Pre-reading task

You are going to read an article about why time management is important and some techniques for improving common problem areas. Before you read， think about your own time management. Do you work in an organised， efficient way？ Can you think of any ways in which you could improve， or methods you have used successfully？

A

Do you ever feel as though you have an impossible amount of work to do？ Or that there are never enough hours in the day？ Do you find it hard to focus on tasks or do you delay starting them？ Worse still， have you ever missed a deadline？ If so， you are not alone. Unfortunately， the stress created by struggling with the many demands on your time tends to make you even less efficient and more likely to make mistakes. A lack of organisation and an inability to say no can leave you feeling as though you have no control over your workload. The good news is that， in many cases， spending a little extra time on improving your time-management skills can make all the difference. The main problem areas are usually prioritising tasks， scheduling work and restricting interruptions and time-wasters.

B

Start by writing down all the tasks that need doing. If they are long， complicated projects， try to break them down into smaller， more manageable parts that you can complete in less than two hours. Once you have your list， it’s time to prioritise to ensure you get the crucial work out of the way before wasting your energy on things that don’t matter so much or can wait. Consider the importance of a task then factor in the urgency to help you decide if and when you need to take action. Using a matrix and category system can help with this.

Very Urgent Not Urgent

Do these critical tasks first. Categorise them as A or B and deal with them as soon as possible. If you often have to deal with tasks of this nature， make sure you leave enough time in your weekly work plan to include them. These may be routine jobs or part of an ongoing project but they don’t need to be done immediately. Plan to do these tasks during time you have set aside in your weekly schedule.

Category B， C or D

Try to avoid these situations. Ask others to think carefully about who should be dealing with such problems and finding alte