T I m e m a n a g e m e n t

Y O U R E Q U I R E U N B R O K E N
blocks of time for maximum
accomplishment. The more important your work is, the
more important it becomes for you to establish blocks of
time to work on serious projects.
You need a minimum of sixty to ninety minutes to
accomplish anything worthwhile. It takes about thirty
minutes just to get your mind into a complex task, like
preparing a proposal, report, or even planning an impor-
tant project. Once you are into the task, you can then con-
centrate single-mindedly, at a high level of awareness and
creativity for the next sixty minutes or more of serious,
focused work.
American Management Association / www.amanet.org

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Don’t Mix Creative and Administrative
You cannot mix creative tasks with functional or administra-
tive tasks. You cannot really do operational tasks and creative
tasks simultaneously. They require fast or slow thinking, but
not both. Office activities require fast, short-term thinking.
Creative tasks require thought, planning, and application.
Think of creative time as your “internal prime time” and
operational time as your “external prime time.” And don’t
mix them up. You cannot do big creative jobs requiring focus
and concentration in a typical office environment unless
you put up a D
O
N
OT
D
ISTURB
sign on that door. Otherwise,
you must be creative in finding ways to get away from your
work environment so that you can complete the tasks that
your career really depends on.
How to Create Chunks of Time
Here are several recommendations for creating blocks of
time, any one of which can dramatically improve your effec-
tiveness and efficiency.
First, work in the morning when you are the freshest
and most alert. Many of the most productive people in
business discipline themselves to go to bed early and then
arise at 5:00 or 6:00 
A
.
M
. so that they can work for sixty to
ninety minutes uninterrupted before they go into the office.
Even if you get into the office a bit late, in those ninety min-
utes of uninterrupted work, you will accomplish as much
as the average person does in an office environment in
three hours.
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T I M E M A N A G E M E N T
American Management Association / www.amanet.org

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Another time that you can use to your advantage is
lunchtime. This is a great opportunity for you to shut off
your phone, turn off your Internet connection, and remove
other distractions while everyone else is out of the office
having lunch. You’ll have sixty straight minutes of peace and
quiet where you can work single-mindedly to clear up some
of your most important tasks.