This document discusses time management and strategies for improving productivity. It begins by defining time management and explaining why it is important, especially when people are busy. It then discusses various factors that can waste time, such as lack of prioritization, distractions, and procrastination. The document provides numerous time management techniques for improving effectiveness, including setting goals, daily planning, limiting interruptions, taking breaks, and establishing routines. It emphasizes the importance of breaks for boosting focus, retention, and productivity. Overall, the document advocates for structured yet flexible approaches to time management tailored to individual needs and schedules.

1. PURE TIME
MANAGEMENT
and its death

2. Time management definition by Wikipedia: Time Management
is the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control
over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to
increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity
Quite diplomatic definition, a?
Let’s simplify it!
Time management is the ability to utilize the available time
in optimum manner to achieve one’s personal and
professional goals

3. So, when the need of time management appears?
When we are busy!
And if we are busy all the time?
Then we need time management all the time!
But why?
Because busyness is often a criteria for not utilizing the
time in optimum manner
Bee VS Mosquito
The mosquito and the bee are busy all day long, but the end result of their
busyness is different.

4. SO WE NEED TIME MANAGEMENT NOT ONLY TO GET RID OF
OUR BUSYNESS, BUT ALSO TO GET THE RESULTS WE
NEED…FASTER
And still, the first step is to see what keeps us so busy!
- Inability to prioritize (lack of organizational skill)
- Inability to concentrate – if we don’t concentrate to complete a tasks at
one time, it seems long and time consuming
- The ability to enlarge the tasks - Parkinson’s low - work expand to fill the
time available for it. Be aware of this!
- Excessive detailing of the task – get rid of the need for perfection and
stop thinking too long about doing something
*StartUp moto - Slow decisions kill people faster
- Procrastinating – if we do all small tasks that we delay, it will give us
really big source of free time
- Distractions – unimportant colleague conversation, FaceBook, LinkedIN,
mail
- Sometimes we just think we are too busy, because of the amount of the
tasks, but in most cases when we sit and organize our tasks it turns out that
we are actually not that busy (it’s about the feeling of control)
- The need to be a “wanna be” – sometimes our desire to feel important
make us think and act like very busy person. The truth is that the most
successful people have more free time than others

5. HOW TIME MANAGEMENT CAN HELP
US?
- To have more control over our job responsibilities
- To increase our work output
- To reduce stress
- To have more free time
- To have more free mind
- To show us our value in money (our salary/man-hours worked
per month)

6. MAIN FACTORS AFFECTING TIME
MANAGEMENT:
- Personality / skills
- Influence of the colleagues and friends – you are the average
of the five people, which are closest to you
- Management style of the superior/ organizational culture
- The nature of the job

7. OVERALL TIME MANAGEMENT:
- Setting lifetime goals helps you to chart your life course – every
December write your most important goals for the next year.
*The purpose of life is a life with purpose
*Setting goals is part of Mediteranium diet, which is defined by
the American Nutrition Association as the only proven beneficial
diet in America
- Break up lifetime goals in smaller goals
- Make a daily to do list
- Revise your list and judge your progress

8. PROJECT TIME MANAGEMENT:
- Make and use lists (planning) for the tasks – using lists empty your mind (don’t
relay on your memory), help you to identify where your time goes and how can
you improve it. Try to organize your lists/tools. If you use papers to write down
your tasks, try to separate them: for action, for reading, for information, etc. That
will save time
„Remember that the things that get scheduled are the things that get done“ Robin
Sharma
“If you aren’t making lists, you probably aren’t making a lot of money either”
- Prioritize – Is it important or urgent? Is it worth spending your time and company
resources now or later? Urgent VS Important – don’t always tune out fire
- Right time for right activity – plan to make the best use of your time
- Delegation of responsibities – delegation saves time and develops subordinates.
Don’ t spend time for something that can be done, to a satisfactory level, by your
subordinate. Give people tasks by their skills. Delegation is a great motivator. It
enriches jobs, improves performance and rises moral staff. But you need to delegate
the right task to the right person – to know how to use your resourses
*In some big companies it is a culture when the executive director come in charge
to starts to train somebody for his/hers deputy.
- Set deadlines – make a realistic estimate of how much you can do
- Preserve some contingency time to deal with unexpected tasks (no 100%
utilization)
- Review and revise your list every day or on regular basis

9. DAILY TIME MANAGEMENT (WHAT SAVE US
TIME AND HELP US TO GET RESULTS):
- Make a plan for the day – Take control of your tasks. Don’t be busy being
busy.
- Control the interruptions - Set a time limit for any interruption. Don’t always
be available. Learn to say “NO”.
- Plan your calls - Practice not answering the phone just because it's ringing and
e-mails just because they show up. Remove mail pop ups.
- Get over procrastination - when you catch yourself procrastinating, ask
yourself – why am I putting this off? If there is no reason – Do it! And do not
confuse reason with excuse.
- Pass on information - don’t fear of missing something.
- Ask questions
- Perfection, at times, becomes counterproductive
- Work concentrate and then take breaks – plan your breaks.
- Muddle makes work and waste time - strive for good order in your office.
Your desk should be clear of all papers except the specific job on hand. It invites
you to think one thing at a time and concentration is a big time saver.
- Block your time - Most people’s schedules only have their locked-in-stone
appointments with others. But we should have locked-in-stone appointments
with ourselves. Meet yourself and let the romance begine 

