Time is expensive stuff, so get the best out of it. Mind Tools teaches you personal time management skills. This personalized time management guide and the accompanying newsletter are dedicated to building a stronger foundation for your success. One skill at a time. It is the simple, practical techniques that have helped leading people in business, sports and public service up to peaks of their careers. There are only 24 hours in your day, just the same as everyone else. So how can you end up frustrated, angry, behind in your work, and dead on your feet?
Maybe because you do not know how to use them 24 hours to your advantage. If you use these skills well, then you will be able to function exceptionally well, even under intense pressure. Developing time management skills is a journey that can begin with this guide, but needs practice and other guidance along the route. Your main source of problems or your big breakthrough may still hiding in your blind spot. What you really manage is your activity in progress, and defining outcomes and physical actions required is the core required to manage what you do.
Tips for time management
set priorities and manage your time to meet deadlines
Handle people and projects that are wasting your time
Action plans and priorities - to do lists help you focus on the key short-term operations.
Prioritize tasks - When studying, get in the habit of starting with most difficult subject or task.
Make sure the environment is conducive to study: This allows you to reduce distractions which can "waste time." If there are times in college or your apartment when you know there will be noise and commotion, use that time for mindless tasks.
Time management allows you to create a schedule that works for you, not for others. This personal attention gives you the flexibility to include things that are important to you.
If you use your time wisely is an issue for you, you probably have a very good idea how it all goes. It just seem to go! A good place to start, then to keep track of how you use your time. Get a weekly schedule (available in the Learning Skills corner of counseling and testing center's Career Library) and faithfully keep track of how you use your waking hours in a week. The results will probably surprise you.
Successful leaders in almost every field organize each day according to priority to the activities to be performed. Making copies of the daily activity guide to insure a two-week supply, and use the form as an aid in planning each day's work.
The goal is to change your behavior over time to achieve what the general goals you have set yourself, such as increasing your productivity or decreasing your stress. So you must not only set your specific goals, but track them over time to see if you perform them.
Put things that are most important at the top and do them first. Where it's easier, use a planner to keep track of all your tasks. And do not forget to reward yourself for your accomplishments.
Visualize your long term picture of success and put it in writing. Review your goals frequently. Your goal should be specific, measurable, achievable and consistent with where you are now. There should be an end date as well. Steven Covey calls this "Begin with the end in view."
Planning your day can help you feel more control over your life. Write a task list, put the main tasks at the top. Keep a schedule of your daily activities to minimize conflicts and last-minute rushes.
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