Increasing Time Management Skills
for Achieving Goals

Effective goal setting begins and ends with time management. You must be able to balance your time in the best way possible in order to achieve your goals. Most of us fail to achieve goals because we “lack the time”. That is why this section needed to be included in this guide.

The concept of time management has been in existence for more than 100 year believe it or not. Unfortunately the term "Time management" creates a false impression of what a person is able to do.

Time can't be managed, time is uncontrollable and we can only manage ourselves and our use of time. That is all that can be done. Time management is actually self management.

For effective time management we need the ability to plan, delegate, organize, direct and control every aspect of our lives just to find 30 minutes a day that is devoted to something productive that is just for us.

There are common time wasters which need to be identified

In order for a time management process to work it is important to know what aspects of our personal management need to be improved. Otherwise what is the point in trying?

Below you will find some of the most frequent reasons for reducing effectiveness in and around our lives. You might want to check the ones which are causing to be the major obstacles to your own time management. These are referred to as your time stealers.

Identifying your time stealers

• Interruptions for example the telephone or TV (these are also distractions)
• Interruptions, for example, guests
• Meetings
• Tasks you should have had someone else do for you
• Procrastination and indecision
• Acting with out total information
• Dealing with other people’s issues or problems
• Some sort of personal crisis, for example, family member is sick or injured.
• Unclear communication
• Inadequate knowledge
• Unclear objectives and priorities
• Lack of planning
• Stress, anxiety and fatigue
• Inability to say "No" to anybody with a request
• Personal disorganization

There are quite a few isn’t there? Fortunately there are strategies you can use to manage your time in a better way and be more in control and reduce stress, but you can analyze your time and see how you may be both the cause and the solution to your time challenges.

Below, we will look at time management issues in more detail

1. Shifting priorities and crisis management. Management guru Peter Drucker says that "crisis management is actually the form of management preferred by most managers." What is ironic is that actions taken before the crisis could have prevented it in the first place.

2. The telephone. Have you ever had one of those days when you just had to answer the phone with “grand central station, how can I help you?” The telephone can be our greatest communication tool can be our biggest enemy to effectiveness if you don't know how to control its hold over you.

3. Lack of priorities/objectives. This is probably the biggest and most important time waster. It affects all we do both professionally and personally. Those who accomplish the most in a day know exactly what they want to accomplish beforehand, just ask Donald Trump.

Unfortunately too many of us think that goals and objectives are yearly things and not daily considerations. These results in too much time spent on the minor things and not on the things which are important to our lives

4. Attempting too much. Many people today feel that they have to accomplish everything yesterday and don't give themselves enough time to do things properly. This leads only to half finished projects and no feeling of achievement as all things are done in a hurry and appear rushed to others.

5. Drop in visitors. The five deadliest words that rob your time are "Have you got a minute?” Everyone does it; colleagues, the boss, your peers, and your family and friends.
Knowing how to deal with interruptions is one of the best skills you can learn.

6. Ineffective delegation. Good delegation is considered a key skill in both managers and leaders of homes and work.

The best managers have an ability to delegate work to staff and family members to ensure it is done correctly. This is probably the best way of building a team’s moral and reducing your own workload at the same time.

The general rule is this; if one of your people around you can do it 80% as well as you can, and then delegate it.

7. Procrastination. The biggest thief of time is not decision making but decision avoidance. By reducing the amount of procrastinating you do, you can substantially increase the amount of active time available to you.

8. The inability to say "no!" The general rule is; if people can dump their work or problems on to your shoulders they will do it.
Some of the most stressed people around lack the skill to 'just say no' for fear of upsetting people. Get over it because these people can do it for you.

9. Meetings. Studies have shown that the average professional person spends about 17 hours a week in meetings and about 6 hours in the planning time and untold hours in the follow up.

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