On Time Management

Time management really starts with having a clear goal. If you don’t even know what you want, there’s no point in managing your time—just wing it, right? But once you’ve got a goal, that’s when it makes sense to organize yourself.

A good approach is to list out everything you need to do. Just write it all down, no matter how big or small. Then, rank these tasks based on the consequences of doing or not doing them. For example, if not doing something will lead to terrible outcomes, that’s clearly high priority. If doing something leads to really good results, that’s also super important. But if a task doesn’t move the needle in any direction, it’s probably not that important. Once you’ve sorted them, start doing the tasks from the top of the list. Even if you miss out on lower-ranked tasks, who cares? The big stuff will still get done.

Jim Rohn suggests planning your day before it begins, your week before it starts, and so on. Setting goals for the month before it begins, or just sitting down in the morning to decide what needs doing. You can do this on a Google Doc or any note-taking app. Keep a running list, mark things off as you finish them, and that’s it. It’s not about forcing yourself into a rigid schedule; it’s just about knowing what matters and making sure you do that first. That’s probably good enough to stay on track.