Ten Tips on Time Management

•  Use lists/outlines. Be extreme if necessary: Keep a pad on the bedside table to jot down a thought when it occurs.
• If you come to work and start planning your day, it's too late. Plan the next day the night before. Be specific on times and priorities.
• Come to work early. an extra hour from 8:30 to 9:30 is worth two hours later in the day. Phone calls go out earlier, and sometimes they even get returned before lunch
• Spend three hours a month in the office at a time when there are few people around. Use the time to organize yourself, clear your brain, clean your desk, plan the next week or month. You'll feel cleansed, and you'll be better organized.
• Limit use of tape recorders. Reporters waste hours transcribing tape from average interviews. Save the tape for showdown interviews or for stories when you need longer quotes.
• Don't let little things slide. Set aside 30 minutes a day to take care of smaller stuff (a note to a source, a call to a reader, even, yes, a personal call or two). Do it when you're 30 minutes away from the next big meeting or interview.
• Learn which tasks are most important, and spend most of your time on them. This sounds basic, and it is. But it's just like learning what to put in a story and what to leave out. Some reporters (and some editors) never learn it.
• Fill out your story/week ahead budget. this seems like paperwork, but if you can't figure out on Thursday most of what you'd like to do next week, you have a problem bigger than time management.
• Set internal deadlines. If something's due on Thursday at 5, aim for Thursday at 2. You'll feel better, and you'll appear more in control.
• Know when to push -- and when to leave. They don't give medals for working 60 hours a week, and if they did, you don't want one. Work long and hard when the work is peaking. Don't feel bad about leaving early when you can.

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