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Time Management System

Do you ever find yourself wishing there were more hours in the day? Do you find yourself staying late at work to get everything finished? Do you feel like you are missing out on the best things in life because you don't have enough time?

For most of us the answer to these questions is 'yes', and it is not a good feeling. You may be under stress because you are not achieving enough in your professional life. Or you just do not have enough leisure time to pursue your hobbies and do the things you enjoy.

Don't worry, it may not be as bad as you think. These time worries are fixable, and it is not as difficult to your think. It only takes a few small adjustments in the way you use your time to change your life forever. This is not only about managing your time effectively, it can change your life fundamentally and for the better.

A time management system includes managing yourselff

Each day has only 24 hours. This is something that you have to accept because it will not change. While you may not be able to control this, you can manage yourself. This is the secret of effective time management. 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.

Managing your time effectively will bring about some dramatic improvements in your life, but you must be prepared to make some fundamental changes. Because of this, you need to take one step at a time. If you bite off more than you can chew at the beginning there is a chance you may fail.

Time Management System is essential for understanding yourself

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. It is difficult to identify where and when this happens, but it inevitably does.

So this is the first step in effective time management - finding out what you really want from life. This is where you find your vision. Try to remember yourself as a child or as a young adult when you felt you could achieve anything. What were your dreams and aims when you were that age? This could help you to get in touch with your vision. It is likely that some of your priorities will have changed since then, but many will have remained the same.

Think about how you would like your life to be at home and at your work. 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. So here comes the tough part. You need to look at your life now and compare it to your vision, to how you would really like your life to be like. If you are writing all of this down, the difference between the two probably will not make for very pleasant reading.

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 so. Effective time management is much more about you and how you choose to spend your time.

If you really want to manage your time effectively you will have to make some major changes and minor changes in your life. An example of a minor change would be eating healthier. A major change could be quitting your job to travel the world. However, if you put your mind to it you could achieve either of these. You need to examine how you spend your time each day and make the necessary changes to achieve your goals.

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. Once you have chosen, you should decide on one small step you can take towards achieving each of these tomorrow. If you can complete the one step towards achieving each goal then you have made an excellent start.

In truth, this is just a first step on a long journey but the point is to show that effective time management and achieving your ideal life can be achieved and the process can be rewarding. Now you need to make sure that everything you do each day is taking you towards your goals, and that you plan in such a way that you complete all of the tasks you need to do each day.

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. To help you in this it is useful to keep a time log for a week or two before beginning to plan your time in detail. 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 - This needs to be done immediately. * Delegate it - Not the best use of your time. Pass it on to someone else. * Dump it - Anything that is unimportant now and in the future. Bin 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.

Time wasters

And finally a quick word on time wasters. Time wasters eat into our time and can make it very difficult to manage our time effectively. This is mainly because they can be very hard to spot and are often the most trivial things.

These are some time wasters to watch out for:

* Bad planning - Make sure you keep yourself organized. Keep everything filed appropriately and be sure to write down all meetings and appointments.

* Procrastination - Some things need to be done now. Don't get into the habit of putting things off unnecessarily.

* Not delegating - You can't do it all yourself. Do the things that you are good at and enjoy. Someone else can do the rest.

* Interruptions - Don't let clutter and noise eat into your productive time. Make sure there are no interruptions when you want to work.

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. If you take this process in small steps it will be much easier to incorporate the necessary changes into your life. If you maintain this you will find yourself becoming more content in life and with much more time for the things that matter to you.

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