Time Management

Do you ever find yourself wishing there were more hours in the day? Do you wish you could spend less time working and more time with your family? 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 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 this problem and it is far easier than you might 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.

Instead of time management, manage yourself

Each day has only 24 hours. That is not going to change so we are going to have to accept it. While you may not be able to control this, you can manage yourself. This is where the answer to effective time management lies. You must train yourself to focus on the things that really matter to you and spend your time on these things only. Forget about everything else.

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. Trying to make big changes at the beginning might be too much for you, so start with small steps.

Successful time management means Knowing yourself

To take the first step in effective time management you need to know yourself. As we grow older it is easy to lose track of the things that really matter to us in life. 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. 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? Your dreams and goals at this time may help you get in touch with your vision. Your vision now may not exactly match what you wanted then, but it will probably be close.

Also ask yourself how you would like your personal and professional life to be. And think about what is possible for you and what you can really achieve. 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 need to look at your life now and compare it to your vision, to how you would really like your life to be like. Be prepared for a shock here as there will most likely be a vast difference between the two.

However, do not let this phase you as it is always possible to bridge the gap between the two if you believe in yourself. Many people think effective time management is all about calendars and diaries. Not so. Effective time management is much more about you and how you choose to spend your time.

Achieving your ideal reality will involve little changes and big changes in your life. A small change would be something like taking a walk every evening. A major change could be quitting your job to travel the world. However, both are achievable with the right approach. 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, you must be much more meticulous in planning your days so that you complete everything you need to do while only spending time on the things that really matter to you.

This is where a time plan comes in. You need to know what you are going to do and when you are going to do it. 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. Keeping a time log for a week should give you a clear picture of how long the various tasks you need to do take. When you know this you can plan your days much more accurately and effectively.

The 4 Ds of time management

Now, as you make your time plan for each day you need to decide how to handle the various tasks that need doing, and how to deal with any new tasks that may arise. This is where the 4 Ds of time management come in. They are:

* Do it - This can not wait and needs to be taken care of now. * Delegate it - This task doesn't suit you, get someone else to do it. * Dump it - Not important. Forget about 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

Now let's look at time wasters. Time wasters eat into our time and can make it very difficult to manage our time effectively. They can be the most trivial of things, and are therefore very hard to spot.

Here are just a few time wasters:

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

* Procrastination - Many people keep deferring things when they are best done immediately. Don't fall into this trap.

* Not delegating - No one person can be good at everything. You need to delegate tasks that eat into your time unnecessarily to other people.

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

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

These are just some of the basics of effective time management. As a general rule, try to take it step by step and as you make a change maintain it until it becomes a natural part of your life. As you continue on the journey to effective time management you will find yourself more fulfilled and with more time on your hands for the things that matter to you.