An important stage of personal time management is to take control of appointments. Determined by external obligation, appointments constitute interaction with other people and an agreed-on interface between your activities and those of others. Start with a simple appointment diary. List all appointments including regular and recurring ones. Now, be ruthless and eliminate the unnecessary. There may be committees where you can't productively contribute or where a subordinate may be able to participate. Eliminate the waste of your time. Effectively managing your appointments allows you to: