The determinant of a perfect schedule is whether it enables you to meet your professional obligations, enjoy the company of friends and family as well as take good care of your health.

So while there is no one-size-fits-all plan for managing time, there are some basic principles that apply to a variety of situations:

• Planning is fundamental to time management. But it isn’t enough to just create a great schedule. You must be able to implement it.

• The best time management plans are holistic. Try scheduling in blocks of time for family, friends, exercise and special interests instead of just assigning them “whatever time is left” after the daily grind.

• One of the smartest scheduling rules is to set due dates that can be met and is bearable.

In other words, it’s a good idea to overestimate the time you think a job will take in order to (1) ensure timely delivery in the face of unforeseen delays and (2) surprise your boss, clients, fellow committee members and family by delivering sooner than anticipated.

By breaking a big task into manageable steps, setting a timetable for doing each step and chipping away at the project, you can accomplish almost anything.

• Every major project requires its own timetable identifying major steps on the way to completion.

If you’ve set realistic targets (and allowed for possible “slippage” time); your progress should match your plan. If unforeseen developments cause delays then you can alert your boss and clients and set a revised completion date.

• When it comes to delegation, there are two kinds of people: those who can and those who can’t.

If you are one of the latter and you have all kinds of reasons for doing things yourself (“It takes too long to explain it to someone else,” or “I end up having to do it all over again anyway”), you may be so firmly wedded to the idea of “not delegating work” that it’s useless to try delegating jobs.

However, if you think that you are not as indispensable as you think, it’s time to start delegating. Start with the routine, time-consuming jobs you know someone else can do.

• You don’t have to be a master list-maker to profit from using priority lists.

Some people maintain several lists at once: a high-priority one of important tasks; a medium-priority one of moderately important tasks; and a low-priority one of tasks to be done if there’s time. Other people simplify the process by making just one list of things to do the next day at the end of each day.

• To get the most out of your time, try doing the toughest jobs (which demand maximum concentration and efficiency) when your attention and energy levels are at the highest.

If you can co-ordinate those times with periods in which you have fewer interruptions than usual, so much the better. The trick is to pinpoint your hours of peak performance and schedule your work accordingly.

• We all know people who make their time limits very clear: “Not my job,” they say. “It’s five ’clock and I’m out of here.” And some of us have reason to envy them.

Almost everyone ends up working late or carrying work home but if you find yourself doing it more and more often, it may be time to start saying no to others as well as to yourself. Working longer upsets the balance between work and leisure essential to your well being.

Finding, adapting and applying efficient techniques to your responsibilities not only saves time but also cuts down on your overall workload and reduces stress.

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