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Prioritize your time. The biggest mistake people make is failing to prioritize their time. Example: At the office, rather than working on the big projects early in the day when they are freshest, many men work on their mail or phone call list. Later in the day, when they are tired, they try to turn to the important projects. The result: feeling overwhelmed by a "lack of time."

Keep a daily "To Do" list. To help prioritize tasks, make a "To Do" list and prioritize the items on the list. Be sure to include both family and work activities for that day. Make sure your family comes out high on your list of daily priorities. Share this list with your family as a way to help keep you motivated to stick to your priorities and as a subtle means of emphasizing how high up they are on your list.

Don't worry if you don't finish all things on your list; most people don't. The important thing is getting the highest priority items completed, and that should include spending time with your family.

Root Out Time-Wasters

Turn off the television. Television is the great family-time killer. Limiting both your own and your children's television viewing will greatly increase the amount of time you have available to spend with each other.

Eliminate time-wasting habits. Many people spend too much time on activities that are relatively unimportant or could be accomplished in much less time. Example: Spending 45 minutes reading the newspaper, when a quick scan of the headlines will give you essentially the same information. It's a good idea to monitor your daily habits and search for ways to reduce the time you spend doing them.

Practice Efficiency

Prepare for the day the night before. Using the night before to prepare for the next day is a great time-saver because it allows you to use the morning, when you are at your best, to accomplish the important tasks. Examples:

Lay out your work clothes for the next day before you go to bed.
Put your coffeemaker on a timer so your wake-up brew is already made when you wake up.
Organize your briefcase the night before and place it by the front door or in the car.
Make your daily "To Do" list before you go to bed instead of first thing in the morning.

Learn to do several things at once. Many tasks take only a few moments, such as reading a memo or opening mail. Learn to use spare moments to get these tasks accomplished. Examples:

Use e-mail instead of letters and phone calls. The informality of e-mail means you will spend less time communicating compared to writing a letter or playing phone tag.

Delegate low-priority jobs. Not everything needs to be done by you personally. The key to effective time management is delegating everything you can.

Fight the urge to be perfect. Perfectionism is the enemy of time. Most tasks only require that they be "good enough," not perfect. Remember, your family is really job number one. When faced with a task that competes with family time, ask yourself: "Which is more important, that this task be done perfectly or that I spend this time with my family?"

And don't confuse neatness with efficient time management. Some people spend half their day organizing their desk. As long as your clutter is organized, you'll do fine.