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Time Management Skills Blog

Chris Farmer's Leadership and Management Training Blog

Chris Farmer

Welcome - the purpose of the blog page is to provide you with a never ending source of valuable, practical and entertaining information designed to help you get the best performance from yourself and others.

In these blogs you will find all the information you need to make faster progress in less time and effort. Here you will find all the information you need to achieve your goals. In addition to helping yourself to achieve your goals, you can use the same information to help others to achieve their goals.

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Time Management Skills Blogs

Time management depends on the P-LIST skills.

  1. Purposefulness
  2. Planning
  3. Prioritisation
  4. Preparation
  5. Prediction
  6. Prevention of avoidable error
  7. Personal initiative
  8. Powerful psychology and
  9. Physical energy

Time management is important because you cannot do everything at the same time. Therefore, you must prioritise your work.

Many people don’t prioritise. They do things in an order that is governed by chance or by their mood /emotions.

Instead of that, you need to do things in an order governed by; Deadline pressure or Value, or Logical sequencing.

Time management means learning how to do the right things in the right order, and delegating other things to the right person, in the right way.

Since everyone has the same number of hours in each day, how come some people are far more productive that others? It is not luck. It is system.

Good time managers are operating according to better systems. You would benefit greatly if you applied the same systems to yourself.

The system of time management depends on the P-LIST skills. Purposefulness. Problem Prediction. Problem solving. Planning. Prioritisation. Preparation. Prevention of avoidable error. Personal initiative and Powerful psychology and Physical energy.

Time Management Skills Blogs

What is the Action Priority Matrix?

5 January 2023 What is the Action Priority Matrix? Thumbnail

Prioritise your work using the Action Priority Matrix method and instead of filling your day with trivial tasks, you will accomplish more of the work that really matters.

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What is the Pomodoro Technique?

26 April 2022 What is the Pomodoro Technique? Thumbnail

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management technique; the purpose of which is to increase work efficiency, maximise concentration and minimize mental fatigue.

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Time Management Apps to Enhance Productivity

23 November 2021 Time Management Apps to Enhance Productivity Thumbnail

Everyone wants to make maximum progress with the least amount of time and effort. We have created the best time management apps to help you prioritise, set goals and make decisions. These apps are FREE and will help enhance your productivity.

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What is Time Blocking and Protected Time?

14 September 2021 What is Time Blocking and Protected Time? Thumbnail

The principle of time blocking will give you more control over your day and allow you to focus on the tasks to be done. Protect your time, improve your focus and deter procrastination, that way you will accomplish more in your day.

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What is Wrong With Multitasking?

17 August 2021 What is Wrong With Multitasking? Thumbnail

Many people believe that they can juggle multiple tasks at once. The truth is, that they never manage to do anything well. The fact is that lack of focus causes mistakes.

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How to Stop Procrastinating

24 January 2020 How to Stop Procrastinating Thumbnail

The act of procrastinating means you are wasting valuable time, when you could be investing that time in doing something worthwhile or improving yourself. Use these simple strategies to overcome procrastination and take back control of your day.

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How to be More Efficient and Effective.

4 December 2018 How to be More Efficient and Effective. Thumbnail

Do you struggle to find enough time to get everything done in a day? Perhaps you are feeling stressed and exhausted from have too much to do. Here are some great tips to getting the most benefit from your time and energy.

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Why are Some Meetings a Waste of Time?

15 May 2018 Why are some meetings a waste of time? Thumbnail

Do you feel meetings are a waste of time? Here are some tips to help you decide whether a meeting should be held and an app to help you calculate the approximate cost of the meeting.

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How Do you Judge What is "Important"?

3 May 2018 How do you judge what is "important"? Thumbnail

We all agree that we should do the most important things first. But what we cannot agree upon is: HOW to determine what are the “most important things”.

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The 80/20 Rule - Pareto Principle - Explained

30 April 2018 The 80/20 Rule - Pareto Principle - Explained Thumbnail

The 80/20 Pareto rule originally stated that 80% (or more), of the wealth in any economy is owned by 20% (or less) of the population. Find out how to use this formula at work.

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How to Prioritise Tasks Effectively

25 April 2018 How To Prioritise Tasks Effectively Thumbnail

Discover how to prioritise effectively and improve your time management skills with our helpful guide. Find out more about our training courses online today.

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Managing Stress

25 July 2017 Managing Stress Thumbnail

Reducing your stress levels can be achieved by management of your work load and time pressures, together with managing the emotional responses to such pressures.

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Don't Leave It to the Last Minute

6 November 2015 Don't Leave it to the Last Minute Thumbnail

One of the most common mistakes people make, is to leave things until the last minute. Preparation is the distinguishing factor that separates the winners from the losers.

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Time Management Skills: Planning Ahead

9 December 2014 Time Management Skills: Planning Ahead Thumbnail

Planning ahead is the best way to improve your time management skills. Planning ahead is the best way to maximise your personal effectiveness. Planning ahead will allow you to make more progress, in less time and effort.

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How to Plan your Time Effectively

29 December 2013 How to plan your time effectively Thumbnail

Good Time Planning Planning ahead (in writing) is one of the keys to personal effectiveness. You need to plan ahead. Failure to plan ahead would force you into the position of acting without a plan, meaning; you would be making it up as you go along, which would mean that you

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How can I Better Delegate

4 July 2013 How can I better delegate Thumbnail

Delegation is vital because you cannot do it all. You don't have the time, the energy, or the knowledge to do it all. And even if you did, you should still delegate some tasks as a means of training others and developing their range of skills.

