What is Time Management?

Time management is the art of arranging, organizing, scheduling, and budgeting one’s
time for the purpose of generating more effective work and productivity. There are an abundance
of books, classes, workshops, day-planners, and seminars on time management, which teach
individuals and corporations how to be more organized and more productive. Time management
has become crucial in recent years thanks to the 24/7, busy world in which we live.

Time management is important for everyone. While time management books and
seminars often place their focus on business leaders and corporations, time management is also
crucial for students, teachers, factory workers, professionals, and home makers. Time
management is perhaps most essential for the person who owns his or her own business or who
runs a business out of the home. Managing work and home responsibilities under the same roof
takes a special type of time management.

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An important aspect of time management is planning ahead. Sometimes, successful time

management involves putting in more time at the outset in order to reorganize one’s life. Though
many time management books and teachings differ in their suggestions, most agree that the first
step in efficient time management is to organize the workspace or home. Even if one's schedule
is well-ordered, but the office and filing system are a disaster, time will be wasted trying to work
efficiently in a disorderly place.

After cleaning, purging, and reorganizing the home or office, the next step in time management
is to look at all the activities one participates in during a week. Every last detail should be written
down, including the time it takes to shower, dress, commute, attend meetings, make phone calls,
clean the house, cook dinner, pick up the children from school, take them to after-school
activities, and eat meals. Also include time for entertainment or exercise, such as driving to the
gym, going for a walk, watching television, or surfing the Internet.

Often, when individuals write down every last activity, they find that there is very little time left
for sleeping. The end result is that many activities must be pared down, eliminated, consolidated,
or delegated. Prioritizing activities on a scale of one to three – one being the most important and
three being the least – can help with this task.

Lastly, good time management involves keeping a schedule of the tasks and activities that have
been deemed important. Keeping a calendar or daily planner is helpful to stay on task, but self-
discipline is also required. The most efficient to-do list in the world will not help someone who
does not look at or follow his own daily planner.

Learning Time Management Skills

In the end, time management comes down to choices. Good choices lead to better results,
while poor choices lead to wasted time and energy.

The good news is that time management skills can be learned and mastered by anyone.
All it takes is practice and dedication.

Like any other skill, you can learn time management the easy way or you can learn it the
hard way.

The hard way usually involves years of trial and error and lots of false starts trying to
figure out what works and what doesn't.

If you'd like to save yourself some time, money and effort, I recommend you try the easy
way: learn from someone who has already done it.

Makes sense, right?

15 Time Management Tips

In the meantime, here are 15 practical time management tips to help you get started...

1. Write things down

A common time management mistake is to try to use your memory to keep track of too many
details leading to information overload. Using a to-do list to write things down is a great way to
take control of your projects and tasks and keep yourself organized.

2. Prioritize your list

Prioritizing your to-do list helps you focus and spend more of your time on the things that really
matter to you. Rate your tasks into categories using the ABCD prioritization system described in
the time management course.

3. Plan your week

Spend some time at the beginning of each week to plan your schedule. Taking the extra time to
do this will help increase your productivity and balance your important long-term projects with
your more urgent tasks. All you need is fifteen to thirty minutes each week for your planning
session.

4. Carry a notebook
You never know when you are going to have a great idea or brilliant insight. Carry a small
notebook with you wherever you go so you can capture your thoughts. If you wait too long to
write them down you could forget. Another option is to use a digital recorder.

5. Learn to say no

Many people become overloaded with too much work because they overcommit; they say yes
when they really should be saying no. Learn to say no to low priority requests and you will free
up time to spend on things that are more important.

6. Think before acting

How many times have you said yes to something you later regretted? Before committing to a
new task, stop to think about it before you give your answer. This will prevent you from taking
on too much work.

7. Continuously improve yourself

Make time in your schedule to learn new things and develop your natural talents and abilities.
For example, you could take a class, attend a training program, or read a book. Continuously
improving your knowledge and skills increases your marketability, can help boost your career,
and is the most reliable path to financial independence.

