategies
Let’s describe each time management strategy one by one, more in detail:
Strategy 1: Goal Orientation
This is an area which is touched many times at this site, but that is exactly because it is one of the most fundamental time management strategies. In order to achieve things, you have got to know what you want. Larger things cannot be achieved at ones, but must be divided into smaller parts.
Applying this strategy means that you think about and keep track of the things you want to achieve. This should be done in many levels – your life, at work, or regarding a specific project – and different time spans. After you have defined your goals, you need to focus yourself so that you don’t get distracted from your result brining path easily. If you manage to keep doing the things that really matter for results, you will achieve your goals faster, then if you just do a little of this and that, along with how errands and emails come across your day.
The difference between being focused, and not being focused
If you manage to keep doing the things that really matter for results, you will achieve your goals faster, than if you just do a little bit of this and a little bit of that, along with how errands and emails come across your day.
Strategy 2: Procrastination Avoidance
The second main strategy is to focus on the actual execution of things. When you procrastinate, you tend to avoid starting the execution of tasks, and find all kinds of other reasons why now is not the best time to do something.
People, who don’t procrastinate, master the art of the start. Even the best ideas and goals are of no help, if you prefer mostly to lie on the couch at home. Likewise, at work, or you might distract yourself from productive tasks with excessive private surfing on the internet.
You will always get things done by just starting. And most of the time we kind of know the rough direction. That is why procrastination avoidance is a strong time management strategy.
Strategy 3: Support System Utilization
The support system utilization strategy is more or less a time management best practice and tips based approach. An example of a support system utilization strategy would be e.g. to familiarize yourself extensively in how you can manage all your emails and tasks effectively using Outlook, Lotus notes, or Gmail. In this case, your time management would be built around that system. Using this strategy does not mean that you don’t procrastinate; you still might do it a lot. It also does not guarantee that you are a determined goal oriented corporate solider. It would just mean, that if you should get a ton of emails, you would be effective a processing those. This will naturally save you a lot of time.
You can build your system around other things too. It can just as well be a paper calendar.
Time Management Strategies – Summary
Best Approach: Be Holistic
This article took a look at the three main time management strategies, which are: goal orientation, procrastination avoidance, and support system utilization.
The area of time management strategies is a little diffuse, as there does not exist any official definition to the concept. We have e.g. Mayo Clinic, that presents a list of time management tips, and calls them time management strategies. Others have similiar thoughts than I have.
The three main time management strategies are not excluding each other. Different strategies can and should be applied in parallel, in order to achieve optimal productivity, as each strategy has slightly different angle for achieving increased productivity.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
The importance of time management is more than to-do lists and personal organizers. The benefits of time management extends to your personal life, career success, and achieving goals.