Tools To Manage Your Time!

We all know time is something we can never get back.  We all feel like that there are fewer hours in the day than we need. Let’s be honest, if we had 36 hours, we would still feel the need for more time.

Thankfully, a wealth of information on time management is available. Finding out what works best for you will depend a lot on your personality, ability to self-motivate and level of self-discipline.   Here are a few simple tips that I have come up with to help you be more productive and eliminate stress.

1. Know how you spend your time: Keep a log of how you spend your time for about two weeks.  Review the log and ask yourself how effective and productive you were in using your time.

2. Set Priorities: Determine what is Important, Urgent and Not Important.  Spend less time on tasks that are not important or urgent.

3. Use a Planning Tool: You can use such tools as electronic planners, pocket diaries, calendars, and computer programs to help manage your time.  Once you identify your tool of choice use it consistently each day.

4. Get Organized: Disorganization results in poor time management.  Get rid of clutter using the method “Keep” “Give Away” or “Toss”. Once you get rid of clutter, implement a system that allows you to handle information less or only once when possible.

5. Delegate: Get others to help you by assigning task to someone else. This will free up time for task that require your attention.

6. Stop Procrastinating: Some tasks are overwhelming or unpleasant.  In this case tackle the task by completing smaller segments at a time.

These are just a few things to get you started on the road to better time management.  What are some of your time management ideas?

Carmen