I know a lot of my colleagues are entering the working world with whatever time management and organizational skills and habits they already had in college – be they amazing or downright bad. In my experience of knowing all kinds of organizers and time managers, not only do three specific type of agenda keepers come to mind, but their respective time management style(s).
And yes – time management is definitely an art, and everyone needs to discover their best medium. I will say that no one ever just sticks to one thing; I’ve seen many-a-time-manager drift through the different types of agenda keepers throughout their entire lives.There’s three main types of agenda keepers:
- The Scheduler – A Scheduler is someone who would say “Let me pencil you in” or “I just need to write this in my agenda”. They need access to a an actual calendar at all times – be they digital or physical. Schedulers tend to be the most old-fashioned and favor old-school methods the most.
- The Tasker – Lists are the haven of the Tasker. Long, organized lists with just a few details underneath are typically all that the Tasker needs. Crossing each item as its complete is a moment of exhilaration for a Tasker, and they don’t fret even when their list seems interminable (because it ultimately is).
- The Tracker – Trackers are always looking at the clock. How many minutes are they spending here? How about there? Trackers are most worried about how many hours they spend doing something. Pure-Trackers are hard to find; most people only dabble into Tracking life.
6 Best Time Management Tools For Leaders:
- iStudiezPro: If you’ve ever wanted an app that understood your educational needs, this is the app for you. It allows you to break down your entire semester into courses and enables you to add coursework to so you’re never lost in the semester. iStudiezPro is great if you take an hour or two to just enter the entire syllabus of the semester – exam dates, assignment due dates, presentation dates that you know are coming up, and due dates for homework. Use the tasking function of the app to remind you to do all of the school stuff that would otherwise clutter your calendar. This app is for Mac/iPhone/iPad users. Unfortunately, there isn’t an Android version out there yet (even though they should definitely consider it). The app isn’t free – it does cost a few bucks in iTunes, though. This app is for both the Scheduler and the Tasker.
- Toggl: Toggl boasts that it’s the “timesheet killer and intended for anybody who needs an easy-to-use overview of time spent” – and it is. It is not calendar-based, but it is excellent for the Tracker who needs to know where their time is going. Toggl does offer a free version of their time tracking platform *and* they’re mobile as well.
- Google Calendar / iCal / Outlook: I lumped these together because it’s truly all about the user’s preferred user experience. Some people love Google Calendar, others prefer Outlook. And while I love how iCal looks, it’s not exactly perfect for the intense scheduling I need to do. Regardless, these all do the same thing: give you a visual calendar complete with daily, weekly, and monthly views. This is mostly for the Scheduler – none of these platforms heavily emphasize the use of tasks or tracking. They do have Tasker-attributes, but it’s definitely not the main focus.
- Homemade Agenda Book: Some of you may have never considered this, but in the event that you can’t find a calendar you like, just make one. An example would be the one at the top of the blog post. Annotating your own days in any blank book you buy and then putting all of your daily notes in them can be helpful. Taskers tend to benefit most from this style. Schedulers have the freedom to do whatever they want, but the downside is that if they need to see an actual calendar, they’ll have to draw it or print it. This style of scheduling takes some serious creativity; a lack of color could result in you not even wanting to look at it.
- WorkFlowy: When I discovered WorkFlowy, I couldn’t believe that it actually worked. I’m naturally a Scheduler, but that didn’t stop me from falling in love with WorkFlowy’s interminable but clean listing styles. All of the important facets of your life could fit on a free WorkFlowy account – but be warned; it’s designed to get you addicted to the effortless Tasker-heaven. Completing your lists are a wonderful feeling. I mostly use WorkFlowy for weekly accomplishment building and organizing information in my brain, but I can easily see how it could be someone’s ultimate agenda.
- Desk/Wall Calendars: This is the one people might groan at because they’ve seen it before. But for a Scheduler, this is simply the way that everything is done. Being able to see appointments and deadlines and events all in one format at one time is powerful – especially if you’re mostly visual and like being able to color-code your appointments. It is only powerful if you keep up with it, though. So if you’re not a Scheduler, don’t even go there. It would be a waste of time.
Rules for Implementation:
- It must be something you can keep up with.
- Find the combination of tools that works for you.
- Start small.
- Make it fun.