Manager Tools Podcast Summary

Episode: Time (Priority) Management - Part 1 (2025)
Date: May 21, 2006
Hosts: Sarah (A) and Mark (B)

Episode Overview

This episode tackles the commonly misunderstood concept of "time management" in a practical, actionable way. Sarah and Mark challenge the fallacy that time can be managed, focusing instead on the importance of managing priorities. Listeners are guided through concrete first steps to understand where their time goes, how it relates to job priorities, and how to take control of their calendars for improved efficiency and effectiveness.

Key Discussion Points

1. The Fallacy of Time Management (00:38–03:15)

• Time Cannot Be Managed:
  Mark emphasizes, "Not only does [time] not need you to [manage it], you can't manage time." (01:35)
  Sarah adds, "It's been around for billions of years. It's been getting along just fine without you."
• What We Really Manage:
  What matters is what you do with your time—not trying to control time itself.
• Resource Scarcity:
  Quoting Peter Drucker:
  "The output limits of any process are set by the scarcest resource in the process we call accomplishment. This is time... Money is actually quite plentiful. People we can hire, but one cannot rent or... buy or otherwise obtain more time." (02:37)

2. The "Busy" Myth & Misuse of Time (01:59–07:53)

• Empty Calendars Despite ‘Busyness’:
  Mark observes, “They make themselves out to be super important... but their calendars are largely empty. Vast swaths of unscheduled time.” (01:59)
• Fire Drill Culture:
  Sarah explains that many managers survive on last-minute "fire drills":
  "We're being saved by what amounts to fire drills. Every once in a while something that's really important becomes also time wise important... and we make up for these inefficiencies... by sheer brute force." (06:34)
• Humble Brag Epidemic:
  "Everybody always talks about how busy they are... but there’s no evidence that they’re busy." (Mark, 01:59)
• Misaligned Effort:
  “People spend an inordinate amount of time on email because they haven’t learned how to manage email... If you’re not spending time on your priorities, it’s hard to argue you should keep your job.” (Mark, 05:00)

3. Reducing Stress by Focusing on Priorities (07:22–07:53)

• Stress & Avoiding Hard Tasks:
  Mark: "The stress is enormously contributed to by the self-mutilation we do by focusing on easy things to do rather than on... our key priorities." (07:22)

4. Step 1: Roughly Assessing Your Time (08:12–10:44)

• Practical Exercise:
  Mark suggests: “Sit down with a pen and a piece of paper… what do I spend my time doing? Think back over the last two or three weeks... this is your recollection.” (08:12)
• Gap Between Perception and Reality:
  Sarah: “What you’re going to discover... is that there’s a lot of time in there that is not accounted for... You’re going to remember meetings that were relatively unimportant now, but there was an argument or a blow up, or an important person...” (09:12)
• Emotional Memory:
  Events stick in memory due to emotional content—important to separate emotion from genuine priority.

5. Step 2: Capturing Your Priorities (10:44–16:55)

• Documentation & Input:
  Sarah: "Pull together as much documentation as you can find... job description, your boss’s and directs’ job descriptions, last couple reviews, key reports, and key presentations.” (12:05)
• Jobs Change Fast:
  Mark: "Things change so quickly that administratively... a year-old job description is crazy. The most important line is: 'Other duties as required.'" (13:00)
• Responsibility vs. Preference:
  Mark: “You do not get paid to do what you want to do... your priorities... [are] what the organization demands of your role.” (15:02)

6. From Tasks to True Priorities (16:55–19:45)

• From Exhaustive List to Clarity:
  Sarah: "You're writing this exhaustive list of responsibilities... so you can start aggregating into categories that look like major areas or priorities." (17:33)
• No Job Has 50 Priorities:
  Mark: "There is no job on the planet that has 50 priorities. Typically, the rule of thumb would be no more than 10." (18:23)
• Key Questions:
  • How are you measured?
  • What would you be “willing to get in trouble for” by not doing?

7. Distilling Key Priorities (19:45–21:05)

• Boil It Down Further:
  Sarah challenges listeners: “Now... take that list of 10 priorities and boil it down to no more than five key priorities max. Five.” (19:45)
• Task vs. Priority:
  Mark: “We end up seeing tasks as priorities... that’s not how effective priority management... works.” (20:18)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Time doesn’t need you to manage it. You can’t manage time.”
  — Sarah (01:35)
• “If I could gamble my money for time, which is exactly what we do when we hire an administrative assistant...”
  — Mark (03:15)
• “If you aren’t spending time on your key priorities... it’s really hard to argue that you should be able to keep your job if you’re not meeting your key deliverables.”
  — Mark (05:00)
• “If the outside world is changing and your approach is, 'I don’t want things to change,'... you’re setting yourself up for failure.”
  — Mark (13:03)
• “Pull together as much documentation as you can find... and with all of these documents in hand, take some notes. Ask yourself, what are my key priorities?”
  — Sarah (14:50)
• “You do not get paid to do what you want to do.”
  — Mark (15:02)
• “No job on the planet ... has 50 priorities. … No more than 10 priorities... and you need to boil it down to five key priorities, max.”
  — Mark & Sarah (18:23–19:45)

Timestamps for Core Segments

• 00:38–03:15: The fallacy of time management and why it’s really about priorities
• 01:59–07:53: The myth of being “busy,” fire drills, misplaced focus, and stress
• 08:12–10:44: Rough assessment exercise: recall how you really spend your time
• 10:44–16:55: Gathering documentation and clarifying real organizational priorities
• 16:55–19:45: Sorting and aggregating responsibilities into true priorities
• 19:45–21:05: Distilling your priority list to no more than five key items

Conclusion

In this first part of their series on “Time (Priority) Management,” Sarah and Mark lay out the foundational truths for effective managers: time itself is immutable, but priorities and actions are under our direct control. The episode offers immediately actionable steps for listeners to conduct a personal audit of how their time is actually spent, align it with true organizational demands, and begin the challenging but crucial task of reorienting to their key priorities.

For More: Explore their practical tools and resources at Manager Tools.
Next Episode: The series continues, deepening guidance for action.