Time Management

Executive summary

Time management techniques are useful, but they cannot create more hours in the day. The deeper challenge for leaders is deciding which demands deserve attention and which are crowding out work with greater impact.

This article presents seven methods for making time use more deliberate. The executive implication is to treat the calendar as an expression of priorities, not simply a container for incoming requests. Protecting strategic work, managing interruptions and creating realistic boundaries help leaders move from constant activity to meaningful contribution. Personal efficiency matters only when it serves the right outcomes.

breakthrough & regenerate your leadership

7 Time Management Techniques
that actually move the needle

Simple, proven ways to protect your focus, prioritise what matters, and get more done with less friction. Pick one, practise it for a week, and build from there.

Time Blocking

Structure your day

Assign specific tasks to specific slots in your calendar instead of working from an open to-do list. Your calendar becomes the plan, so you decide in advance where attention goes rather than reacting all day.

The Pomodoro Technique

Sustain focus

Work in 25-minute focused sprints followed by a 5-minute break; after four rounds, take a longer rest. Short deadlines fight procrastination and keep your energy fresh.

The Eisenhower Matrix

Prioritise

Sort every task by urgent vs. important. Do the important-and-urgent now, schedule the important-not-urgent, delegate the urgent-not-important, and drop the rest.

“Your calendar records your commitments. It does not tell you whether they mattered.”
Jan Salomons

Eat the Frog

Beat procrastination

Tackle your hardest, highest-impact task first thing, before email and meetings crowd it out. Everything after it feels easier, and the day’s biggest win is already banked.

The 80/20 Rule

Focus your effort

Also called the Pareto Principle: roughly 20% of your effort drives 80% of your results. Identify the vital few tasks that create real value, and give them your best hours.

The Two-Minute Rule

Clear the small stuff

If it takes less than two minutes, do it now. Quick replies, filing, small decisions — handling them immediately stops a pile of tiny tasks from becoming mental clutter.

Task Batching & Timeboxing

Reduce switching cost

Group similar tasks — emails, calls, admin — and handle them together in a fixed window (a “timebox”). Batching cuts the cost of context-switching, and a set time limit keeps any single task from expanding to fill your whole day.

salomons.coach

Jan Salomons is a seasoned leader/executive who shares his knowledge and experience as an executive mentor/coach/trainer as well as a transformation and operations excellence expert. He has over 35 years of experience working with senior leaders across more than 55 countries, and is an elected member of the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council.

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