24 hours to be at your best

 Time management is the most overused term, and there are so many books coming out on the same topic. Having read quite a few of them, I have come up with a summary of the best ideas that work for me, and I believe these can help us really thrive in an interconnected global environment. These are the simple keys we need to really thrive in the 21st century.

As Peter Drucker said, the key to time management is managing yourself. I encourage you to really think long about this, because we all have 24 hours but how to schedule it is up to us. Of course, some of the time is not entirely our own, as we are responsible for the companies employing us and our family responsibilities.

Here are my top 9 time management hacks. We already know most of them, but a reminder doesn't hurt.

1. Define your activities – The first step is to be absolutely clear on what is on your plate. Having written to-do lists is not a bad idea. Even when we go shopping we write down what we have to buy. A lot of people have started scheduling activities directly into the calendar or Outlook. I think this makes sense, as it ensures you will be reminded and you won't forget. I also use the Reminders app on my iPhone to record what needs to be done. Basically, you want your mind to be free, so write down every single thing to be done, including personal things like calling the dentist, exercising or paying that bill.

2. Assign priorities – Once you have everything written down, the next step is to assign priorities to each of the activities. We all do the first step, but the second step is the key. You can't do everything on your plate, but you can do the most important. Identifying the most important tasks for any given day is your job number one. So go ahead and identify the top priorities from that list and work only on those. Another good productivity hack is to keep only that day's tasks in view. This keeps your focus clear and avoids distractions from thinking too much about pending tasks.

3. Follow the 4 D's – Going through your daily list, apply the following. This method has been cited in a few books.

• Do it – Decide whether the item needs to be done. If yes, go ahead.

• Delegate it – Decide if it can be done by someone else, in which case delegate it.

• Defer it – If it is not to be done immediately, defer it to another time.

• Dump it – This is the key step and is often overlooked. Once you decide something is not important or useful, just dump it so that it is not on your radar.

4. Have a stop doing list – This can be something like never logging into a social media app during office hours. The idea of a stop doing list was initially suggested by Peter Drucker, and now a lot of authors are saying the same thing. Another great strategy is what Drucker called creative abandonment, where you ask the question "Knowing what I now know, will I get into this now?" This is the question Jack Welch applied at GE when he declared, "We will only stay in businesses where we can be number one or number two in that market." It can also help us in our personal lives, in deciding whether, based on current information, we would get into a particular investment and so on.

5. Plan the previous night – Ensure that you plan your tasks for tomorrow today. One of the books is titled Organize Tomorrow Today, which basically means that when you have everything planned, you can better handle the things that throw us off our plan. Along with this, plan the week at the beginning or on Sunday. Of course, things never happen as we plan, but it is the planning process which is the key. Dwight Eisenhower said, "Plans are nothing; planning is everything."

6. Avoid multitasking – This is the key to managing yourself. We have so many distractions, but the key is to concentrate on one task at a time. If you are working on something important, make sure all notifications are off so you can get the job done. On a side note, I have not downloaded any apps for Facebook, LinkedIn or X on my iPhone, and if I want to check, I have to log in through the browser. This makes sure I don't check that often, and once I check, I log out, which makes it more difficult to log in again. This gives me a sense of control.

7. Do fewer tasks – The key is to work only on the most important tasks. It is not the number of tasks that you can check off but the importance of the tasks which is the key to managing your time.

8. Say no – No is the best word in your dictionary if you want to get the most out of yourself. When we look at superstars across professions, we might assume that they have it all. I don't think that may be the case. The only thing they have going for them is their focus on the few things they are excellent at, and they say no to everything else. The key is you shouldn't succumb to pressure from your peers and just focus on what you are good at. You can't master everything even if you try, but if you assess your strengths and focus only on those, you will get greater joy out of life.

9. Reflect and renew – Peter Drucker said it beautifully: "Follow effective action with quiet reflection and from that quiet reflection will follow even more effective action." Take time to journal how your week or day went. This really helps in evaluating yourself honestly and can help you get better at whatever you do. Renewal is another key, and this can be achieved by carving out specific times in the day or weekend to exercise, read or engage in any hobby that makes you happy.

If we follow these 9 suggestions, we can get more out of ourselves and, more importantly, get the maximum joy out of the 24 hours we are blessed with every single day. I hope you enjoyed reading this. Thanks.

If you read only two books on personal management, I'd recommend Getting Things Done by David Allen and The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker.

The views expressed here are my own and do not represent my organization.