Learning To Manage Your Time Effectively

Get the most out of every day

Learning to manage your time can help you perform the many tasks of your life more effectively. This article presents several ideas for managing your time more effectively.

#1. Identify Time Wasters

Time wasters are any activities that take up your time, but do not give you benefits in return. For most people, for instance, television is a time waster. Other time wasters may include time spent on pointless worry and excessive time spent surfing the internet or playing computer games. Once you have identified your time wasters, you can make plans to eliminate them.

#2. Prioritize

Decide which tasks are most important and get them done first. This leaves the day open for any surprises that might come up.

#3. Use Tools

Tools such as calendars, day planners, and to-do lists can help organize your day. Just don’t become so enamored with your tools that you forget to actually do the projects that need doing!

#4. Plan Your Day – But Be Flexible

You can’t always predict what life will throw at you, and there are times when emergencies or special circumstances will get in the way of your plans. Nevertheless, it is a good idea to start each day with some idea of how you will spend your waking hours.

#5. Delegate

You don’t have to do everything by yourself. Learn the skill of delegation. Realize that when you delegate, every job may not be done exactly the way you would have done it and learn to live with that fact.

#6. Be Realistic About Time

One of the most common time management mistakes people make is underestimating the amount of time it will take to complete a certain task. Be sure to allow yourself plenty of time to get your top priority items completed.

#7. Learn To Set Limits

Learning to manage your time is difficult enough without accepting a host of new responsibilities you really don’t have time to complete. Learn how to say no. In most social situations, an excuse is not necessary. All you really need to say is, “I’m sorry, I won’t be able to do that.” On the job, of course, it’s not smart to refuse your boss outright. If you feel you genuinely can’t accept extra responsibilities, explain your schedule to your boss and ask her to help you prioritize.

#8. Take Scheduled Breaks

Thinking about working through lunch or skipping your fifteen minute afternoon break? Think again. Breaks give us a chance to rest, recharge our batteries, and approach tasks with renewed vigor. In fact, studies show that people who take regular breaks actually get more done than people who try to work through their break periods.

#9. Avoid Procrastinating

If you find yourself making excuses to avoid starting a task, stop for a moment and ask yourself why you’re reluctant to get going on the project. You may need to break it down into more manageable chunks. Rather than avoiding the project entirely, try to force yourself to spend at least ten or fifteen minutes working on it. Chances are that once you get started, you’ll be able to continue with no problem.

Once you start managing your time effectively, you’ll find that daily projects and tasks no longer seem as overwhelming as they once did. Learning to manage your time is one of the best gifts you can give to yourself.