Bob Iger’s 3 Time Management Tips: How to Manage Time Effectively

Time management is an organizational strategy that dedicates specific chunks of time to daily tasks in order to complete them. In other words, creating a schedule in order to get things done in the least amount of time. Effective time management requires complete focus, goal setting, and prioritizing important tasks.

Whether you’re a business leader or simply trying to find more balance in your life, good time management skills are the key to being more productive. Creating a schedule and establishing a routine gives you better control over your time. By designating a specific period of time for each task on your to-do list, you can complete projects in less time, leaving yourself more free time for a better work-life balance and lower stress levels.

Feeling like there’s never enough time for getting things done can be overwhelming. Here are nine time management techniques to help organize each workday:

1. 1. Set goals. Goal setting—both short-term and long-term goals—is important in time management. Itemize specific tasks under each goal.
2. 2. Do a time audit. Figure out how you spend your time, by either writing down what you do throughout the day, or with time tracking software, a time management app, or time management tools.
3. 3. Avoid time-wasters. Eliminate procrastination during your scheduled work time. Put away possible distractions, like cell phones. Set a specific time to check email and make phone calls.
4. 4. Do one thing at a time. Multitasking takes away the ability to really focus. Work on one project at a time.
5. 5. Get help. Delegating tasks to someone on your team—or even outsourcing work to a freelancer—enables you to get more done.
6. 6. Condense related tasks. Reduce your number of tasks by condensing similar tasks. This allows you to focus your time and stay in a zone rather than mentally hopping from one unrelated project to another.
7. 7. Prioritize. Always put urgent tasks first.
8. 8. Make a plan. At the end of the day, write a to-do list for the next day. When you get to work you’ll be ready to go because you prepared the night before.
9. 9. Set a time limit. Set a time limit for dedicated, focused work without interruption. Then set a little time for breaks to get up, walk around, and refresh.

Work. Sleep. Leisure. Pick two. That basically sums up the experience of being a business leader. Even doing one thing besides work can, at times, feel like a luxury. Here are Bob Iger’s three time management tips to help you work smarter, balance your life, and get things done:

1. 1. Find time for stillness. Placing undue emphasis on busy-ness can rob you of the time you need to step back, process, and problem-solve creatively. That’s an issue. Bob is intent on incorporating this kind of quiet time into his routine, no matter the level of stress he knows he’ll be facing later in the day. Deliberate stillness—combined with dedicated time for exercise, media consumption, family, and creativity—makes for an efficient day, even if it doesn’t feel like every minute is being “used” productively.
2. 2. Evaluate your day. So what qualifies as a “successful” day? You’ll have to define this on your own terms, but start by thinking back on what you’ve accomplished in the last 24 hours. In your phone or a notebook, keep track of all of your wins in any given day, no matter how big or small. Looking back on that list will help you find a sense of satisfaction, even when it feels like your intent for the day got derailed.
3. 3. Realize that less work often means better work. It can range from hard to seemingly impossible to extricate yourself from work (especially if you’re the one running the company). But the thing about overwork is that it not only hurts you in the long run—increasing your chances of depression, diabetes, and heart disease—it also has the potential to hurt your bottom line. If you find yourself slipping into workaholism, your productivity and creativity will dwindle dramatically. Limiting your work to 40 hours or fewer per week increases efficiency, concentrating your total focus within a shorter span of time (fun fact: per a study from Stanford professor John Pencavel, working more than 55 hours a week kills productivity so much that doing work almost becomes pointless). “Too often, busyness is not a means to accomplishment but an obstacle to it,” Alex Soojung-Kim Pang writes in Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less (seriously, read it). You brain needs space to play and rest, which in turn prepares you to come to work with a clearer head.

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