Some tips to help you manage your time more efficiently. Based on the time matrix covered by different business advisers and adapted specifically for junior lawyers. This note was developed by Sarah Fox, solicitor and legal trainer. As a former paralegal (and then junior lawyer) Sarah knows how important it is to get new staff productive - complying with good management practice, teamwork as well as meeting client needs. This note is part of a series of session for junior lawyers. For more information contact sarah@500words.co.uk.

1. TIPS ON TASK MANAGEMENT
SARAH FOX
500 Words Ltd

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Task Management
Some tips to help you manage your time more efficiently
Tasks can be split into four different categories depending on their relative urgency and
importance, which Enjoy has named after the effect they have on your time:1
Urgent but unimportant
TIME STEALERS
Resist
Tip: develop processes to resist these
and resolve them earlier; explain
your approach to others
EG: interruptions, misunderstandings, trivial
or irrelevant requests, email circulars
Urgent and important
FOCUS SHIFTERS
Do
Tip: learn to prioritise within this
category by asking probing questions of
the task’s originator
EG: client or project emergencies, staff issues,
adjudications and legal proceedings
Neither urgent nor important
TIME WASTERS
Reject
Tip: learn to spot them and swap
with focus shifters or focus boosters
EG: net surfing, chatting to colleagues,
reading unrelated journals, reading irrelevant
minutes or emails copied to you
Important but not urgent
FOCUS BOOSTERS
Schedule
Tip: plan time for these as they are
critical to business & personal success
EG: research, thinking, strategic planning,
advising, preparing user guides, focused meetings
In order to lighten the load for your client (L from the BUILD™ process), you, and your client
team, needs to spend most of its time on tasks from the ‘focus boosters’ box.
More Information
Time wasters need to be avoided. Many of these are within your control and so it is up to
you to reject them and stop spending your working hours on these tasks. If a task has a ‘why
am I doing it?’ element, then consider whether you should be spending time on it at all.
Quick win: spot them and swap them for focus booster tasks.
Time stealers should be resisted. This requires teams to set good habits and systems to
ensure they are efficient but not unfriendly. Sometimes these are tasks which appeared easy
but prove not to be – at this point it is wise to ask for help and assistance. These tasks are
unfulfilling because you are not achieving anything important.
Quick wins: do them after focus boosters; set a time limit for tasks to ensure they
don’t overwhelm more important activities.

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Focus shifters are driven by time pressures. They are more complex to control and manage.
Completing these tasks creates a buzz and positive outcomes, although they shift your focus
and steal time from other tasks. They may be accompanied by external pressures which can
create stress.2
The very urgency of these tasks can lead to mistakes as deadlines loom. If you
are spending too much time of focus shifters you are fire-fighting. More often than not time
spent here is as a result of poor time management.
Quick wins: do tasks before they become urgent.
Focus boosters are critical to success. These tasks are ones to concentrate your time and
efforts on. This is where most effective professionals spend their time. However, to do so
takes time, effort and teamwork.
Quick wins: schedule uninterrupted periods into your diary to do these sort of
tasks, at least weekly.
Summary
“Getting everything done is not always a sign of good time management; it can also be a
sign of not having enough to do.”3
The Author
Sarah Fox (director of 500 Words Ltd) developed this Guide. She is a professional speaker,
innovator and trainer. She helps construction specialists write simpler contracts and
understand complex ones. She is also author of the 500-Word Contract™.
To find out how Sarah can help your lawyers meet their clients’ needs on her mobile: 07767
342747 or by email: sarah@500words.co.uk
1
See e.g. the business balls time matrix upon which the above table is based.
2
One definition of stress is a level of pressure (internal or external) with which we find difficulty coping.
3
Susan Billbess, writer - Nov 2008, at www.businessballs.com/inspirational_motivational_quotes.htm.