The Golden Rules for Managing Your Time at Work

Efficiency & Time ManagementWell-being & BalanceAll employees≈ 15 min

Key skill: Time management & prioritisation

Summary

Five laws of time to better organise your workday: anticipate the unexpected, set realistic deadlines, work without interruption, take breaks, and focus your efforts on the 20% of tasks that produce most of the results.

Target audience

Anyone looking to improve their time management.

Learning objectives

Optimise your time and be more efficient at work by applying the 5 laws of time.
Correctly estimate the time needed to complete a task, using Murphy's Law.
Set realistic deadlines to stop your work from needlessly dragging on, using Parkinson's Law.
Reclaim time by limiting interruptions and multitasking, using Carlson's Law.

Module outline

ArticlesPareto's Law multiplied — practical applications across different fields (strategy, time management, sales & marketing, problem solving) · The 5 laws of time and their practical applications
Expert videoAn overview of the 5 fundamental laws of time management: Murphy, Parkinson, Carlson, Illich, and Pareto, to optimise how you organise your work
AnchoringQuiz and True/False questions to dive deeper into the topic and cement what you've learned
Memo cardDownloadable coaching memo card: the key points from the expert video
CommitmentConcrete examples to help you define your own commitment

Models & methods

Murphy's Law; Parkinson's Law; Carlson's Law; Illich's Law; Pareto's Law (the 80/20 rule).

Research-based

The laws of Murphy, Parkinson, Carlson, Illich, and Pareto; figures cited: an executive interrupted every 12 minutes, margins of +20% to +40% (Murphy).