10. World №1 time waster is Procrastination.
Banish it from your life with the “first 10 minutes rule” – if you don’t
want to do something, commit yourself that you will start to do it for
10 minutes and then if you want to stop – go ahead and stop without
quilt. There is research which shows that in 90% of cases, for these 10
minutes, the task is already done, or it become interesting to us and
we finish it.
World №1 time saver is establishing a daily routine.
Habits save us time and energy. It gives us momentum to do recurrent
tasks quicker and without much energy, so that we could use our best
capacity for doing harder or new tasks.
Do not count on your self discipline and willpower. They are
overrated. Defining routines and systems is more effective than
relying on self-discipline. Routine works because with it we do things
automatically, and we don’t tax our very limited supply of willpower.
So, make your personal routine.

11. TIME MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES FOR
BETTER PRODUCTIVITY:
- Pareto principle: 20% of your time will produce 80% of your productive output. Can
you detect which are those 20% in your daily job?
- Parkinson’s low: work expand to fill the time available for it. Be aware of this!
- The 2 minute rule : If you can do it for 2 minutes – do it immediately – it will save
you time later
- “Eat that frog:” biggest task first
- Small task first: completing small tasks first gives us sense for success and then we are
more motivated to handle the more hard tasks
- Rest actively: have work-breaks to overcome fatigue. Plan no-working days. Sleep
enough. Be interested in field different than yours. Try to do more of what you love.
*in some companies, if the employee worked for 5 years, he/she have the right to have 6 months rest
in which to travel, to sport, to find her/himself;

12. THE POWER OF BREAKS (THEY CAN MAKE
YOU HAPPIER, MORE FOCUSED AND MORE
PRODUCTIVE)
3 Scientific Reasons to Prioritize Breaks at Work:
1. Breaks keep us from getting bored (and thus, unfocused) - the human brain
just wasn’t built for the extended focus we ask of it these days. Focusing so hard on one
thing for a long time isn’t something we’re ever going to be great at (at least for a few
centuries). The fix for this unfocused condition is simple - all we need is a brief interruption
(aka a break) to get back on track
2. Breaks help us retain information and make connections - Our brains have
two modes: the “focused mode,” which we use when we’re doing things like learning
something new, writing or working and “diffuse mode,” which is our more relaxed,
daydreaming mode, when we’re not thinking so hard. You might think that the focused
mode is the one to optimize for more productivity, but diffuse mode plays a big role, too.
Studies have shown that activity in many brain regions increases when our minds wander
and daydream. That is why breakthroughs that seem to come out of nowhere are often the
product of diffuse mode thinking. Also the diffuse mode, it turns out, is what you often
need to be able to solve a very difficult, new problem
3. Breaks help us reevaluate our goals - When you work on a task continuously, it’s
easy to lose focus and get lost in the weeds. In contrast, following a brief intermission,
picking up where you left off forces you to take a few seconds to think globally about what
you’re ultimately trying to achieve. It’s a practice that encourages us to stay mindful of our
objectives
*A study discovered that even though 66 % of employees spend more than eight hours a day at
work, more than a quarter of them don’t take a break other than lunch. One in five employee
respondents said guilt was the reason they don’t step away from their workspaces. It’s become
normal to think that if you never take a break from work, you’ll get more done, get promoted and
be more successful. But actually without any downtime to refresh and recharge, we’re less efficient,
make more mistakes, and get less engaged with what we’re doing.

13. FOUR “WORK – BREAK” METHODS TO
TRY:
1. Pomodoro method - set a timer for 25 minutes, and when it goes
off, take a short break for 5 minutes. Stretch your legs, grab a drink, or just
sit back and relax. After you’ve done four Pomodoro sessions, take a longer
break of 30 minutes or so. Working in such compact time periods helps
you get rid of distractions and focus more intently.

14. 2. 90-minute work blocks - Working in 90-minute intervals has long
been a favorite method of maximizing productivity because it works with our
bodies’ natural rhythms. Sleep researchers William Dement and Nathan
Kleitman first discovered the 90-minute pattern while studying the cycles by
which we progress into sleep, but it persists when we’re awake, too, as we move
from higher to lower levels of alertness.

