Life, eh? Always so close to deadlines yet so far away from the practical cloning technology that would allow us to create spare copies of ourselves to work while we nap. When the job has to get done you have to find the time somehow.

1.There’s no time for training. “The first step is not to go on any time-management courses.” Ormond Simpson, a senior lecturer in institutional research at the Open University, says the evidence suggests that they don’t help much. “It changes behaviour for a short while but then people go back to what they were doing before.”

2.Make a list. “Make it as long as you like, and remember that you don’t have to systematically cross things off in order,” Simpson says. “The important thing is to do something that takes you a little bit further along your list.”

3.Break it down. If you have a job that looks too big to start, break it into a number of smaller tasks and add them to your list as well, Simpson says. “Even doing a little bit helps. It gives you a sense of achievement. Sometimes I put things on my list that I have already done so that I can cross them off.”

4.Relax. “The biggest problem with managing time and deadlines is stress and time anxiety,” Simpson says. It’s all too easy to get into such a tizzy about how much you have to do that you become incapable of doing any of it.

5.Learn to appreciate good enough. “Perfectionism is the enemy of progress” is Simpson’s motto. Better to do a decent job on time than a masterly job that’s delivered too late to be of any use to anyone. “You have to look at what’s achievable and what’s not,” says Gladeana McMahon, vice-president of the Association for Coaching. “A lot of people try to do too much.”

6.Scope the situation from the start. “When you take on a new job you have to timetable yourself. Sit down and look at all the tasks you have to do, find out how they were done before and set a timetable so that you use all your time effectively,” McMahon says. “At the start of each day take five minutes to think about what you need to do.”

7.Cut corners and cannibalise. Keep copies of your successful documents, such as project plans, proposals and reports — or get them from other people — and use them as templates next time you need to do similar work, McMahon says. The wheel is old, but it works.

8.Use dead time. Allow time in your schedule for travelling and try to use it to get things done, even if that just means organising your personal digital assistant (PDA) or updating your diary. You do have a diary or PDA, don’t you? “You need to be efficient with your systems and you need support mechanisms, whether that is a PDA or a Filofax or whatever,” McMahon says.

9.Minimise interruptions. You don’t have to answer your phone every time it rings or check your e-mail every two minutes, McMahon says. Setting time aside for dealing with phone calls and e-mails will help you to concentrate on your other tasks. “It will make you much more efficient.”

10.Get someone else to do it. Know who in the organisation does what and you can avoid taking on work that someone else already does. Equally, be prepared to delegate work to other people — but be sure that you are clear with them on exactly what you want them to achieve and by when, McMahon says.