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Get over it.   However, if you want an increase in disposable free time, read this article. Trying to manage time in a hectic world is a topic that is just about as beaten up, abused and useless as my father's old suitcase. Just as managing your checkbook wisely will not give you more money, managing your time wisely will not give you more time. Besides, managing time takes time, when what is needed is to have less to do each day. Want more time? Do less. After some practice at doing this, your productivity will also increase due to less unnecessary work, creating even more free time. This is not incidental; in fact, it is required for you to achieve what you want: more free time. This end goal was eloquently stated by William of Occam (1300-1350), "It is vain to do with more what can be done with less."

When most people try to "manage their time wisely," they try to organize and plan how to cram more minutiae into a finite span. Organizing your Blackberry contacts, setting up multiple email folders so each of the time wasting messages that pass through your "in" box each day have a special place to call home, and pairing down your thimble collection to make dusting easier are all examples of this. This is not the goal at all. The goal is more free time, less work, and less "busy-ness." Albert Einstein once wrote "Any man who reads too much and uses his brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking." That being said, and in the interest of time, reading this article and doing you own introspection will be all that is required of you. Take the ideas contained, try them out and see what works. That will be the right method for you.

Here are some ideas for consideration. There are two ways to do less: eliminate tasks and delegate tasks. Elimination is the first place to start. Those around you do not appreciate being delegated useless tasks.

Elimination: "Love of bustle is not industry"-Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Roman philosopher (4 BC - 65AD).

First, when deciding what time-consumers to eliminate, consider the "80-20 Rule." Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923) was a controversial economist who inspired a "law" of income distribution that now bears his name, Pareto's Law, more frequently called "The 80-20 Rule." It simply states that 80 percent of your outputs come from 20 percents of your inputs. The list of applications for this is infinitely long. Here are some small examples: 80 percent of stock market gains come from 20 percent of a portfolio; 80 percent of a company's sales come from 20 percent of its customers, and, in Pareto's garden, 80 percent of his pea pods came from 20 percent of his plants.

Use this as a lens through which to view your life. What 80 percent of your productive results come from 20 percent of your time spent? What 80 percent of your problems and time wasters come from 20 percent of your actions, or inactions? Spend as much time as necessary on this introspection and put it all down on paper. Brainstorm and do not stop to think! Aim for volume, then dissect and analyze the results. Don't be surprised when you find you are not doing everything right. Introspection usually hurts. The goal is to find your weaknesses and eliminate them, and then to find your strengths and multiply them. Once the inefficiencies are eliminated, it's time to move on to the next step in gaining more free time: productivity.

Second, consider "Parkinson's Law." "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion."-Cyril Parkinson, The Economist, 1955. Want to do more, faster? Procrastinate more. It's not an oxymoron. If you receive a demand from your boss to do a risk analysis of an incoming new competitor by "first thing tomorrow," you'll buckle down, avoid the daily distractions and get it finished before you leave. If you are given a week to complete the same task, time is wasted thinking about the task (but not doing it), considering all of the various aspects (but not doing it), and how you will do the research (but not doing it). Then, it finally gets done, probably on the last day, after precious time and brainpower has been wasted thinking about action instead of taking action. If you were given a month for the report, not a good idea, it would become a mountainous mental challenge. It is short time frames which keep you, and anyone, focused, efficient and on task.

Consider this: if you had to finish a large workload but also had to leave for vacation in eight hours, could you get it done?   With visions of warm breezes, swaying palm trees, and drinks with little umbrellas passing through your head, yes, you would get the work done. That's Parkinson's Law in action. Use it to your advantage by maintaining only a small list, no more than three, of critical tasks with a daily timeline for completion. Keep them small and powerful. Ask yourself "if these three things are the only three I accomplish today, will I feel I have accomplished what is most important?" A few weekly tasks are okay, but these are really just in a holding pattern before they go into your daily timeline. Remember these are tasks, not goals. Tasks are the short, small action steps to achieve larger goals.

Delegation: "I not only use all the brains I have, but all that I can borrow."-Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States (1856-1924).

Now that you've eliminated the non-essential work and life functions, it is time to move on to delegation. Getting up to speed quickly is the goal. First, remember your introspection? Delegate those things in which you are weak. It is often the goal of many self help and efficiency experts to have you improve your shortcomings. That is not the goal here. To achieve fast results after elimination, stick to your strengths and delegate the rest. Not used to delegating and directing others? Some quick techniques will help.

First, start small, and ask for permission. Before you ask your spouse to take care of all the bills, credit card receipts and checkbook balancing, start with something like "Honey, I know you're really busy, but could you put these receipts in Quicken (Microsoft Money, Whatever You Use) just this once? I'm really pressed for time this week." Getting the "buy in" for "just this once" has been practiced by children of all ages, and has an amazing success rate for continued use. There's no sense in letting them have all the benefits of this effective technique.   Try it, but don't over use it.

Second, you have strengths and weaknesses. So does everyone else. Think about task before delegating them. Like yourself, aim for leveraging strengths. Don't just delegate to whoever you think is easiest or most likely to say "yes." That is usually precisely the wrong person.

Third, explain the task is simple, short, plain language.   Are they smarter than a fifth grader? Are you sure? This is the leading cause of delegation disasters. Doing the wrong thing effectively and efficiently for you does not save your time. Remember to ensure they understand the desired outcome. This is much more important than explaining the process. Finally, ask them to repeat back in their own words what you stated to them to ensure proper understanding.

Last, remember Parkinson's Law? Set a deadline, preferably multiple deadlines for more complex tasks. Have the delegate check in with you at intervals you establish to ensure they are on task and on track.

So What?:

Why try to do less and have more free time? It can be confusing. The first thing most people do when confronted with idle time is to fill it with more things to do: clean out those pesky leaves in the gutters and then dust the thimble collection. Again.

Get over it. Learn to slow down. If you have been very successful at the "results by working a lot" method of task accomplishment, this may be a large challenge. You are going to feel like you need to make a "to do" list, either mental or written. This can result in a list such as "eat lunch," "go shopping," and "read the paper." This is not a bad thing. You now have written proof of how successful you have been so far in getting more free time for yourself.

Remember to stop and do the important things, however. Have a sit-down dinner with your family. You may remember them. They live with you. Have a conversation and reconnect with your kids. Do not be surprised if they've grown up a bit and gotten smarter since the last time you did this. Watch a sunset with your spouse. Better yet, schedule a date night with him or her. The roses smell sweeter when you stop to smell them, right?

That was your goal in reading this, right?

Three Words About "Time Management"