Pros and Cons of Time Management Tools

If you know your priorities and have a good memory (or a good secretary) you might be able to keep everything you need to plan your day on a scrap of paper. But most of us need more than that. A diary is a good start. You probably recognize two kinds of diary: the kind to record your innermost thoughts and the appointment diary. For many people, a diary is just a place for noting down appointments and phone numbers: it is not used for serious planning.

A time management diary has the days divided into times in at least half-hourly sections. If you are a very busy person, choose one with divisions into 15 or 20 minute slots. It should also have pages for notes and a daily section for lists and notes. Whether you choose a week-to-view or day-to-view will be up to you, but if you choose a daily diary you may need to refer back frequently to a weekly plan.

In a diary there may be extra sections for:
- personal details
- notes
- general information
- expenses
- road/rail maps.

If some pages in standard diaries are irrelevant for your needs, take a tip from Pete; a computer analyst. He has a favourite type of diary but it has some irrelevant pages. He tears these out so that he can focus on the essential information.

You may use a notebook for keeping notes and making to-do lists. But if you keep it separate from your diary or planner you may lose it or forget to refer to it. If you forget your diary or planner when you are out and about, make notes on paper and then transfer them immediately into your diary when you get back to the office or home. Many managers prefer a two-page-a-day diary so that they have plenty of space for notes opposite each day.

In a time planner you need:
- daily time sheets
- weekly plan sheets
- monthly plan sheets
- year planner chart
- note pages
- to-do list pages.

Management planner
Many busy people use a management planner. This is a combination of a diary with daily time markings, weekly planning sheets, monthly planning sheets, a year chart and pages and spaces for to-do lists and notes. It is comprehensive and effective if used properly. Many people find that their lives are transformed by keeping track of their time needs in one comprehensive volume. The disadvantage is that it can be a bulky book, which can make it less useful for making notes on the move.