Do you ever end your days feeling like you just haven't achieved enough? Do you find yourself staying late at work to get everything finished? Do you find that you don't have time for the things that matter to you?

If you answered yes to any or all of the above questions you are probably not feeling too good right now. It could be that the pressures of your professional life are getting you down. Or you just do not have enough leisure time to pursue your hobbies and do the things you enjoy.

However, don't worry just yet. There is a solution to your problems. Simply by changing the way you approach the use of your time you can find the hours to do all the things you want to, and even have some time left over. As well as finding more time for the things you want to do, you will also be more fulfilled in your life.

Time Management For Working Mothers: You need to manage yourself

Each day has only 24 hours. That is not going to change so we are going to have to accept it. You can not manage time, but you can manage yourself. Once you realize this you have taken the first step towards effective time management. You have to identify the things in life that truly matter to you - this is where you should spend your time. Everything else should be eliminated from your life.

Managing your time effectively will bring about some dramatic improvements in your life, but you must be prepared to make some fundamental changes. However, there is no need to rush, you can make the necessary changes at your own pace. If you bite off more than you can chew at the beginning there is a chance you may fail.

Time Management For Working Mothers: Learn to understand yourself

Knowing yourself is the essential first step on the road to effective time management. In modern society there are so many distractions we can easily lose our focus on what we really want in our lives. It is difficult to identify where and when this happens, but it inevitably does.

So before you can really begin to look at your time management you need to figure out what you want out of life. This is where you find your vision. Cast yourself back to when you were an adolescent or a young adult, a time when anything seemed possible. What were your dreams and aims when you were that age? What you wanted then may really be what you want now, it may just be that you have lost sight of your true vision. Your vision now may not exactly match what you wanted then, but it will probably be close.

You should also think about how you would like your life to be both in terms of your professional life and your personal life. Also consider your potential and what you think you can really achieve in life. We will call this your vision.

Where are you now?

If you followed the steps above you should be able to picture your ideal life accurately. The next step is tricky. You must take your vision and compare it to your life at present. For most people, the difference between the two can be quite daunting.

However, do not let this phase you as it is always possible to bridge the gap between the two if you believe in yourself. You may think of effective time management as a tool that will help you to get you to meetings on time. This is not the case. Effective time management can transform your life on a much more fundamental level.

If you really want to manage your time effectively you will have to make some major changes and minor changes in your life. For example, watching less television, that is a little change. Quitting your job and starting a business, that is a big change. There is a big difference between the two, but both goals are attainable. You will have to take a close look at how your hours are spent and make the necessary adjustments so you can achieve what you want to achieve.

Planning your day.

So have a think about your goals and as an experiment pick two that you want to achieve, one small and one big. Now, you want to think of one small step you can take towards achieving these that you can incorporate into one day. If you can complete the one step towards achieving each goal then you have made an excellent start.

This is just one very small step on the way to effective time management but should show you that if you go at your own pace that it is far from impossible. However, doing this effectively requires a lot of planning so that you complete all of the tasks you need to do each day while ensuring that all of these tasks are in line with your vision.

So for every day you need a clear plan, a time plan. Each day, you will need to have a clear idea of what needs doing and find a suitable place for it on your schedule. If it is your first time using a time plan you may want to keep a time log for a week or two first. A time log is a detailed record of how you spend your time each day. This will show you exactly how long different tasks and activities take. When you know this you can plan your days much more accurately and effectively.

The 4 Ds of time management

To truly manage your time effectively you have to look at the tasks that need doing and decide how to handle them. For this you will need the four Ds of self-management. These are:

* Do it - Get it done, the sooner the better. * Delegate it - It needs to be done, but someone else can take care of it. * Dump it - Anything that is unimportant now and in the future. Bin it. * Defer it - This needs doing but not now, so it can wait.

Most, if not all, of the tasks and activities day can be put into these categories.

Time wasters

And finally a quick word on time wasters. These are basically the things that eat into your time unnecessarily and are arguably the single greatest barrier to effective time management. The biggest problem is that they are often very hard to identify because they can be very trivial.

Here are just a few time wasters:

* Lack of or poor planning - File things properly, write down appointments, that kind of thing. Basically, you need to be organized to use your time effectively.

* Procrastination - If you keep putting things off you will miss all the best opportunities in life.

* Failure to delegate - Are there tasks in your day that are not effective use of your time? If so, delegate them.

* Interruptions - Set up your workspace so that there are no distractions that will disrupt your workflow.

These and other time wasters are probably eating into your time, so try to identify them and get rid of them.

These pointers should help you in your first steps towards effective time management. If you take this process in small steps it will be much easier to incorporate the necessary changes into your life. As you continue to take more steps you will move closer and closer to your goals and find yourself with all the time you need for the things you want to do.