Time Management Tips, Step #1: High-Level Prioritization
Good time management first requires that you have some idea of what it is you're trying to accomplish with the time spent. This requires that you set goals. If you aren't sure what goals you'd like to pursue, the first step is to identify what things are most valuable to you in life. These are your core values. Once you have identified them, selecting goals will follow more naturally.
Time Management Tips, Step #2: Low-Level Prioritization
Once you have identified your goals, the next time management step is to create plans for how you'll accomplish them, such as those that would end up on a daily to-do list.
In good time management, the most important aspect of to-do lists is to have one place where you can list all of the things you need to do in the near term, such that you can see what you're dealing with all at once. The next step is to prioritize these into things that must be done soon or immediately, as opposed to those things that can or should be done later.
Time Management Tips, Step #3: Efficiency
True masters of time management carry out steps 1 and 2 instinctively, but then go further by being more productive during the same limited 24 hours in a day.
The first step in efficient time management, after you've prioritized, is to match tasks of a given size with appropriate available time blocks. Try to accomplish large tasks first. You can always fill in the gaps with smaller tasks. Anything that lets you break large tasks into small tasks, such that they can be performed during the inevitable delays forced upon other tasks.
Next, find ways to multi-task. Examples include handling calls while driving (using a safe, hands-free cell phone setup), and listening to recorded books-on-tape while exercising.
Finally, if you feel yourself switching back and forth from one task to another, without making much headway on any of them, it's time to switch gears. You've entered "overwhelm," and it's common but curable. Switching between tasks takes time and energy of its own, so the solution is to force focus. Clear other items off the day's to-do list, or just circle one of them and say "I will accomplish this before working on anything else."
Time Management Tips, Step #4: Motivation & Overcoming Procrastination
Procrastination is the enemy of all time management plans. The problem is best thought of in terms of momentum: When you're not doing something, it's hard to begin. Once you've started, it's easy to continue, and sometimes even difficult to stop.
The trick when you can't get started is therefore to take some very small, easy step forward. It can even be a trivial step, such as looking up a phone number or doing a search on the Web. In this way, we don't get intimidated by the enormity of the large objective in front of us. We just focus on the first baby step. And then take the next, and then next, and pretty soon, we're so involved with the task that it's easy.
Another great trick is to enlist outside help. Just as having a personal trainer or workout partner makes you virtually guaranteed to show up at the gym on time, any outside influence (for better or worse) usually gets more attention than our own inner voice.
Time Management Tips, Step #5: Flexibility
Those who are most skilled at time management understand that unanticipated events are a normal part of life. They schedule their time with the expectation that they will need to make last-minute changes. The first thing to keep in mind is that constant adjustment WILL BE required. A good plan is one that permits flexibility and has built-in contingency alternatives.
One simple trick for making all of your time management more flexible is called "pad and fill." "Padding" refers to giving yourself a little more time than you expect a task to take. This is particularly helpful when planning tasks that contain much uncertainty or involve other people. A simple example is drive-time; if you expect a drive to take 20 minutes, give yourself 30. This allows for unanticipated traffic, the need to stop for gas, taking a wrong exit, etc., and will actually make you a much safer driver because you won't feel compelled to take unnecessary risks out of haste.
"Filling" is what you do with unused padding, such as if your drive only takes 20 minutes when you have given yourself 30. The key is to always have something handy that can easily be worked on in 10 or even 5-minute increments, such as while waiting for an appointment to begin. By carrying reading material, or notes required to make a business call via cell phone, you can turn 20 minutes waiting for an oil change into productive or even quality time.
Time Management Tips, Step #6: Perspective
It's worth noting that all time management should be done within a larger life perspective. Taking time to smell the roses is not just a cliché, it's vital to making your time spent be something more than efficient-it should also be meaningful.
If you find yourself getting too stressed about time management, consider taking a big step back and revisiting Step #1, in which you take a close look at your values. If health and happiness are two of your values, then it runs contrary to them to get stressed by the details of time management. Figuratively speaking, it may be time to climb a tree to see the woods. Don't be afraid to just take things off the front burner and put them onto the back burner. It's even okay to put goals on hold, or cancel them altogether if your priorities have changed.
Note: Your time spent should be something more than efficient; it should also be meaningful
Source: www.mygoals.com
