A failure to manage time effectively has a cumulative effect: it increases pressure on you, which is likely to reduce your efficiency, and it makes you feel that you are not doing your job properly. Therefore, unless you tackle the problem, it is likely to get worse. This Element will provide some strategies for managing priorities and for using your working time more effectively.

If you have problems with time management the causes are likely to include wasted time, interruptions and changing priorities. It therefore makes sense to address these aspects of your work routine. You can do this by analysing your actual use of time and comparing this with how you would like to use your time. Over the next 20 minutes of study you will be introduced to some techniques for managing priorities in your work.

Distinguishing and finding a balance between between urgent and important tasks is vital to effective working. If you are frequently distracted from important work by more urgent issues you are likely to neglect important ones until they too become urgent.

Use this list to distinguish between the important and urgent activities you have to do.

Prioritising activities on a daily or weekly basis can help. A simple 2x2 matrix can be used for this purpose. The matrix categorises activities according to their importance and urgency.

If you have identified some important tasks but know you have not given them enough time you may need to find ways of managing your time more effectively.

You need to distinguish clearly between the urgent and the important and allocate your time accordingly.

Three common causes of time management problems are wasted time, interruptions and changing priorities.

It is important to analyse your actual use of time and compare this with how you would like to use your time.

A frequent difficulty is balancing urgency against importance.

A 2x2 matrix can help with prioritising activities according to urgency and importance.