Spend your time on the most important tasks instead of focusing on time management.

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You’re probably not a stranger to the concept of time management, often promoted by self-help books. The basic idea is to help you achieve more in the time you have, and this technique is proven to work: it increases productivity by around 15 to 25 percent.
But there is an even better way to get efficient.

In time management, the goal is to increase efficiency by fitting more tasks into a given period of time. It is aimed at executives who already have a busy schedule and the first step is to categorize one’s daily activities according to priority.

This is where the problems start: most people don’t know which of their tasks are the most  important, and wind up defining some 60 to 70 percent of their to-do list as “high priority.”

The result? They end up with jam-packed schedules and longer working hours. Clearly, forcing even more tasks into an already-full schedule is not a good solution, as you can easily become overworked and, in the worst case, suffer burnout.

As an alternative, 80/20 time management or “time revolution” helps you to first identify the 20 percent of your tasks that produce 80 percent of the achievement, and then focus on them.

For example, in his job at a consulting firm, the author discovered that his firm was more successful than others, but without any extra effort.

Normally consultants try to tackle a whole range of issues for their clients, resulting in only superficial work, with the client being responsible for the implementation of any recommendations.

In contrast, the authors’ colleagues focused on the most important 20 percent of clients’ issues and used the time they saved to support clients in implementing recommendations. This approach helped them outstrip other consulting firms and increase their clients’ profits.

This kind of “time revolution” helps you to free up time without degrading the impact of your work.

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