Does this sound like you and your business?
- Are you always in a rush and feel that you are running out of time?
- Do you tend to work in a mess because you are so busy?
- I need to feel important and involved in everything.
- I keep being interrupted by emails and the phone.
- The more hours’ people work, the more time they assume they have to finish.
Everyone has the same amount of time
- 86,400 seconds per day
- 1,440 minutes per day
- 24 hours per day
- 7 days per week
- 364 days per year (365 in a leap year)
Time can’t be accumulated, turned on or off or replaced. We all achieve different outcomes with the use of the same amount of time.
The idea of time management has been in existence for more than 100 years. Unfortunately the term “Time management” creates a false impression of what a person is able to do. Time can’t be managed, time is uncontrollable we can only manage ourselves and our use of time
Time management is actually self-management. It’s interesting that the skills we need to manage others are the same skills we need to manage ourselves: the ability to plan, delegate, organise, direct and control.
Managing your time – Strategies for Success
There are many ways we can manage our time. Here are some strategies you can use to manage your time.
- Always define your objectives as clearly as possible.
Do you find you are not doing what you want because your goals have not been set? One of the factors which mark out successful people is their ability to work out what they want to achieve and have written goals which they can review them constantly. Your long term goals should impact on your daily activities and be included on your “to do” list. Without a goal or objective people tend to just drift personally and professionally
- Analyse your use of time.
Are you spending enough time on the projects which although may not be urgent now are the things you need to do to develop yourself or your career? If you are constantly asking yourself “What is the most important use of my time, right now?” it will help you to focus on ‘important tasks’ and stop reacting to tasks which seem urgent (or pleasant to do) but carry no importance towards your goals.
- Have a plan.
How can you achieve your goals without a plan? Most people know what they want but have no plan to achieve it except by sheer hard work. Your yearly plan should be reviewed daily and reset as your achievements are met. Successful people make lists constantly. It enables them to stay on top of priorities and enable them to remain flexible to changing priorities. This should be done for both personal and business goals.
- Action plan analysis.
Problems will always occur, the value of a good plan is to identify them early and seek out solutions. Good time management enables you to measure the progress towards your goals because “What you can measure, you can control“. Always try to be proactive.
Time management (or self-management) is not a hard subject to understand, but unless you are committed to building time management techniques into your daily routine you’ll only achieve partial (or no) results and then make comments such as “I tried time management once and it doesn’t work for me”. The lesson to learn is that the more time we spend planning our time and activities the more time we will have for those activities. By setting goals and eliminating time wasters and doing this every day you may find you will have extra time in the week to spend on those people and activities most important to you.
For more information on Time Management Workshops contact your local Ology Business Coach.