Time management is one of today’s most vital skills. Without it, people easily become victims of time, stress levels increase, productivity languishes, and motivation quickly turns to desperation or apathy. A good time management system will keep you organized, provide peace of mind, increase productivity, decrease stress, and prevent the embarrassment caused by missed appointments, meetings, and various other obligations.

There are several time management systems available. My two favorites are Getting Things Done (GTD) by David Allen and FranklinCovey from Stephen Covey. I highly recommend that everyone read Getting Things Done and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Allen and Covey, respectively. In my opinion, these are indispensable resources stuffed with oodles of helpful information; they’re so good that I practically consider them scripture.

I am unusual in that I prefer to use a mixture of both of these systems. I find that each has its strengths and weaknesses, which are overcome when the two are intermingled. The optimal system for you will be the one that makes the most sense and can be adequately adapted to meet your needs. Keep in mind that time management is extremely personal and must conform to your individual requirements in order for it to be of assistance.

Another important consideration is that of paper planning versus electronic planning. Both GTD and FranklinCovey are easily adaptable to paper. I know that there are several great computer programs that implement or can be used for GTD, such as iGTD and Things. FranklinCovey is less ubiquitous in the electronic world but it does have computer based versions of its system. Unfortunately, I can’t say how helpful these may be as they are only available for PC and I am a Mac user.

Ultimately, you’ve got to decide which system is best for you and follow it with religious fervor. In order to give people a clearer idea about time management, I will give introductions to the GTD and FranklinCovey systems, and also explain how I use them together. From there, I hope you will have a stronger sense about which system would work best for you. You can then look into that system more deeply so that you can make it a vital and productive part of your life.