By Dr Dave Schalow, PhD, CLU, ChFC, CFA, CFP
Career Success | June 18, 2026

Most of us are busy, but are we productive? At the end of the week, can you look back and say that you really are closer to achieving your goals? Your ability to improve your time management skills is going to have a significant impact on how successful you become in your career.

Here are some tips on time management to help you move forward.

1. Remember the phrase, “Someone is the Master, Someone is the Servant.”

Variations are Hammer/Nail, Bug/Windshield, etc. You are in charge of your time. You need to be carrying a copy of your prioritized goals with you at all times and refer to it regularly.

By knowing what your priorities are, it is a lot easier to make decisions on how to spend your time. Most decisions will be obvious if you remember what you are trying to accomplish. Just ask yourself, “Does this help me or hurt me in achieving my objectives?”

2. Activity is NOT Productivity.

Remember the 80/20 Rule. Identify the 20% of your activities that lead to 80% of your results. Then commit to spending most of your time on these activities and delegate or ignore the other stuff. The old concept of efficiency vs. effectiveness comes to mind. Efficiency is doing things well (important), but effectiveness is doing the right things (more important).

3. Focus. Work When You Are at Work!

Block out significant time for your most important tasks. This is the concept of chunking. Don't allow distractions during these periods. Schedule them just as if you had an important meeting to attend.

I am a big fan of the closed door policy instead of the open door policy that is trendy in the management professor circle. If my door is open, some people, when they walk by, seem obligated to ask me what I think about who won American Idol last night. Or something equally stupid about the football game or “Isn't it cold?” Yes it is, I live in Wisconsin, get over it.

Each distraction takes you out of “the Zone” and dramatically impacts your ability to get important things done. Don't allow it!

Two approaches are available for when you should do your most important tasks. First there is the “Eat That Frog” approach championed by success guru Brian Tracy. This is basically to do your most difficult, important, or unpleasant task first. By getting it out of the way first, there are a variety of psychological benefits.

I do like the approach, but over time I have probably shifted to an alternative: doing your most important tasks when you are physically and mentally at your peak. Some of us are morning people, some afternoon, and some are night people. There is a lot of literature that says you may as well accept this and use it to your advantage rather than fight it. This approach seems to work best for me.

4. Take time to work on yourself.

To maximize your achievement, you need to be better. Successful people work hard, they tend to work long, but they also work smart.

The more skills you have, the more efficient you will be, and the more you can accomplish in the same amount of time. The great motivator Jim Rohn used to encourage people to become better rather than wish for fewer problems. Your goal is to “Get Better!”

5. Finally, and maybe the most important: Learn to Say NO!

This is easier if you have adopted the other strategies we have talked about, but for most people it is still hard. We want to help everybody. You can't!

You have to place yourself and your family first. There are only 24 hours in the day. A great line to use when someone invites you to do something is, “I don't know if I can make it, but I'll give you a call.” Much better not to commit than to call and cancel later.

Bonus: Take a Clean Up Day.

I just ran across this concept the other day and thought I would share it. We tend to focus on the important things, which on some level is good. I did this in the previous five steps. However, here is an additional time management tip. Every once in a while, take a “Clean Up Day.”

A Clean Up Day is a day to do all the little things you have neglected because they didn't make the priority list, but they either need to get done eventually, they are bothering you, or you just simply want to do it but never seem to find the time. Maybe returning those emails you didn't delete on the first pass or returning a phone call that you have been putting off.

​Cleaning the desk, so to speak (and your mind), will make you more productive and happier in the future, which is really what this is all about.