Time Management Laws | Principles of Time Management

Time Management Laws: Law of Nurturing Commitment
C.L. Kappagomtula, Professor, Malaysia, Member
Here's another one for our list of time management principles/laws:
7. LAW OF NURTURING COMMITMENT - "Any task in which you involve right from beginning will finish fast with a great finesse".
So involve yourself right from the onset of certain tasks.

Time Management Laws: Law of Reflection
srinivas, Lecturer, India, Member
8. LAW OF REFLECTION: Take time to reflect often (at regular time interval) as you work for insights… Remember insights are dependent on the quality of inner being. So keep your inner being as clean as possible.

Peter Drucker's Time Management Steps
Javier Elenes, Business Consultant, Mexico, Member
9. LAW OF DRUCKER
Peter Drucker in Chapter 2 of his Book "The Effective Executive" says:
"…Effective Executives know that time is a limiting factor. The key to time effectiveness is a 3 step process:
1. Record the use of time.
2. Manage time.
3. Consolidate Time.
The core concept behind all of this is that time is valuable, so
- Know how in Reality you use your time,
- Define Priorities and Posterities,
- Define What can be do by others and Delegate these tasks.
So you can concentrate on the priorities.

Time Management Principles: Law of Procrastination
Abomar, Consultant, Malaysia, Member
Similar but not the same as Law #4:
10. LAW OF PROCRASTINATION - The habit of delaying or postponing an important task, that must be done anyway. This result is bigger stress due to the backlog.

Top 10 Time Management Laws/Principles
Jaap de Jonge, Editor, Netherlands
Fantastic 👍 we are already at 10!
Thanks everybody for sharing time management "credos" and "tenets" you know of.

Time Management Lessons
S. Lago, Business Consultant, Canada, Member
Like most things, time management is a skill that can be learned or improved. The book "Getting Things Done: the Art of Stress-Free Productivity" by David Allen is an excellent resource for organizing your office/life. Even if you only implement a few of David's suggestions, you will be more productive and relaxed. Game changer.

Time Management: Principle of Laborit
Jaap de Jonge, Editor, Netherlands
11: PRINCIPLE OF LABORIT - Human behavior prompts us to do first what makes us happy. At work we instinctively tend to "seek immediate satisfaction" and "escape stress". Also called: "Law of Least Effort". So you should start your workday with the difficult jobs and reward yourself. And you should organize your activities according to a grid of difficulties.

Time Management: Hofstadter's Law
Jaap de Jonge, Editor, Netherlands
12. HOFSTADTER'S LAW - Things take longer than expected, even taking into account the Law of Hofstadter. So at the beginning of any project or endeavour, it is wise to predict that it will necessarily be delayed, even more than can be imagined at that time.

Time Management - Law of Significance
Mark Williams, Management Consultant, United Kingdom, Member
13: LAW OF SIGNIFICANCE - Rory Vaden gives a TED talk on '3D Time Management'. The first dimension is the URGENCY component; the second is the IMPORTANCE component; and he considers the third dimension to be: How significant is the task?
Vaden asserts that this SIGNIFICANCE of a task (how long will it matter?) also is a key principle in deciding how to spend your time.

Time Management - Law of Aerial Physics
Angelina Michaelidis, Management Consultant, Greece, Member
The Law of Aerial Physics: A task tends to take as much time, as available (like aerial elements take as much space as available). So define well what is the time worth dispensing for a task.

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Editor: I see this law as the same as (a variation of) #3, so we will not add a sequence number to it. Thanks anyway for sharing it!

Time Management Laws and Principles
Verbeeck, Management Consultant, Belgium, Member
14: 2 MINUTES LAW
If something takes less than 2 minutes, do it immediately. Very useful when you empty your mailbox.
15: DELEGATION LAW
Delegate what you can. And don't forget, for every job you dislike, there will probably be someone who actually likes to do it!
16: "MUSTURBATION" LAW
The wording you use for your activities is an important motivation factor. So never use the words "I must do …" because it implies an order you give to yourself which will create a feeling of resistance to do it and it puts al actions at the same level of importance. Instead, use the words "I would like to do …" because that puts the focus on the positive results of the action and it also allows to prioritize between the actions: What would I like to do the most?

Understanding Parkinson's Law in Time Management
TAIBO MARGRET, Uganda, Member
Indeed the Law of Parkinson says that the more time is available, the more a task will consume. The more time is available. The more time we waste. Efficiency increases as deadline approaches. So, don't spend too much time on a task given even if time is plenty.
This is very true. In my personal findings, many have confirmed that their accuracy increases at the deadline point. Especially doing course works; and that reading with understanding is efficient only when the examination timetable is out.
Generally human beings are active at the last minute in time; many events have ever reached the bliss point at deadlines. (x-mass shopping).

Time Management Laws: Sod's Law
Maurice Hogarth, Consultant, United Kingdom, Premium Member
Anything that can't possibly go wrong, will go wrong." This is Sod's Law.

Remember: You do not, cannot, manage time. It ticks by at one-second per second. What you can manage is the work that you need to do in the time available. How much time do you have? What needs to be done in what priority? Start fitting that priority into the "work-time" (not life-time) you have and you are managing your work (just) in time.