Time Management Tips

Do you ever end your days feeling like you just haven't achieved enough? Is your leisure and family time taking a back seat to your professional life? Do you find that you don't have time for the things that matter to you?

If you answered yes to any or all of the above questions you are probably not feeling too good right now. There is a big chance that your work is consuming much more of your time than you want it to. Or you feel that you just do not have the time to achieve your goals in life.

However, don't worry just yet. There is a solution to this problem and it is far easier than you might think. It only takes a few small adjustments in the way you use your time to change your life forever. This is not only about managing your time effectively, it can change your life fundamentally and for the better.

Manage yourself - h2 sub heading

We have only so much time in each day. This is something that will not change and we can do nothing about it. You can not manage time, but you can manage yourself. This is the secret of effective time management. You must look at the things that are important to you in life and devote your time to these. Everything else is just a waste of time.

Managing your time effectively will bring about some dramatic improvements in your life, but you must be prepared to make some fundamental changes. Because of this, you need to take one step at a time. It is best to go slowly, at least to begin with, as you may not succeed if you try to do too much, too soon.

Know yourself - h3 sub heading

To take the first step in effective time management you need to know yourself. With the pressures of modern life it is easy to lose sight of what we really want in our lives. It is amazing that we can let this happen to us, but it happens all too easily.

Therefore, the first thing you need to do before you even begin to manage your time is to get in touch with what you really want from life. This is where you find your vision. Try to remember yourself as a child or as a young adult when you felt you could achieve anything. What were your dreams and aims when you were that age? What you wanted then may really be what you want now, it may just be that you have lost sight of your true vision. It is likely that some of your priorities will have changed since then, but many will have remained the same.

Also ask yourself how you would like your personal and professional life to be. And think about what is possible for you and what you can really achieve. We will call this your vision.

Where are you now?

By now, you should have a reasonable idea of what you would like your life to be like. The next step is tricky. You need to look at your life now and compare it to your vision, to how you would really like your life to be like. Be prepared for a shock here as there will most likely be a vast difference between the two.

Don't worry if this is the case as bridging the gap between your ideal reality and your life now is much easier than you would expect. There is a widely held belief that effective time management is about good time-keeping. This is not the case. Effective time management is much more about you and how you choose to spend your time.

Living your life and spending your time the way you want to will involve a few changes - some big, some small. A small change would be something like taking a walk every evening. A big change might be starting up your own business. There is a big difference between the two, but both goals are attainable. You need to look at how you spend your days and plan your time with a view to achieving these goals.

Planning your day.

To get started you should choose two goals that are important to you, one big and one small. Now you need to think of one thing you can do towards achieving these goals that you can fit into tomorrow's schedule. If you can do this successfully and complete the step you are on the road to success.

In truth, this is just a first step on a long journey but the point is to show that effective time management and achieving your ideal life can be achieved and the process can be rewarding. However, you must be much more meticulous in planning your days so that you complete everything you need to do while only spending time on the things that really matter to you.

This is where a time plan comes in. Each day, you will need to have a clear idea of what needs doing and find a suitable place for it on your schedule. If it is your first time using a time plan you may want to keep a time log for a week or two first. A time log is a detailed record of how you spend your time each day. Do this for a few days and you will get a clear idea of how you spend your days and how long various tasks take you. Then you can really plan your days accurately.

The 4 Ds of time management

Now you can move onto looking more closely at the things you need to do each day and deciding how to handle them. So let me introduce you to the four Ds of self-management. Which are:

* Do it - This can not wait and needs to be taken care of now. * Delegate it - It needs to be done, but someone else can take care of it. * Dump it - Anything that is unimportant now and in the future. Bin it. * Defer it - Something for the 'to do' pile. Come back to it later.

When you plan your day, and even during the day, you should be able to file all the things that need doing under one of the four Ds.

Time wasters

And let's not forget time wasters. These are basically the things that eat into your time unnecessarily and are arguably the single greatest barrier to effective time management. This is mainly because they can be very hard to spot and are often the most trivial things.

Here are just a few time wasters:

* Lack of planning or bad planning - Develop a good filing system and know how you are going to spend your days. Being neat in your habits will help you manage your time more effectively.

* Procrastination - Some things need to be done now. Don't get into the habit of putting things off unnecessarily.

* Failure to delegate - Are there tasks in your day that are not effective use of your time? If so, delegate them.

* Interruptions - Don't let clutter and noise eat into your productive time. Make sure there are no interruptions when you want to work.

