Six Steps to Great Time Management

Effective time management can be broken down into six fundamental steps. These steps are designed to be simple and quick to implement, taking only a few minutes each day to plan.

1. Touch It Once: Handle tasks, emails, and documents a single time before moving to the next.
2. The Six Most Important Tasks: Create a daily list of the six most important things to accomplish.
3. Time Blocking: Allocate a specific amount of time for each task on your daily list.
4. Plan Your Day: Schedule your tasks in a specific order, creating a detailed plan for your day.
5. Prioritize Difficult Tasks: Tackle the most challenging and important tasks first.
6. Declutter Aggressively: Regularly ask "Will it hurt me to throw this away?" to eliminate unnecessary files and information.

The key to success with this system is the pigheaded discipline to follow it consistently.