4STEPGUIDETO

CREATEMORETIMEOUTOFA
BUSYSCHEDULE
 CREATE MORE TIME WITH A BUSY WORK SCHEDULE -​ L
​ IFEHACK.ORG 

Introduction 
Do you feel like you’re overwhelmingly busy? Maybe you never have enough time and your 
schedule is ever growing?  

You’re not alone. Many people today feel that way and constantly lament a lack of time.  

Time is elusive, fleeting and precious; we are only allotted 24 hours a day and 365 days a 
year. Learning to manage time more wisely is the only way to maximize the time we ​do 
have. When we do this, it’s as though we are creating more time out of your already busy 
schedule. 

In this activity sheet, you’ll learn how to manage your time and handle tasks the most 
efficient way, so you can work smart and achieve more, while not being constrained by 
limited time. 

Why You Don’t Seem to Have Enough Time 

While there are people who can’t seem to find the time to finish their work, there are those 
who manage to do everything in time and still find a couple of hours to relax and do what 
they like.  

Why is that? People who are chronically pressed for time usually share a few common 
characteristics... 

Not Organized 

People who are disorganized not only waste time looking for missing tasks, but also lower 
their productivity and hinder their chances for success. However, if you are organized, you 
will give your productivity a real boost and can also create time for the things and people 
that matter in your life.  

Not Prioritizing 

Prioritizing ensures that you make the most efficient use of your time. If you don’t rank tasks 
in order of importance, or make decisions on what’s most important at work, you will always 
feel like there are not enough hours in a day.  

Not Tracking or Budgeting Time 

Tracking and budgeting your time is vital to taking control of your day. People who don’t 
budget and track their time are the ones who wonder where time has gone and can’t 
understand why they accomplish so little at the end of each workday. 

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The good news? You can learn the smart way to manage your time and workload to start 
achieving more in less time. 

How to Create More Time 

If you are lagging behind when it comes to mastering your day-to-day, then this section is 
essential for you to understand. 

Here, you will learn some major frameworks extracted from Lifehack’s course. These 
frameworks will help you master your time and accomplish whatever you want. 

Every task contains three components: 

● Intention:​ Why you are doing it 

● Value​: What benefits this task brings you 
● Cost​: What you have to give up or invest to achieve the value ( in resources, time 
spent, etc.) 

To be able to identify the right tasks to focus on--and spend the right amount of time doing 
them--you’ll need to know how to evaluate them. 

How? 

Use the S
​ uperstructure Method​. 

This method helps to put your actions in perspective and evaluate objectively. It helps you to 
think of actions like building a skyscraper. You start from a solid foundation before you reach 
for the sky. 

   

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 CREATE MORE TIME WITH A BUSY WORK SCHEDULE -​ L
​ IFEHACK.ORG 

Step 1: Start with a Clear Intention 

Look at all the tasks you have on hand and think about w
​ hy​ you need to do these tasks. 

Ask yourself:  

● What benefit am I getting out of this task? 

● Will this action help me make progress towards my goal or my company’s goal this 
week? 

Step 2: Decide the Task’s Value 

Based on your goal, sort the list of tasks into one of these three categories: 

● Must haves​: Absolutely critical to achieve the objective. Without it, the outcome is 
meaningless. 
● Should haves​: Important but not critical. However, leaving it out may lessen the 
impact of the final result. 
● Good to haves​: Having it is nice, but not including it won't have any negative impact 
on our objective. 

For example: 

An editor’s goal this week is to ensure each of the writers follow the editorial calendar and 
produce high quality work. His/her tasks will be: 

● Must haves​: Set a clear editorial calendar; Create a style guide for writers to follow 
through 
● Should have​: Send emails to writers to follow up with their writing progress  
● Good to have:​ S
​ chedule​ phone call / face-to-face update meeting with writers 

The next step is to quantify these tasks into something you can objectively rank using 
numbers.  