These are just a few of the time wasters that could be affecting your effective time management.

These pointers should help you in your first steps towards effective time management. Breaking old habits isn't easy so take the changes you need to make one step at a time. As you continue on the journey to effective time management you will find yourself more fulfilled and with more time on your hands for the things that matter to you.

One of the keys to getting the most out of your time is developing the ability to ask yourself the right questions at the right time. This need only take a few seconds before you begin any given task. More often than not, you will find these few seconds will present new and better ways of doing what needs to be done.

While it is important to manage your time with calendars, diaries and daily plans, effective time management also requires that you manage yourself.

Before you set about any task, big or small, stop and ask yourself whether this is the best use of your time. Perhaps there are other, better ways of achieving the same result. Or maybe it is a task that you are not particularly suited to that another person could do in half the time, in which case you might want to delegate.

If you do decide to take on the task yourself, ask yourself what is the best way to complete it quickly and easily. It only takes seconds to ask yourself these questions and listen to the answers that come.

As time goes on you will get better at this. One of the most important things to do is to learn how to ask the right questions. In general, your questions should begin with the word 'what'. This focuses your attention and evokes clarity. The remainder of the question needs to ensure that it opens up possibilities, is solution oriented, elicits information and moves you forward.

Here are some examples of powerful 'what' questions that would help you focus better on a particular task and make more effective use of your time:

"What is the most important thing for me to focus on at the moment?"

"What would enable me to use my time more effectively?"

"What isn't getting done that needs doing?" And added to that, "What will it take to get this done?"

"What is the next step for me in this moment?"

These questions can also be used when considering more long-term goals. For example, "What do I want my life to look like in five years?".

Once you have asked any question you need to take a little time, perhaps one minute, to listen to the response that comes to you. You may find that what comes up in your response is clear enough and you now know the best way forward.

However, you may find that your response lacks clarity. It may include all sorts of thoughts and ideas, but no clear way forward. In this case, it can be a good idea to take note of the thoughts that come to you and break the problem down into smaller parts to find the best way forward. You may find there are more specific questions you need to ask.

However, for the smaller tasks in our day-to-day professional and personal lives clear answers usually come quite easily and quickly. So, before you move on to your next task take a little time to consider whether it is the best use of your time and if so, how you can complete it in a time effective manner.

As strange as it may sound, being busy doesn't necessarily mean being productive. While we all want to get the most of our day, both at work and at home, trying to pack too many things in can be counter-productive. Taking a few minutes time out each day to consider how we can better spend our time can vastly improve the quality and quantity of what we achieve.

Sometimes we get so busy that we miss opportunities to make things easier for ourselves. For example, it is a common mistake when using a new piece of computer software to dive in and start using it, even though you know you are not getting the most out of it. The fact that you are not using it well could be costing you valuable time each day which soon adds up. However, if you took a little time at the outset to learn how to use the software well, this time will be saved.

This is a perfect example of effective time management. Having learned how to use the software well you will be achieving the same results, or possibly better results, but you will not be so busy.

When the clock is ticking and work is piling up it can be hard to take the time out to consider how you can better use your time, but it is essential for effective time management. Look at all the tasks you do and the actions you take in any given day and ask yourself if these are the right actions?

We all have our vices. Perhaps you spend hours in front of the TV each evening or aimlessly surfing the internet. This is not effective use of your time.

However, it can be hard to break these habits even though we know deep down that there are many better ways to use this time. It requires motivation to break these habits. The good news is that you can find this motivation within yourself quite easily.

You need to consider what you really want from your life and how you really want to use your time. This will take some thought and consideration but should reveal what is really important to you in your professional and personal life. These are the goals you will work towards.

Now, consider how you are really spending your time and the actions you take every day. Ask yourself how what your doing now is helping you achieve your goals. You will probably find that there are major gaps.

For example, if one of your goals is to get fit, those hours in front of the TV are clearly not effective use of your time. You can still watch TV, but maybe for an hour less each day so you can achieve your goal of getting fit.

There is certainly no need to sacrifice the things you enjoy, indeed they are to be encouraged if they fit in with your overall plan to spend your time effectively towards achieving your goals.

However you will have to make changes, and some of them may be quite difficult. However, start out small and only choose goals that you think are attainable. Taking on too much too soon will only dent your confidence. However, if you take it step by step you can weed out the needless tasks and spend your time more effectively. The secret is to spend your time on the things that are important to you. If you do this you will find yourself less busy while achieving more.