Author : Joe Love
The way you use your time determines everything that happens to you in life. All really successful people are excellent time managers. They are very well organized, they plan their work and they work their plan. They know where they are, what they are doing and where they are going from dawn until dusk, seven days a week. They feel in complete control of every aspect of their lives. As a result, they get more done in less time and they enjoy more of the rewards that life has to offer.Perhaps the greatest single problem that people have today is "time poverty." Working people have too much to do and too little time for their personal lives. Most people feel overwhelmed with responsibilities and activities, and the harder they work, the further behind they feel. This sense of being on a never-ending treadmill can cause you to fall into the reactive/response mode of living. Instead of clearly deciding what you want to do, you continually react to what is happening around you. Pretty soon you loose all sense of control. You feel that your life is running you, rather than you running your life.The first step in managing your time effectively and taking control of your life is setting priorities. High achievers are adept at separating the essential from the non-essential. There are several ways to designate which tasks are the most important. One way is to limit the number, using the process of natural selection to weed out the least important jobs. Another way is to create two lists, a short-term checklist and a long-term, top-priority list, flagging or ranking the most important. To decide which items demand the highest priority, put each task to a series of questions. Does it have a specific deadline, like April 15th? Is it an order from someone who you can't ignore, such as your boss? Will doing it advance your career, or will not doing it hinder your career? If the task doesn't elicit a definite "yes" it's a safe bet it doesn't deserve top priority.The most important question to ask when ranking your priorities is, "Will doing this help me to reach my goal?" Goal setting is perhaps the most important thing you can do to manage your time more effectively. Your goal must be clear, specific, and it must be in writing where you can see it every day. You must have a detailed plan to accomplish your goal that calls for you take some action towards it every day.Before you go to bed each night, create a list of things you must do the next day. It's nearly impossible to remember everything that has to be done. Unless you write out a list, you won't sleep as soundly. Your mind will work overtime while it should be resting, reminding you not to forget each of your important tasks. Moreover, putting a task in writing helps you sort out what is really important. Anything not worth writing down is probably not worth doing.Always commit yourself to completing each task on your list by a specific date and time. The way to make your list more effective is to set aside time to do each task in a planning diary that is broken down into half-hour increments. It is also a good idea to keep a list of your top items on your work desk. This way, if you get tied up for hours, you can glance at your list to see if it is something that should be taking up a lot of your time. If you don't have a constant reminder of things you want to get done, they aren't going to get done.Making lists is also a powerful tool you can use to manage others. Whenever you delegate responsibilities, make sure that the members of your staff keep lists of the items assigned to them. Then, ask them to bring their lists to meetings to use as a basis of their progress reports.Organizing your time is easier when you organize your workspace. A neat desk helps you stay focused on the task at hand when you need to find something. Think about how mechanics do their work. They line up their tools on trays in an arrangement that allows them to reach for a tool without taking their eyes off their work, and then they put it back in the same place.How you keep your office is up to you. What is crucial in good time management is that you make your workplace work for you. Make sure that your office matches the flow of your daily activities. By rearranging the placement of your desk, phone, computer, and storage space, you can save thousands of extra steps every year, which can mean big savings in your time.A cluttered desk creates stress and distracts you from giving your full concentration to the job at hand. To keep your desk clear, file everything but the one item you are working on at the moment. Store the files according to whether you need to use them every day, every week, or every month. Keep the items that you frequently use within your reach, perhaps in your desk drawers, and put those things you look at less often in file cabinets and storage boxes. Create a "To Be Filed" folder, as well as one or two "To Do" folders for items requiring immediate or less-urgent attention, and keep them in a place you can readily access. Regularly schedule time for catching up, reorganizing, and working your way through the folders.To make the best use of your day, concentrate on what you do best. For example, if you are good at writing proposals, and that is what you are paid to do, find someone else to do your photocopying or look information up on the Internet. If you're overwhelmed with paperwork to review, considering hiring an intern or a student from a local college. Although this will require an initial investment of time to teach the intern what to do, the time savings in the long run will be well worth it.If you decide to hire someone to lighten your load, choose only the best. Pick people who can accept responsibility, and who have the right skills and interests. Assign priorities and a due date to each task, provide the necessary training, and delegate as much responsibility as possible.An important part of effective time management is being able to set aside blocks of time when you will not be interrupted. By setting aside blocks of time it will allow you to focus on your work. But setting aside chunks of time isn't easy when you're continuously bombarded by phone calls and personal intrusions. To find time to concentrate, you may need to come to the office before anyone else arrives, or stay after everyone else has left. If your company allows flex-time, take advantage of it. Many people find that coming in a half-hour early gives them time to go through their lists and find tasks that can be accomplished before the phone rings and the crises begin.Finding chunks of time actually means that you do things when nobody else is doing them. This principle can be applied to all areas of your life to save time. For example, avoid the Friday afternoon crush by cashing checks and shopping when other people are not forming long lines. Use the photocopier during lunch, while everyone else is out of the office. Check out of your hotel when others are still in bed, or use the automatic checkout service. Buy presents all year long, rather than waiting for the headaches of the holiday season.The ability to stay focused plays a major role in saving time. Staying focused means being able to concentrate on one problem without being distracted or growing tired. In order to do this you have to find the time of the day when you work at your peak. All of us have work rhythms, which include certain times when we do better work than at other times of the day. Studies have shown that the biggest surge of energy for most people starts at around 11 a.m. and usually lasts for about two hours. Another high-wave begins about 4 p.m. and lasts until about 6 p.m. To take advantage of high-energy phases you may want to try doing non-creative tasks, like opening letters, filing, or reading the paper, in the early morning, and concentrate on the most mentally demanding work between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., and from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.Up to now, we've been discussing time tactics, addressing the question of how you can save time. But there is a bigger issue to ponder: what you save time for. Getting more work done in the same amount of time, of doing the same amount of work in less time, is not an end in itself. It's absolutely critical to ask yourself continually, "What for?"The answer lies in the priorities that you have set. The "What for?" question should be asked about the life you live, not just for the work you do. Albert Einstein once said that, if he could send just one message to the world, it would be this, "Never forget that the fruits of our work are not final in themselves. Production is meant to make our lives easier, to give our lives a touch of beauty and refinement, but we should not allow ourselves to be degraded into mere slaves of production."Most of us have no interest in becoming slaves of production. While saving time can allow people to work more efficiently, it also gives each person the opportunity to achieve his or her own answer to the "What for? Question. Perhaps you'd like to retire early, or start a new business, or attain peace of mind. Whatever your response to "What for?" you need to discover what it is. Then you can use time saving tactics to do everything you need to do in as little time as possible, which will leave you much more time to do everything you want to do.Copyright© by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.Joe Love draws on his 25 years of experience helping both individuals and companies build their businesses, increase profits, and achieve total success. He is the founder and CEO of JLM & Associates, a consulting and training organization, specializing in personal and business development. Through his seminars and lectures, Joe Love addresses thousands of men and women each year, including the executives and staffs of many of America's largest corporations, on the subjects of leadership, self-esteem, goals, achievement, and success psychology.Reach Joe at: joe@jlmandassociates.comRead more articles and newsletters at: http://www.jlmandassociates.com
Keyword : success, achievement, personal success, business success, time-management, self-development,
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