Time management

As the world moves faster and faster, our need to keep up becomes more apparent.  In this case, our ability to keep up will depend on our ability, and the system we use to get more things done in the same amount of time.  Let’s face it, the one thing we can’t have more of is time.  We all get the same amount of time.  The difference between those of us who are very successful and those of us who aren’t is in what we do with that time.  Thus the nature and popularity of time management.  In this article, the author discusses some good techniques to get a better handle on your time so you can be much more efficient.

There are a lot of people who stay unsuccessful or have alternating experiences with success and failure, simply because they do not know how to apply the right time management techniques. Here are four techniques you can use to manage your time by prioritizing your tasks:

1. ABC analysis

With ABC analysis, what you need to do is simply categorize the urgency or importance of your tasks. For example: A for your most important and urgent task, B for your important but not urgent tasks, and C for not important tasks (which you can remove from your to-do-lists)

2. Pareto analysis (20/80 rule)

I’m sure you’ve heard this before.

You only wear 20% of all your clothes, and earn the most from 20% of your customers.

In the latter case, to be able to earn big profits, all you do is focusing on the 20%.

In time management, you can do 80% of your tasks with 20% of your time. Therefore, prioritize your tasks and focus 20% of your time on those that are important the most.

3. POSEC (Prioritize by Organizing, Streamlining, Economizing and Contributing)

You can do the following with this technique:

Prioritize your time and set goals in your life.
Organize the things you should accomplish so you can succeed.
Streamline or make more efficient of the things you must do, even though you don’t like it at all.
Economize or cut down on the things you should or like to do, but not really urgent.
Contribute by doing the other things that make a difference.

4. The Eisenhower Method

The way how to do this is basically the same as the ABC analysis. The Eisenhower method also looks like Kiyosaki’s Cashflow Quadrants, and it is not complicated.

What you need to do is categorize your tasks as important/unimportant and urgent/not urgent and put in according quadrants. Tasks in unimportant/not urgent quadrant are eliminated, tasks in important/urgent quadrant are done right away, while tasks in unimportant/urgent are delegated and tasks in important/not urgent get an end date and are done personally (set the date and spend quality time).

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Can You Fully Grasp The 3 Ranges of Time Management?

The 10-Minute On-track Time Management Review is one of my favorite daily techniques. In just 10 minutes we can jot down most of the things floating around in our mind and take a strong grip on them by seeing them written down. …

Publish Date: 06/19/2010

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College is a time for young adults to put their own self motivation to the test.  One of the biggest challenges that they have is their time management skills.  If they developed none in college, then there will not be the chance for them to become effective in their college work unless they develop them quickly.  In this article, the author discusses how to gain these skills quickly and easily.  read on for more.

Now that you’re in college you will find out sooner or later that managing your time is a skill that must be learned and put into practice in order to keep a level head, mature, grow and succeed. If you haven’t already noticed, sometimes it just seems like there isn’t enough time in the day to accomplish everything you need to do. Why does it feel like no matter how hard you try, time seems to slip away?

Whether you want to or not, mastering time management is a task that will be forced upon you in order for you to keep track and keep up with all the responsibilities and activities of college life. By following these 4 critical steps, you’ll be able to make time work for you and not against you.

Let’s start with figuring out how many hours a day can truly be classified as “free” time. Let’s break it down.

There are 24 hours in a day X 7 days a week = 168 hours total a week.

1. Take Charge

Realizing you only have 10 hours of free time available every day, a take charge attitude is imperative in making this allotted time work to your advantage. You’ve got to take the initiative in making decisions rather than waiting for others or circumstances to dictate your steps. Being proactive instead of reactive is imperative.

Taking the reactive approach will not allow you to utilize your time efficiently. Don’t choose to study “when your classmates are studying” instead, look at your own schedule and figure out the free time you have in between whatever other responsibilities you have for the day, making every minute productive.

2. Be Organized

Being organized is the foundational aspect of being proactive. How can you make decisions if you are unsure of what lies ahead? If you haven’t figured out a system to use, such as a planner, then get one. If you own a Mac, the iCal is a tool you can use to organize your life. Make sure you include everything, such as:

Test dates from your syllabus
Project deadlines
Last day to drop classes
School holidays
Professor office hours
Club and organization meetings and events
Doctor’s appointments
Football/Basketball games
Final exam/midterm dates and times
Any other event or task that you need to be aware of

Seeing everything down on paper/computer screen drastically reduces anxiety as well as feeling overwhelmed by too much to do.

3. Plan Each Day

When you get up in the morning, go to your planner and plan your day from beginning to end. You can even start by going over things in your head when you go to bed the night before. If anything important comes up, be sure to write it down in your planner.

