10 Must
Have Time Management Skills
Charles
Coleman
There is no great secret to managing time successfully. You,
simply, must be able to manage yourself and prioritize events.
Although we often think we don’t waste a minute of our time, in
reality this is far from true and there are many ways which we
can manage ourselves more efficiently. Effective time
management helps you stay in control and prevents you from
feeling overwhelmed. The following strategies will help you
with successful time management and relieve stress. If you use
these techniques you can transform into a happier, healthier,
and more productive, YOU.
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Attempting to do too much – in
today’s busy world many people want things done yesterday
and this only leads to rushing around and not doing a task
properly, it also leads to mistakes and half-finished work
with no real feeling of having accomplished anything with
your time.
-
A lack of priorities – this is the
single biggest cause of time wasting, in order to
successfully manage time we have to know exactly what our
priorities are for the day, by not prioritizing we spend
too much time on the minor things and not enough time on
the important ones. By doing this, we
feel
disappointed because at the end of the day we realize we
haven't really accomplished the things that matter most.
-
Procrastination – thinking about
what you have to do instead of actually getting on and
doing it is one of the biggest time wasters in your day.
Decrease the amount of time that you spend thinking about
how and when to complete a task and just DO
IT.
-
Interruptions – we all get
interruptions in our day, this could be a phone call, an
unexpected visitor, or any other various distractions.
These occurrences can easily
consume a half
hour or more of your precious time. You must stay focused on
the task at hand and consciously limit the amount of time
spent with interruptions. Knowing how to
successfully deal with interruptions in your daily life is
essential to time management. Sometimes, you just have
to say "no".
-
Learn to say “no” - many of us
have great difficulty saying “no” when asked if we mind
doing something. This is usually out of
fear of upsetting the other person, but if you are taking
on the responsibilities of others then you are robbing
yourself of time to complete your
obligations.
You should, first, complete your own agenda and then
offer a helping hand to others if you have time to
spare.
-
De-Clutter – look around your
home, your desk or workspace, do you know where everything
is? If you are asked for a file or a recipe, can you grab
it or do you have to go rummaging to find
it? A
cluttered desk or workspace is a time waster,
organize items so you can easily locate them when
needed.
-
Set deadlines for yourself – work
out a reasonable deadline for projects and make sure
that you stick with the
deadline.
-
Manage your e-mails and phone
calls - where possible manage when you read your e-mails
and take phone calls better. Try to set aside specific
times when you check and reply to emails-- this way you are
not continually stopping to answer a
call. It
is also helpful to answer your call and place the
party on hold while you complete a task already in
progress. So much time is
wasted during the day by stopping and starting a
task.
You will be pleased to see how much more you can
accomplish by managing your phone calls and emails
properly.
-
Use an activity planner – setting
your day out in a planner can help you save time, a planner
will allow you to plan your day out and maximize your time
more efficiently. As you complete tasks
outlined in your planner you will gain a sense of
accomplishment at the end of the day when you look at all
the projects you have successfully
completed.
-
Avoid multi-tasking – starting
many different projects at the same time is not a very
efficient way of managing time, try to complete one project
before starting out on another, this gives you the
satisfaction of seeing a project through completion, rather
than having several uncompleted tasks.
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