Book Review: Do it Tomorrow and other Secrets of Time Management

Do it Tomorrow and Other Secrets of Time Management – Mark Foster

An interesting little book which I picked up recently. As a copywriter, time management is a battleground – clients always want their copy immediately but are not prepared to look at revisions until tomorrow….you can see where the conflict begins to arise!

The 7 principles of time management set out in this book are a useful guide to keeping this conflict in check:

1 – Have a clear vision

Write a list of the things you are NOT going to do tomorrow; e.g. I am not going to spend more than 30 mins on my email.

2 – One thing at a time

Our eyes are bigger than our stomachs – ditto with our tendency to take more on than we can manage in one go.

3 – Little & often

A series of rapid drafts, which are refined and built upon, is much better than saving everything up for one huge burst of action.

4- Define your limits

Don’t try to always ‘think outside the box’, it is the limitations which encourage creativity.

For example, if asked to come up with ideas for a revolutionary new car, you might be able to put forward a few vague suggestions. However, if asked to improve, say, the steering wheel in your own car, the chances are you could quickly come up with some very useful ideas.

5- Closed lists

A closed list is a list with a line drawn under the bottom so that nothing can be added to it.

For example, to deal with your email at batches at regular intervals rather than piecemeal as it comes in during the day

6 – Reduce random factors

We can never eliminate random factors because life isn’t that predictable.

So, your boss calling you in unexpectedly to give you a new project is random, but you can (hopefully) plan for the project and so don’t have to drop everything right away – if you do, then maybe this is a facet of your work and it ceases to become random.

However, a friend sending you an email to ask you to look at a new internet site is a random factor – this should be scheduled for later attention in your closed list. In fact, your default setting should be ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’, and you should only change this when you have a very good reason!

7 – Commitment v Interest

This works best for longer-term goals – it is possible to have many interests, but only a limited number of commitments.

Make a list – there is usually a trade-off between immediate gratification and long-term gain (e.g. I want that chocolate cake but I also want to be slim) – and cross the items off that list to which you cannot see yourself making a serious commitment.

I’ll let you know how it goes….as soon as I’ve figured out how to turn off the inbox ‘ping’ on my email!

[Mac: Go to Notification Centre/ Settings / Mail / Alert Sound – Mute….or for Windows: Tools / Options / Preferences / E-mail Options / Advanced E-mail options / Desktop Alerts]