Time Management Ideas

Do you struggle to find time for all the things you want to do? Are you struggling to cope with the demands of your job? If you could really choose how to spend your time, how would you spend it?

For most of us the answer to these questions is 'yes', and it is not a good feeling. Maybe work is not going how you would like. Or you feel that you just do not have the time to achieve your goals in life.

Do not fret, your worries could soon be over. 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. This is not only about managing your time effectively, it can change your life fundamentally and for the better.

Time Management Ideas - Manage yourself not time

There are 24 hours in the day. This is something that you have to accept because it will not change. Time can not be changed, but the way you approach it can. This is where the answer to effective time management lies. You must look at the things that are important to you in life and devote your time to these. Everything else should be eliminated from your life.

Making the changes necessary to manage your time effectively can be rewarding and fun, but some of these changes will take a leap of faith on your part. For this reason it is important to take it at your own pace and make one change at a time. If you bite off more than you can chew at the beginning there is a chance you may fail.

Time Management Ideas - Know yourself well

To take the first step in effective time management you need to know yourself. In modern society there are so many distractions we can easily lose our focus on what we really want in our lives. For most people, this is an unfortunate fact of life.

Therefore, the first thing you need to do before you even begin to manage your time is to get in touch with what you really want from life. When you discover this you have discovered your vision. Cast yourself back to when you were an adolescent or a young adult, a time when anything seemed possible. How did your dream life look then, what did you really want in your heart? This could help you to get in touch with your vision. Your vision now may not exactly match what you wanted then, but it will probably be close.

Think about how you would like your life to be at home and at your work. You should also think about your capabilities and what is possible for you in life. When this becomes clear to you, you have found 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. Be prepared for a shock here as there will most likely be a vast difference between the two.

However, no matter how wide the gap is between your ideal reality and how you live your life now, it can be bridged. You may think of effective time management as a tool that will help you to get you to meetings on time. Not true. Effective time management goes much deeper than that and can make major changes to the way you live your life.

Living your life and spending your time the way you want to will involve a few changes - some big, some small. A small change would be something like taking a walk every evening. Quitting your job and starting a business, that is a big change. However, if you put your mind to it you could achieve either of these. You need to look at how you spend your days and plan your time with a view to achieving these goals.

Planning your day.

You should start by picking two things you want to achieve, one big and one small. Now you need to think of one thing you can do towards achieving these goals that you can fit into tomorrow's schedule. If you can do this successfully and complete the step you are on the road to success.

In truth, there is much more to it than this but this will show you that it is far from impossible and can be very rewarding. 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.

This is why you need a clear time plan for every day. Each day, you will need to have a clear idea of what needs doing and find a suitable place for it on your schedule. At the beginning it can be difficult to know how long each task will take so it may be a good idea to keep a time log for a week before starting to keep a time plan. A time log is a detailed record of how you spend your time each day. Keeping a time log for a week should give you a clear picture of how long the various tasks you need to do take. Then you can really plan your days accurately.

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. So let me introduce you to the four Ds of self-management. Which are:

* Do it - This can not wait and needs to be taken care of now. * Delegate it - It needs to be done, but someone else can take care of it. * Dump it - Not important. Forget about it. * Defer it - Something for the 'to do' pile. Come back to it later.

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

Try to identify the time wasters that are holding you back and eliminate them from your life.

These are just some of the basics of effective time management. There is no need to hurry, take the changes you need to make at your own pace. As you take it step by step, you will gradually move closer to your ideal life, a life where there is plenty of time for the things you want to do.