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eLearning Series: Time Management
How Can I Manage My Time Better?
( 50 articles in this series )
Discover
5 Tools To Make Time Management Easier
Many
people find themselves feeling frustrated with their day. Successful people will tell you that part of
their success is due to great time management skills. The more
a person can get done in a day, the more successful they will
be. The key to this fact is that you must get more done, without
actually feeling the repercussions of doing more. By using
time management skills, you will be doing more, but you won’t
feel stressed, out of balance, overwhelmed, unsatisfied, or
unprepared. Use these five essential tools that make time management
easy to get your life back on track for good.
Get Organized
Getting organized is the first step in the time management
process. It is the lengthiest step for many, so be sure to
get it out of the way first. Getting organized might mean different
things to different people. If you often find yourself sitting
at a desk swamped with papers that fly around the room every
time you begin searching for something, then you need to start
with your workspace. Cleaning and organizing your workspace
is very important for time management. Develop your own system
of storing and filing that works best for you. If it makes
sense to you, then you will be more likely to stick with it.
Clear everything off of your workspace except for things you
use daily. Keep everything else in drawers or bins under your
desk. Once you are clear of the clutter, you will be able to
move on to other time management skills.
Prioritize
A time management expert would tell you that when prioritizing
your day, you should keep in mind that a good part of your
day should involve important matters, but not urgent matters.
By using the other time management skills, there will be very
few urgent matters in your daily schedule to worry about, so
this should be no problem. To figure out what is important
for the day, take fifteen minutes at the start of each day,
or at the end of the day before, and make lists of tasks that
need to be worked on that day. You can either number them by
importance or group them by what must be finished that day
and what should be started that day, but can be finished another
day. Carry this list with you at all times. You may be able
to make a few phone calls while in the car pool line at your
child’s school.
Tools of the Trade
Having proper time management tools is essential for great
time management. Use what you feel most comfortable with. If
you love your calendar, then do not feel pressured to switch
to a new computerized handheld device. If you are thrilled
with your Palm Pilot, use it like it is oxygen. Whether you
carry a calendar or a hand held device, be sure to keep them
in a medium sized planner you can always carry with you. Keep
paper, a pen, and business cards in the planner as well.
Working Ahead
Allow time in your schedule for working ahead on upcoming
projects. This may be difficult to do, but you may find yourself
less stressed if you attempt to work ahead instead of sitting
down for four hours of television watching a night. Although
you don’t have to try this every single day, you may want to
try it at least three nights a week, or on a weekend night.
It may be difficult at first because you may be trying to catch
up with your new schedule, but once everything get rolling,
it will be easy for you to work ahead.
Schedule Wisely
When you are scheduling errands or appointments, do so in
a logical manner. If you need to be on one side of your city,
try to do all weekly errands that are located on that side
of the city all in one day. This will keep you from wasting
travel time. If you group your projects by location, you will
save a bundle of time. You may need to figure this into your
prioritizing, so make sure location weighs in on your lists
as well. Try different approaches until you find the best one. # # # # #
SolveYourProblem.com
: 2006
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