8. Think about what you are giving up to do your regular activities

It is a good idea to evaluate regularly how you are spending your time. In some cases, the best
thing you can do is to stop doing an activity that is no longer serving you so you can spend the
time doing something more valuable. Consider what you are giving up in order to maintain your
current activities.

9. Use a time management system

Using a time management system can help you keep track of everything that you need to do,
organize and prioritize your work, and develop sound plans to complete it. An integrated system
is like glue that holds all the best time management practices together.

10. Identify bad habits

Make a list of bad habits that are stealing your time, sabotaging your goals, and blocking your
success. After you do, work on them one at a time and systematically eliminate them from your
life. Remember that the easiest way to eliminate a bad habit, it to replace it with a better habit.

11. Don’t do other people’s work

Are you in the habit of doing other people’s work because or a ‘hero’ mentality? Doing this takes
up time that you may not have. Instead, focus on your own projects and goals, learn to delegate
effectively, and teach others how to do their own work.

12. Keep a goal journal

Schedule time to set and evaluate your goals. Start a journal and write down your progress for
each goal. Go through your goal journal each week to make sure you are on the right track.

Keeping a journal on your computer has never been easier!

13. Don’t be a perfectionist

Some tasks don’t require your best effort. Sending a short email to a colleague, for example,
shouldn’t take any more than a few minutes. Learn to distinguish between tasks that deserve to
be done excellently and tasks that just need to be done.

14. Beware of “filler” tasks

When you have a to-do list filled with important tasks, be careful not to get distracted by “filler”
tasks. Things such as organizing your bookcase or filing papers can wait until you tackle the
items that have the highest priority.

15. Avoid “efficiency traps”

Being efficient doesn’t necessarily mean that you are being productive. Avoid taking on tasks
that you can do with efficiency that don’t need to be done at all. Just because you are busy and
getting things done doesn’t mean you are actually accomplishing anything significant.

You can get 35 more tips like this, along with lots of other valuable resources, when you signup
for my newsletter.

“Your newsletters have been very helpful in my all round pursuits. I've just been promoted to
the post of branch manager of a company. It's a stock broking firm too. I'm to resume on 2nd
of next month after handing over. I actually used my new time management knowledge in both
the test and the oral interview and it worked out perfectly for me. cheers!”

Patrick
 
Your "50 time savers" tips have already been beneficial to me. I appreciate your efforts to help
keep work "smarter" and therefore, less hours. Keep up the great work! You are definitely on
my "list of recommends."

-- Constance Rounsaville
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Effective Time Management

Effective Time Management on wiseGEEK:

 While time management books and seminars often place their focus on business leaders
and corporations, time management is also crucial for students, teachers, factory
workers, professionals, and home makers. Time management is perhaps most essential
for the person who owns his or her own business or who runs a business out of the home.
 If a manager allows the goals and expectations of their employees to fluctuate or vary, the
employee has the right to challenge any negative assessment rendered against them.
Accordingly, any effective performance management will invariably include goals that
are S.M.A.R.T.

How Can I Write a More Effective Paper?

The key to writing an effective paper is organization and good time management.
If you organize your paper well before you begin, the pieces will naturally fall together as
you work, preventing you from having to struggle with roadblocks. By managing your
time well, you will also improve the quality of the paper by being able to devote more
time to it. Finally, if you can, get someone else to look the paper over before you turn it
in, as a second pair of eyes can spot logistical, spelling, and grammatical errors that you
may have missed.

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 When a paper is assigned, examine the terms of the assignment carefully. Determine how
long the paper is supposed to be, whether the topic is fixed or not, when the paper is due,
and how the instructor wants it formatted. If the paper assignment is discussed in a class,
take notes about what the instructor expects to see addressed in the paper. If the topic is
clearly laid out, the instructor has done much of the work for you by providing a focus. If
the assignment is open ended, start thinking about relevant and interesting topics, and
decide on one which interests you. Do the research to support your topic, making sure to
record where you found information so that you can cite it later. Then, sit down to write
an outline.