4. Prioritize

Make sure when you look at the things that need to be accomplished for the day to prioritize what’s truly important. Finishing a group project is going to take top priority over organizing a basketball game with your friends. Rank your tasks by their level of importance and complete those first then continue down the list until the rest are completed.

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College and Time Management – Life Coaching Service

Having a plan and knowing how to use your time wisely may be the keys to your success in college. Time management is an essential skill that helps you keep your workload and life under control. Of course, with your time management …

Publish Date: 05/05/2010

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This is a continuation of the previous article and the remaining 5 time management tips for students.  These tips seem to be very obvious, or straight forward in what they discuss, yet most of the time, it’s the basics and mastering the basics that really make the difference in terms of getting the results you want delivered.  For example, getting organized can be in many different forms.  People waste an enormous amount of time searching for the same thing over and over again.  Read on for the rest of these 5 tips.  Remember, while they are helpful for students, they are also helpful for those in other stages in their lives as well as other professions.

6. Get organized.
You should file all your notes properly after each lesson. Do not wait until revision time to search through pile after pile of papers for that set of revision notes / worksheets that you wanted to revise then. It will be bad time management on your part if you have to spend hours after hours in searching for stuff rather than in studying.

7. Avoid procrastination.
Staring at your work and wondering why you have to spend your precious Saturday afternoon doing it will not get you anywhere. Do not spend your time idling or daydreaming instead of being focus and complete the task immediately. Complete the task in order of the priority you have set for each assignment. You will find yourself completing every thing before long if you focus your attention on your task instead of procrastinating. In this way, you will not leave things till the eleventh hour.

8. Get rid of distractions.
If there are distractions in your working area, such as television, bed, music, computer games, etc, it will be very difficult to stay focus. You need to find a quiet and conducive environment to study or seek the co-operation of your family members to either lower the volume of the television or to turn it off. You can also shut the door to the room where you are working in to eliminate any noises that might distract you.

9. Allow time to review goals and schedule occasionally.
Sometimes it is possible that a goal set earlier is unachievable at the moment due to your lack of related skills or that it is too easily achieved, revise the goals. Check the priorities of the task set in the schedule, eg. 1 or 2 of your weak subjects could have improved tremendously after weeks of revision, so now you should redirect your focus on a weaker subject.

10. Focus on completing one task at a time.
This is the last time management tip but it does not mean that it is not important. If you are not focus, chances are you will hop from one task or assignment to another. Do not believe it when people tell you that you should multi-task and try to do a few things at one time. You might end up getting nothing done at the end of a whole day.

It is actually not a difficult process to get everything done in one day or within the time constraints given if you are able to apply the time management tips given above. Be realistic. Do not expect to see change happening overnight and not every tip will work for you immediately. Try each one out for at least a week to see which is the most suitable time management tip that you can apply to your life effectively. Getting into the habit of applying them is very important though and if you stick to these tips, you will definitely see success.

“Stella Mak is a qualified school teacher with over 18 years of teaching experience and a mother of a pair of twins, so she is very experience in handling children. Did you find the above information useful? You can learn a lot more about parenting children as well as receive FREE ecourse and special report on parenting at http://www.childrenproblemshelpdesk.com“

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Time Management: A Distance Learning Student’s Friend – My Penn …

Terry is an adult learner earning an online associate’s degree from Penn Foster College. Read more about Terry’s experience in his blog, My Penn Foster College Experience!

Publish Date: 07/12/2009

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This article discusses how time management should be approached when you are at home. It gives a number of tips that should be used when the business entrepreneur is working from home. It does require an additional inner strength to keep on track and not get distracted. Read on for more in this subject.

Time management and organization is so important in life and when it comes to working at home it is doubly important. As a matter of fact Time management, organization, schedules are all prominent in any successful organization.

Time is the one thing that we do not have enough of it is the one thing in life that is constant. Time will wait for no one so we have to utilize it the best way we can.

It makes no sense to try and cram everything in to a short space of time because it will become counter productive. can you imagine a plumber trying to make a deadline of finishing 3 days work in one day. His work would become sloppy he would make mistakes then he would have to go over the job again.

So really the answer to the question of not having enough time is organisation, writing schedules and keeping a diary. This is vital for a home based entrepreneur!

Organisation means keeping all your documents, invoices, accounts and everything you use in your business in their proper place. This will save time because you will know where everything is It will also lead to a less stressful home/working environment.

Keeping a diary, filo-fax or some kind of personal organizer is a vital business tool for obvious reasons.

