4 Ds of Time Management
Improving our time management skills make us more productive and less stressed. Time management is important to help you priorities better. So this article comes in with the formula of 4 Ds of Time Management to help you maximize your strengths and plan your day very efficiently.
What is 4 Ds of Time Management ?
The framework of 4 Ds of Time Management have the potential to instantly decide whether the task is worth it or not, whether it should be completed at the earliest, or can be done later. To understand it better first lets have a look on The Eisenhower box.
4 Quadrants of Time Management Matrix | The Eisenhower box
Using the decision matrix of The Eisenhower box below, you have to separate your actions based on four possibilities.
- Urgent and important (tasks you will do immediately).
- Important, but not urgent (tasks you will schedule to do later).
- Urgent, but not important (tasks you will delegate to someone else).
- Neither urgent nor important (tasks that you will eliminate).
What do the 4 Ds of Time Management stand for?
After understanding the matrix, let us help you know in detail about 4 Ds. The 4 D’s are :
- Do
- Defer
- Delete
- Delegate
The Components of 4Ds of Time Management
Do
This first D is is all about including the most urgent & important tasks. This aims at completing the task at once and at the earliest. If they are not done at the earliest, the consequences are negative for your career or life.
Examples : Sending a foremost mail ,Calling back to an important phone call or the scheduled task that is critical or on imperative matters should be done diligently.
Defer
To defer any task is to delay it. In other words, it means fulfilling the task at the ideal time and not hurrying into it. It postpones the activity that is considered less urgent and enables one to stay focused and complete the tasks that need immediate attention.
Examples : Not every email requires urgent action or immediate reply. Set a time to check email and deal with email requests. If you are dealing with multiple projects with different deadlines, set project completion dates in order of due dates. Calling family & friends also comes to this category.
Delete
As the name itself suggests, to delete is to drop the task from your to-do list provided that it was of low to no importance and would not impact your productivity in any way. These tasks are neither important nor urgent. Remember that deleting is not the same as deferring. The idea is about discarding unimportant and unnecessary tasks from your to-do list.
Examples : Learn the art of saying no. Whenever a task comes to you, be thoughtful about putting that in your to-do list or doing that instantly. Checking social medias & scrolling OTTs also comes to this category.
Delegate
Delegate means to assign your task to someone who you believe can do the task as efficiently as you would have done. No matter how hard-working a person you are, you have limitations in finishing the works in a given timeline. So, if there are activities that could be done by someone else, delegate them.
Examples : Invoicing and expenses, late payment, conducting a market survey. Let your subordinate team, your assisting hands or supporting pals do it for you.
Who created the 4 Ds of time management?
The oldest references online can be found in a 1986 issue of Business India magazine, and in the book Career Comeback: Taking Charge of Your Career by Jacquie Wise, published in 1991.
The exact words used for each of the 4 Ds vary slightly. The Business India article lists them as “drop”, “delay”, “delegate”, and “do”, while Career Comeback substitutes “dump” for “drop” . Regardless of the specifics, the idea behind the 4 Ds stays the same: each “D” is a strategy to help you streamline your busy schedule.
Final Takeaway
Managing your time wisely improves work-life balance and increases happiness. Time management skills are critical to our success and productivity. The framework of 4 Ds of Time Management is a simple, yet effective, technique for determining how to react to requests on our time. The method is ideal for people who want to bypass the complex systems of time management. The 4 Ds make a person realize that time was never an issue. It is always the procrastinating nature of humans towards decision of importance and urgency of a task that makes them fall short of time.
For further insights on Time Management
Time Management: The Brian Tracy Success Library (https://amzn.to/3w6TWw3)
Real-World Time Management (https://amzn.to/3w33PuC)
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (https://amzn.to/3sutEla)
Read also : The Baudoin Technique | Manifest Your Desires ( https://thebrightdelights.com/the-baudoin-technique-manifest-your-desires/ )