 An outline is a crucial tool for writing an excellent paper. By outlining how your paper is
going to go, you will keep yourself focused as you work. You will also ensure that you
do not miss valuable points, and that the paper will have a natural and consistent flow.
The first thing to do when writing an outline is to determine what the point or argument
of the paper is. Think about the topic, and how you have chosen to interpret it. After that,
start laying out the ways in which you will state your argument in an outline format.

 Once you have constructed an outline, think about your time frame. Some people work
best by writing in several large chunks of time, while others prefer to work on a small
section of a paper every day. You know your own work style, so set up a schedule that
will be productive, and plan on finishing the paper several days before it is due, so that
you have time to edit and polish it.

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 Once you start writing, stay focused and stick to your outline. Make sure that your logic
is sound, and that your paper transitions smoothly from subject to subject. Keep your
writing clean, concise, and clear, so that the reader will readily understand your words,
and try to avoid using cliché words and phrases. Write by building arguments on the
discussions leading up to them, so that the paper gets more logically complex as the
reader progresses. By the end of the paper, you should have assembled a strong series of
 points to support your primary thesis statement, and at the close, you can briefly remind
the reader of what has been discussed.
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Time Management Exercises on wiseGEEK:

 While time management books and seminars often place their focus on business leaders and
corporations, time management is also crucial for students, teachers, factory workers,
professionals, and home makers. Time management is perhaps most essential for the person
who owns his or her own business or who runs a business out of the home.

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exercise, you may be able to better understand what exercise routine produces the best results on your
insulin levels. Ads by Google

The Benefits of time management: what are they?

The benefits of time management are many and varied, but some of the most important include
greater productivity, confidence, the ability to meet goals, the opportunity to have fun and gain
control over one’s life.

Those who fail to properly manage their time often end up with a list of things left undone.
These individuals also are often stressed out, edgy and simply not living up to their potential.

Time management is a crucial component for anyone who desires to truly get the most out of
life. Check out the list below and increase your knowledge of how time management can benefit
you.

The Benefits of Time Management:

1. Control: Proper time management allows you to take some measure of control over your life.
By pre-planning your activities you help your days to become ordered. Things come up and you
may be forced to change your plan at times, but for the most part, knowing exactly what you
need to achieve each day and having a plan to ensure that these things get done, will help you be
more in control of your destiny.

2. Productivity: Proper time management allows you to be more productive. When you don’t
properly manage your time, you often have too many activities and not enough day. Time gets
away from you. To counteract this, write down what you need to get done and allocate a definite
and realistic period of time to achieve it. When the time period is up for each activity, move on.
Doing this will mean that you at least get some things finished and have moved towards
completing the other activities.

3. Confidence: Proper time management gives you confidence. This is partly because you have
taken back control of your life. Checking things off your to-do-list will cause your confidence to
soar as you realize that you can finish what you start. As your accomplishments grow so will
your confidence.

4. Fun: Proper time management allows you to have more time for fun. By prioritizing and
getting the most important and pressing things done first, you then have time to do the things you
really want to do. This might be a favorite hobby, going dancing, enjoying time with your
family, or simply resting.

5. Ability to Meet Goals: Another one of the benefits of time management is the ability to meet
your goals. It is nearly impossible to meet your goals when you fail to properly manage your
time. This is because you never get around to doing what needs to be done in order to achieve the
goals you've set for yourself. Something always comes up, or you spend too much time on
frivolous tasks, eating away time that should go toward meeting your goals.

The benefits of time management are pretty obvious. Deciding what needs to be done,
prioritizing your tasks, and then following through is a way of giving yourself the greatest
chance of reaching your goals, taking back control of your life, having some fun and building
confidence

The Best Time Management tools

Some of the best time management tools are simple and inexpensive. There's even a really great
online FREE time management tool that I love!

Although time management is pretty much a product of how effectively you plan and balance the
activities in your life, there are plenty of tools and resources that can help you do it better.