15. 3. The 52-17 method - 52 minutes work at a time, then break for 17
minutes before getting back to it. The reason this technique is productive is
because users treat this short period of time as sprints. They try to get the
most done of those 52 minutes by working with intense purpose, but then
rest up to be ready for the next burst. In other words, they work with
purpose. And purpose is a great motivator.
4. Two 15-minute breaks per day - If a time-blocked day
doesn’t appeal to you or work with your job, consider a simpler, but still
quite effective solution: blocking out two planned 15-minute
intermissions in your day—one in the mid-morning and the other in the
mid-afternoon. Around 3 p.m. is the least productive time of day, so
definitely don’t skip that break!
*if that doesn’t work for you – find your timing for
work and rest

16. SO WE PROVE, THAT WE NEED BREAKS,
BUT WHAT TO DO IN OUR BREAKS?
- Take a walk

17. - Daydream
- Eat – sugar VS slow carbohydrates - The brain works best with about
25 grams of glucose circulating in the blood stream. To get those 25 grams
of glucose into your blood stream is pretty easy. For example you can eat a
donut. Or you can eat a small bowl of oats. In short term, for your brain
there is no difference what you will eat. But in long term, there is big
difference based on the influence of glucose, leptin and glycemic index.
With the donut your energy gets low faster, makes you feel fatigue and
hungry quicker.
Bottom line, sometimes what really matters with eating is when, where, and
who you’re with
If you a woman eating with a man -You’ll eat less .

18. - Read: Read a (non-work) book–especially fiction
- Get a coffee: are you timing your coffee breaks correctly? For people who wake up
between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m., the optimal times for consuming caffeine fall somewhere
around 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
- Doodle: Let your mind wander as you put pen to paper for some creative free time
- Look at adorable animal photos: Only baby animals will do the trick here
- Listen to music
- Nap: A nap of even 10 minutes has been shown to improve cognitive function and
decrease sleepiness and fatigue
- Exercise
- Talk to friends or coworkers
- Meditate
- Plan something fun: Like a future trip or vacation
- Go outside and see some nature
- Exercise your eyes: Use the 20-20-20 rule: Every 20 minutes, take a break for at
least 20 seconds and look at objects that are 20 feet away from you
- Mess Around Online

19. Are these advices really work?
Let’s see the common tasks in the very successful people’s schedule:
- Morning ritual - They rise early (early morning is when you’re most disciplined) and have a
morning ritual (focus on the goals - people who construct their goals in concrete terms are 50
% more likely to feel confident they will attain their goals and 32 % more likely to feel in control of
their lives; set a mood - If you start the day calm it’s easy to get the right things done and focus.
Our brains are literally hardwired to perform at their best not when they are negative or even
neutral, but when they are positive).
*no matter if you are morning or evening person – just focus on your most productive time
- Important Work First Thing — With No Distractions - Many people arrive at the office and
immediately get busy with email and meetings, leaving real work for later in the day… error.
Research shows that 2.5 to 4 hours after waking is when your brain is sharpest. All distraction in
the work place makes you stupid and it ends up that work doesn’t happen at work . Stop
focusing on just getting lots of random things done to pretend you’re making progress. Get the
important things done.
- Regroup When You Slow Down - Get a snack or a power nap if you can and track your
progress (mini-version of your morning ritual. Harvard research shows nothing is more
motivating than progress. Comparing people who tend to give up easily with people who tend
to carry on, even through difficult challenges, researchers find that persistent people spend twice
as much time thinking, not about what has to be done, but about what they have already
accomplished, the fact that the task is doable, and that they are capable of it.)
- Meetings, Calls and People Stuff In The Afternoon - When energy is high - focus on
creative, challenging work. When energy is low, do busy work. Research shows the afternoon
really is the best time for meetings — specifically, 3PM.
- A Relaxing Evening - Before dinner, Tim Ferriss recommends writing down your big goal for
tomorrow. This will get your mind off work and allow you to relax. According to the American
Psychological Association, the most effective stress-relief strategies are exercising or playing
sports, praying or attending a religious service, reading, listening to music, spending time with
friends or family, getting a massage, going outside for a walk, meditating or doing yoga, and
spending time with a creative hobby. (The least effective strategies are gambling, shopping,
smoking, drinking, eating, playing video games, surfing the Internet, and watching TV or movies
for more than two hours.)
- Sleep well - The bottom line is that sleep loss means mind loss. Sleep loss cripples thinking, in
just about every way you can measure thinking. Sleep loss hurts attention, executive function,
immediate memory, working memory, mood, quantitative skills, logical reasoning ability, general
math knowledge.

20. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’S SCHEDULE:

21. AND WHAT DO YOU THINK PEOPLE FIND
OUT IF THEY FOLLOW STRICTLY THESE
KIND OF SCHEDULES?
They find out, that even with a plan, sometimes you still
didn’t get everything done 
But the important thing is that you know this is an exception,
rather than a habit

22. SO IF PURE TIME MANAGEMENT IS SO
HELPFUL, THEN WHY IS DEAD?:
Because our days are determinate mostly not by our time, but by our energy!
Our energy, not time is the most precious asset of every one of us. So before
setting our time management routine, first of all we need to be concern about
our high levels of health (physical, emotional, mental and spiritual) as:
- Eat well
- Find some physical exercises that excites you
- Concentrate to your possibilities, not to your constraints
- Make your obstacles, your resources
- Go to a non-complaining diet
- Surround yourself with people with proper attitude
- Rest and sleep well
Time is the only victim who takes revenge on her
killer after his death
Homework: What time management tips will you
give to the mosquito and the bee to improve their
time and result?