Time management is a broad topic. Here, you will discover some great suggestions to help you begin organizing your time, today. By learning the following principles, you can start to be a more efficient time manager.
Make use of one of the most inexpensive of organizing tools — the calendar. There are many people who like to use a paper calendar to record notes and keep track of dates. Others like to use electronic calendars offered by computers or smartphones. Whichever method works best for you, a calendar can help keep your tasks organized and make you more efficient at managing your time.
Pay closer attention to deadlines. If you wait until the last minute to finish a task, other projects will suffer. By keeping on top of deadlines and appointment times, you will not have to leave important matters unattended to take care of things you have put off.
Schedule your time mindfully. Make sure that you set deadlines as well. This gives you control over your life. If you unexpectedly find yourself with free time, use it to do something nice for yourself or get out ahead of other tasks.
Make sure that you schedule in some breaks during the day. If you forget to pay attention to things such as traffic or telephone conversation running a bit longer, this can seriously disrupt your entire day. It’s easier to stay on track when interruptions are planned.
If you find time management challenging, increase your focus on individual tasks. Lots of folks fail when they think they can multi-task. When you try to accomplish too many tasks at the same time, you become tired and flustered. Take a minute to relax and breathe as you work on a single project through to its completion.
If you find time management to be difficult, consider carefully the ways in which you spend time. Use it wisely. Only view your voice mails or emails if you’re able to use that time on them. In this way, you can avoid being distracted by them throughout the day.
Every day when you awake, plan how your day will go. Get a pen and a piece of paper and write down what you will do during the day and how much time you plan on doing it for. This schedule will make you manage your time better.
Close your door to work better. When you have your door open, people tend to assume that interruptions aren’t a big deal. Close the door, your privacy is restored. People will see that you want to focus, and this will help you to get things done faster.
Unless it’s crucial that you do so, do not answer your phone or read texts when you’re in the middle of something else. It can be hard to get back on task if you get interrupted by these things. Get back to the people that want your attention when you complete the task.
Do the hardest tasks first. Attending to the most challenging jobs facing you as soon as possible will really help you manage your time efficiently. This takes the pressure off as you move on to more mundane tasks. When the stressful portion of your day is completed early, the rest of your day will seem to cruise by.
Make a list of the tasks that you need to do each day, and then organize them in the order of importance. As you’re able to get each task done, you should keep on working until the list is done. If you are not able to personally remember each task on your list in your head, copy it and take it with you.
Take a local time management class. This will provide you with a great wealth of knowledge on the topic. You may find that your company actually offers classes, as it really can help with efficiency. If there are no time management classes through your employer, you may be able to take one at a university or community college.
Try to assess the effort level of each task on your list. Refrain from wasting your time with tasks that accomplish nothing. Put in the amount of effort necessary to reach goals and keep going. Put in the most effort for important tasks, and improve your time management.
Consider taking your task list with you wherever you go. This list is a wonderful reminder when you have trouble remembering what all needs to be done. Some items on your list may lead to more stress. When this occurs, you may forget what needs to be done next. By having a list, you can stay on track no matter the circumstances.
Make sure not to reward yourself until you have kept on track with the tasks on your schedule. For instance, you might want a hot cup of coffee, but if that will interfere with what you need to do, it might be smarter to wait. It’s okay to treat yourself on occasion, but you should do so only after responsibly handling your time.
Use four quadrants to break down your list of tasks. Label the columns as not important and important. Incorporate two rows also. One for urgent tasks and the other for non-urgent tasks. The quadrant labeled non-urgent and unimportant should get less than 5-10% of your time. Most of your time is going to be spent on the urgent/important quadrant. Just be sure that you allocate enough time for the non-urgent but important quadrant so that those task will not end up turning into emergencies.
It may be easy for you now to see how effective a time management plan can be for most people. Taking it slow and working hard to get results is all you need. Use the knowledge you just learned and soon enough it’ll all fall into place.