Below are a few of the tools that can help you save time and become more focused:

Planner or date book. Getting focused is often just a matter of creating a clear step-by-step
system to organize the tasks you need to do each day. Planners are great tools, but even a dollar-
store notebook can help you stay organized. Just keep a to do list of your daily chores and
obligations and then check them off as you finish them.
Dry erase calendar. This is one of my favorite tools. It gives you the big picture of what you
need to accomplish over a week or a month. You need to hang it in a location that you frequently
pass such as the kitchen or a hallway. Mark down all family members important activities and
tasks from your children's extracurricular activities to your own plans, as well as doctor and
dentist's appointments, your dog's vet visit and any special events, etc. There's no paper wasted
here as you just erase each function from the calendar once it has passed.

Software programs with reminders and alarms. There are tons of email programs and
organizational software out there today. Most of them have settings that will remind you of any
important events you have coming up. You can set up a schedule that will remind you of
birthdays and anniversaries as well as program them to send you notes of encouragement from
yourself.

Use a reminder service. Here's another one of my favorites especially since it's free! You create
a free account, set dates and tasks you want to remember and they send you notification by email
on the dates and times that you indicate. It's a real handy tool, especially if you tend to overbook
yourself. You can search the Internet for "reminder services" or use the one I use at
www.memotome.com. This is one of the best time management tools that I have come across.

Mini-recorder. A good habit to get into is to carry a mini digital recorder with you or a small
notepad and pen. Use it to record any ideas or plans you might come up with to save yourself
some time later. It's perfect for when you find yourself stuck in a line-up, when you wake up in
the middle of the night with that perfect idea to make some extra cash or just when you're in the
middle of a traffic jam. You can also use it to remind yourself to pick up the dry cleaning, what
you need to pick up from the store on your way home or any ideas that just hit you from out of
the blue.

Outsourcing services. There are so many services that you can outsource these days and they
are not as expensive as you may think. Housecleaning, yard work, dog walking, grocery
shopping are but a few of the services that you can outsource. By allowing others to do some of
the chores and obligations that take up too much time you will gain increased time for other
more important and profitable tasks as well as gift yourself with some peace of mind.

As simple as some of the best time management tools may seem, they can go a long way in
helping to balance your life. When you take the time to simplify your daily schedule you are
creating a life that leads to less stress and more peace of mind!

Time Management in the workplace: my

personal approach
No matter what your the environment time management in the workplace is critical to
productivity and accomplishment. Managing yourself and others around you is something that
needs to be second nature.
I work in two different environments: a hectic production environment at a printing company and
at my desk writing in the evenings. Each requires time management techniques, some the same,
some different.

One technique I constantly employ is to set deadlines for myself. During my production day I
have daily tasks that need to be accomplished by certain times of the day. For example, the first
shift pressroom materials must be ready by 6:30 AM. Second shift by 10:30 AM. Keeping an eye
on the clock and mind on those deadlines keeps me on track.

I employ a similar technique in my writing. I give myself a deadline to have a certain amount of
work done. This habit prevents distraction and the wasted time that goes with it.

Set time limits on meetings. A meeting can be formally scheduled or can be an informal
conversation. I find the informal conversations to be the most dangerous when it comes to time
management in the workplace.

I have brief meetings all day with our sales staff as they present projects and ask questions. I
control the time of the meetings by asking the questions I need to and quickly providing the
answers they need. At that point I end the meeting simply by summarizing their request and
saying something along the lines of “so customer XYZ need their envelopes by Wednesday. A
little simplistic but you get the idea.

Handling email is another area that needs to be addressed with some time management. The
simplest technique I employ here is to limit the time I will spend on it and to make sure I
“resolve” all my emails each session. By resolving the email I simply mean to reply to it, delete
it or archive it. Saving an email for later is simply not productive. Make an immediate decision
and take action on that decision.

Managing others is also an aspect of time management in the workplace. This may mean others
that you supervise or simply co-workers. When managing folks you supervise it is always
imperative to take a few minutes and make sure they understand exactly what the task at hand is.
This prevents questions, confusion and delays later.

It is also frequently necessary to manage your time with co-workers. Being social and friendly
makes for a better workplace but can be detrimental to your own working efficiency. A simple “I
need to get back to my report now” is all it takes.

Time management in the workplace is certainly a big topic. These ideas are just a few of my own
that I hope you will find helpful in your workplace environment.