Career Development All-in-One For Dummies

Chapter 4

Focusing, Prioritizing, and Time-Blocking

IN THIS CHAPTER

Identifying vital tasks and goals

Prioritizing activities

Developing the habit of time-blocking

Staying on the road to successful time-blocking

What you do with your time is more important than how much time you have. Just as recognizing and understanding your life goals helps you achieve successful time-management skills, the effective use of your time goes a long, long way to shortening the journey to those goals. By investing your time with care and consideration, your journey toward your dreams is certain to be a smoother road. In fact, an old time-management adage says that for every minute you invest in planning, you save ten minutes in execution. Spend an hour planning your trip, and you’ll free up ten hours — to achieve better business results, reduce stress, and add quality time at home.

The best way to achieve your goals is to prioritize them and develop an ordered plan to reach them. A universally recognized method for maximizing productivity, called the 80/20 rule, has proven successful time and again, ...