What Are The Basics Of Any Time Management Approach?

Broadly speaking any time management approach fits into any one of the categories below. These categories have evolved over time. More appropriately they are the different generations of time management.

The first generation consisted mainly of reminders. It generally involved another person reminding of a particular activity that needed to be performed.

People in the second generation involves a little more planning. Calendars and appointment books are used to meeting times and identify deadlines. A computer is often used to keep track to schedules and generate reminders. Unlike the first generation style, this approach allows some sort of future planning in terms of setting goal and meeting deadlines.

The third generation of time management approach involves prioritizing of activities. This prioritizing can be done of a daily or weekly basis. It required a more detailed planning in terms of assessing the importance of the activities. The priorities are often set using the ABC analysis. It basically involves flagging the most and the least important tasks. Most time managers use the computer to perform their planning, however a paper based organizer can also be used.  

The fourth generation focuses on differentiating between important and urgent. The best practice is to start a task when it is in the important phase. It should however be kept in mind that urgency may tend to be deceptive.