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Blog Categories

Accelerated Learning (6)

Accelerated learning techniques are special methods of organising information, so that you can more rapidly memorise and more accurately recall it on demand. Accelerated learning also includes mind mapping and creative thinking techniques.

Assertiveness (5)

Assertiveness is a both a communication style and a mind-set which, when combined, allows a people to express their meaning using just the amount of forcefulness, in relation to their body language, voice tone and spoken language.

Change Management (15)

Change management training is how to use the fact of continuous change, to work FOR you, rather than against you. It is a fact that all improvement implies change, but many people hate change. Change management is about training people to love change as a means of making the future better.

Coaching, Mentoring and Developing Staff (8)

There is a pressing need to develop the next generation of leaders, managers and technical experts. One way to develop staff is through coaching and mentoring. To be an effective coach and mentor is not an easy skill to master. These blogs discuss the skills of coaching, mentoring and staff development.

Communication - Clear Communication (80)

One to the most important facets of communication is clarity. Whenever you write or speak, your words should denote only one possible meaning. If your words can be properly interpreted in multiple ways, then you are creating the conditions for confusion, error and misunderstanding. These blogs discuss the nature of clear communication.

Communication - Listening Skills (6)

Communication includes the ability to attend to, understand and memorise what people say to you. Effective Listening is an active, not a passive process. These bloggs discuss what it takes to be a good listener.

Communication - Nonverbal Communication (8)

Communication includes a large visual component. How you appear, as you speak, makes a big difference to how your message is received. These blogs are about how to best use your body language. (Eye contact, posture, dress, hand and arm gestures, etc.)

Communication - Persuasive Communication (41)

Persuasion is the art of convincing others that your ideas are good, right, fair and practical, and in addition, persuasion includes motivating people to put your ideas into action. Persuasion is a key communication skill that everyone should study. These blogs discuss how to be more persuasive.

Communication - Written Communication (5)

A part of your communication is in the written form. Writing well is a skill that most people do not study, though it is of immense importance. These blogs discuss how you might improve your written communication.

Conflict Management and Handling Difficult People (28)

Conflict is inevitable, and when it occurs, you need to resolve it quickly and efficiently. Conflict management (and handling difficult people) is about managing your communication and your emotions, so that you arrive at a negotiated solution as quickly as possible. This series of blogs discusses the various ways you can best manage conflict.

Decision Making and Problem Solving (22)

Decision making is the skill of selecting the best option from many options. And problem solving is the skill at determining the causes and implications of a problem and finding efficient remedies. This series of blogs discusses the elements of effective decision making and problem solving.

Goal Setting (8)

Success is the achievement of a worthwhile goal. And therefore, the first step to achieving a goal is to set it. Goal setting is the starting point of all achievement and is one of the most important topics you could study. This series of blogs discuss the elements of goal setting.

Leadership and Management (151)

Leadership is the art of setting a clear goal and inspiring others to achieve it. Management is the art of organising resources so as to most efficiently achieve that goal. This series of blogs discuss the details of leadership and management.

Mental Health (12)

Mental health is the skill of managing your own mind so as to achieve mental stability and a high degree of rationality. Mental ill health is the opposite, mental instability and irrational actions. This series of blogs, discusses how you might manage your mind.

Motivation (34)

Motivation is an emotion that induces action. Without motivation, nobody would achieve anything of value. This series of blogs discusses the various ways you can motivate yourself and others.

Other (36)

Whilst interesting and informative in their own right, these blogs don't fit into a category.

People Management (13)

People management is a combination of skills including goal setting, communication, planning, handling conflict and motivation skills. This series of blogs discusses people management skills.

Personal Development (73)

The best investment you can make is in your own personal development. If you develop your skills, knowledge and experience, then you will maximise your potential to produce excellent results. This series of blogs looks at the details of personal development.

Personal Effectiveness (87)

You are not paid for how hard you work; you are paid for your effectiveness. It is possible to improve your effectiveness and get more valuable work done in less time and effort. This series of blogs discusses how you might improve your personal effectiveness and therefore speed up your rate of progress.

Positive Thinking (9)

The quality of your results is based upon the quality of your actions. And your actions are controlled by your thoughts. To simultaneously improve both your material results and your mental health, it is vital to develop the skills of positive thinking.

Stress Management (4)

Stress can be both good for you and bad for you. Good Stress triggers improvement. Bad stress grinds you down. Stress management is about using stress to help you to improve, and to avoid the negative effects of too much stress. These blogs discuss the various aspects of stress management.

Supervisory Management Skills (4)

Supervisory management skills are a combination of five major skill sets, setting goals, communication skills, planning, performance management and motivation. These blogs discuss the details of supervisory management skills.

Team Leadership (7)

For the most part, we all work in teams. Leading the team effectively can make all the difference to the performance of the team, as a whole. This series of blogs discuss the details of team leadership.

Teamwork (19)

Teams are often composed of people who have very different personalities and skills. In order to perform well, the members of the team must work well together and play to each other’s strengths. This series of blogs covers the importance of team work skills.

Time Management (16)

Time management is about prioritising, planning, organising and delegating, so that, at any moment, you are always adding the most value, and setting the conditions for your future success. This series of blogs investigates how you might better manage your time.