Thursday, February 03, 2011

Meaningful Time for Doing Little




Peter Drucker and many others who have discussed time management have noted that freeing five or ten minutes here or there does little good since those small segments don't accord sufficient time to make serious progress on anything of substance. We need to block out large chunks of at least an hour or more in order to get things done.

So far, so good. But how about also blocking out the goof-off time? Deliberately designating time for doing little or nothing of consequence helps us to escape the guilt feelings and self-reproaches that arise when we have permitted usable time to drift away.

Examine your schedule for the coming week. In addition to scheduling meetings, work on projects, and time for thought, also book in some goof-off time. Take that commitment seriously.

My guess is you will find that it is far more productive than its usual substitute: Pretend to Work Time.

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