Another system that is invaluable is writing rotas or schedules. Now it is no point writing a great schedule and not sticking to it is there? When one writes a schedule they must take into account all the aspects of their work and there family life. remember when working at home a happy work environment will lead to more productivity which equals more profits.

When writing a schedule It is important to encompass everything that could mean taking the children to school, shopping feeding the dog. as well as all your business commitments. Always make time for the family, especially when working at home. Make sure you have an arrangement with your spouse about your working hours, and that the children realise as well. Of course If you have younger children you have to give a bit more of your time or get child minders.

Having an office or a part of the house where you can work undisturbed would be fantastic. because you can then have all your tools i.e computer, telephone, files and stationary in one place. Hence saving an immense amount of time.

Planning is another useful skill to have in the quest to save time and be more productive you should take a couple of hours in the beginning of the week to plan for the coming 2 weeks. Again take everything into account then write your schedule.

Having planned your schedule for 2 weeks give yourself some leeway like an extra half an hour in between chores. As you never no what can pop up.

So in summary to help in having a smooth profitable home business you must be organized. Plan your weeks ahead then write your schedule remembering to be flexible. Let your family know what your schedule is and you will find that time is not a problem at all.

Copyright © Terry Stewart

Terry Stewart Is a successful home based business person who has been a chef for many years. He has transferred some skills to his present business eg. organisation and I for detail. This article is the copyright of Terry Stewart.

Terry Stewart publishes a daily newsletter packed with the best resources and ideas for the net entrepreneur. To subscribe mailto:telnelbiz@getresponse.com

http://www.telnelbiz.com

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Ever find yourself wishing you had just a few more hours in the day to get it all done? Between work and family responsibilities alone, it can be challenging to juggle time for everything. Surely we were created for more than a life on a continuous treadmill where we never seem to catch up.

Futurists predicted that, in the 21st century, work would be done in virtual organizations and paperless offices. Some even said that the work week would drop to 35, or even 30 hours, and that too much leisure time could become a problem. Most of us are not quite there yet, are we? Actually, over the past quarter-century, the time Americans spend at work has continued to rise. Our world seems to be speeding ahead faster than our comfort level and creating effects like stress, exhaustion and other health problems, to name a few. In business, the constant pressure to reduce costs and to do more with less often leaves employees in an unending cycle of overwork and overwhelm which ultimately affects the productivity and efficiency of the organization.

What is the solution? Time management can help. Or rather, more effective use of time can help. When you think about it, we don’t really manage time, but rather manage ourselves and how we choose to spend each 24 hour day we are given. By having tools and support available, we can better manage ourselves and the choices we make.
Tips for Managing Use of Time…

1. TAKE A LOOK AT WHERE YOU SPENDING YOUR TIME. It may sound odd to suggest taking time in an already busy schedule to assess how you are using time. Try tracking your time for the next week and see just how you spend it. Becoming more aware of how you use time can help you identify opportunities for changes that may alleviate time pressures. Ask yourself: Is there a change I can make to spend time more wisely?

2. DISTINGUISH BETWEEN IMPORTANT AND URGENT. If you have 25 tasks for a given day, how many of them do you truly need to accomplish? An excellent tool for helping prioritize activities is Covey’s Time Management Matrix (Stephen R. Covey in his book “First Things First”). It is a simple and straightforward approach to determining importance vs. urgency when planning your activities. Most of the time, focusing on things that are important, rather than urgent, results in greater effectiveness. Ask yourself: Do I prioritize effectively?

3. PLAN YOUR WORK; WORK YOUR PLAN. There is a cost in time and energy associated with working in a reactionary mode without a plan. While there will always be a need for flexibility, having a plan will help you maintain focus and measure progress. It can also support you in handling interruptions that may take you off task. Ask yourself: Do I have a clear plan? Am I working my plan?

4. ZAP TIME WASTERS. Time wasted can never be regained. A few examples… browsing the internet, email, chatting with co-workers, looking for things, and talking on the phone. Some ideas for zapping these time bandits are: schedule a time to return phone calls and email, get organized so that time is not wasted looking for tools and papers, use an Internet reminder service to keep track of important dates or events. Ask yourself: What will I do to eliminate time wasters?
“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” ~ Michael Althsuler

Coach Morgan is a Business & Personal Coach. She helps business leaders and their teams become more productive and profitable while maintaining focus and balance. She has led work groups in the United Kingdom and Australia. Coach Morgan is an adjunct professor at the University of Miami and a graduate of CoachU. She is the author of “A Year of Smooth Sailing – 12 Strategies for Charting Your Course to a Great Life” and “Smooth Sailing Success.”

Tags: time management tips – time management

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