Several years ago, I ordered an audio-tape based course on time management.
I followed some of the recommendations for a few years then, as I had a
very stressful job as a project manager and I needed to say organized.
Unfortunately, I left the tapes in my trunk at one point and they melted,
so I don't have them any more.
The author recommended using a Day-Timer, one of the brands of personal
scheduling notebooks. In this you would write down your goals for
each day, as well as taking notes on things you do during the day.
In addition, he suggested arranging your goals into categories, ranking
them separately in terms of importance and urgency. Some goals are
important but relatively less urgent, like self-education, so we tend
to let them drift. Others are urgent but less important, like getting
those reports xeroxed for the boss. The system was designed so that
you would not forget about the longer range goals and devote at least
some time and effort to them every week if not every day.
I wish I had not lost the tapes as I did find them beneficial, although
after a few years I tended to drop my new good habits and fall back into
my old relatively disorganized ways. However the system really did work
well for me and I was able to get a lot done during it.
Maybe other people can recommend specific books or other resources on
time management.
Hal