Start by assigning a number value to each of your tasks. The higher the number, the more 
important/urgent/valuable it is. 

Instead of a linear scale like 1 to 10, we use a set of F

​ ibonacci Numbers (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 
21) --​because as the numbers go up in increasingly larger intervals, it’s easier to visualize 
the difference between the numbers (e.g. 8 vs 13). 

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For example: 

● Must haves 
○ Set a clear editorial calendar (​ 21) 
○ Create a style guide for writers to follow through (​ 13) 
● Should have 
○ Send emails to writers to follow up with their writing progress ​(5) 
● Good to have 
○ Schedule​ phone call / face-to-face update meeting with writers (​ 1) 

Now, it’s your turn to assign a number to the tasks: 

 

#  Task  Task Type  Value 

e. Create a style guide for writers  Must have  13 

g 

1       

2       

3       

4       

5       

6       

7       

8       

9       

10       

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Step 3: Evaluate the Task’s Cost and Prioritize 

After quantifying the relative priority among tasks, we need to look at each task’s cost -- the 
time cost. 

Some tasks are difficult, require external help, or require extreme focus. Usually this is 
reflected in the time required to complete it. 

At this stage, rough estimates are all you need. Usually, we s

​ plit cost estimates into 
half-hour intervals​: 

0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3 

We don’t suggest having a task longer than 3 hours. T

​ his reflects that the task is probably 
too big and needs to be broken down further. 

And, when you have both Value and Cost quantified, you can calculate the Final Score of 
each task and prioritize the tasks by the Final Score -- from the highest to the lowest. 

How to calculate the final score? 

Divide the task’s Value by its Time Cost.   

Now let’s try to put everything together and find out the priority of your tasks: 
 

#  Task  Value  Time Cost  Final Score  Priority 

(hr) 

e. - Set a clear editorial  21  2  21/2 = 10.5  1 

g  calendar         
         
- Create a style guide for  13  2.5  13/2 = 6.5  2 
writers         
         
- Send emails to writers         
to follow up with their  5  1  5/1 = 5  3 
writing progress         
         
- Call for a phone call /         
face-to-face update  1  1  1/1 = 1   4 
meeting with writers  

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1           

2           

3           

4           

5           

6           

7           

8           

9           

10           

 
Step 4: Schedule the Tasks 
Now that you know the priority of your tasks and approximately how much time you’ll be 
spending on each task, it’s time to put all these things into action! 

How? 

It’s as simple as scheduling these tasks on your weekly planner -- on which day and at what 
time should you tackle these tasks?  

If you have been following through with our guidelines on categorizing your tasks into Must 
Haves, Should Haves and Good to Haves (for the week), you shouldn’t be overwhelming 
yourself with loads of tasks any more. You’ll always have an organized weekly plan that 
allows you to master your time. 

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You may even notice that you're actually ​creating a solid routine f​ or some recurring tasks 
such as replying emails or having regular discussions. And, routines save your time and 
energy to decide what to do every time, and are best to help you stay away from 
distractions. 

Learn more about the power of routines in this article: 

Powerful Daily Routine Examples for a Healthy and High-Achieving You 

Bonus Tip! 
Whenever a task comes across your mind during the week, or if there are any less important 
tasks that can’t fit in this week’s schedule, jot them down into your B
​ acklog​.  

Use your Task Backlog to hold onto all your tasks. It’s a way for you to process new things 
systematically, and not let new tasks overshadow your current priorities. 

Be the Master of Your Time 

Time is limited, for everyone. Learning to work smart is the only way to achieve more in such 
limited time. 

As demonstrated in this activity sheet, you can better manage your tasks and become a 
master of your time with the prioritization and tasks management techniques. 

If you want to achieve more within the limited time we have in a lifetime, stay tuned with our 
email newsletter.  

You’re Invited to Join Our Free Webinar! 

You’re also invited to join our ​FREE Fast-Track Class​ to learn some effective time 
management techniques! S
​ ign up here for free now! 

 
 

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