It’s not one or ‘tother...

I read an article recently, on time management (my favourite topic!) and it claimed that the new way to work was that we should all be ditching our lists in favour of time blocking techniques. Now, I may have shouted a little bit at my phone at this point because I just could not believe that I was reading.

This comes up time and again when you are reading about business techniques – everything from time management to marketing tactics – a new idea comes along (or an old one that’s been reinvigorated) and everyone talks about how this should be the only thing you should use.

Honestly, it’s crazy – firstly, hopping between different methods of doing things will only lead to confusion, especially if you have to learn each new system inside and out to be effective. I shudder to think about all the time that is wasted as you change how you do things.

So, these are my top tips for stopping the noise from all these faddy changes to get the most from the way you work. Let’s look at time management in particular as that’s how this whole thing started.

1)       No man – or technique – is an Island

Okay so everything will work on it’s own but it’s my experience that most things work better together. Lists, for example, are great at keeping track of all of things that you need to do but Time Blocking (or Pomodoro) is great for managing the flow of your day. If you’re going to cut up your day into blocks of time, then you need to know what you’re doing in each section so you need your list. Similarly, a list is utterly pointless if you don’t know where or how to start.

2)      What’s good for them isn’t always good for you

No two people are the same, we don’t work the same way and nor should we. It’s a great idea to share what works best for you if someone asks but don’t assume that because something is a perfect fit your life it’ll automatically work for everyone else. The other way round is true to, if you read about the latest fad don’t think that it’s the solution to all your problems – you might have to kiss a few technique frogs to find your efficiency prince. When you do find it though, stick with it, it’s what works for you. Build on it, tweak it, try other things but don’t discount it because it’s not fashionable anymore. I mean, I still carry a leather Filofax off of the 1980s and I love it.

3)      Fads and fashion don’t necessarily mean success

Just because something sounds new and exciting doesn’t mean that it’s better than something that’s been around for years – there’s a reason the classics are classics. It’s never a bad thing to try new ideas out and to read about changes and developments in an arena but scrambling to adopt a different way of doing things just because everyone is talking about it it’s not an effective way to do things. If I adopted every time management technique I read about I’d spend more time rearranging my list and the way my day ran than I would doing actual work. Just think about what your needs are and if anything new would actually benefit your working day.