Make Time Management Work for You

Article by ElmerFizz

Most of us already know that in order to achieve our goals wehave to utilize time management. But what is time managementreally about? It’s about managing your actions! By utilizingtime management we can take more productive action in the dayallowing us to get more things done, plus, allowing ourselvesfree time to do what we want to do (for me that means fishing). However, time management is only a means to an end when it comesto getting things done. It’s a very important and powerful tool,but a tool nonetheless.

I can think of countless people, very smart people, who fullyunderstand exactly what time management is. Many have even spentthe time reading entire books on the subject. Most of thesepeople still get nothing more done than before they studied timemanagement! Why? Because they fail to take action and use theirnew knowledge and skills. This means that the time they spentreading the time management book was actually a waste of time!

If you don’t fall into the trap above maybe you have the sameproblem I had for years. I’ve always been very motivated andlove to take action to achieve my goals… However, until recentlymy problem was that I would start to take action on a project butI’d let myself get sidetracked and before I knew it I’d move onto other project and start working on it without ever havingcompleted the one I already started. This left me with severalgreat ideas that I’d taken action on but I had completed andachieved nothing.

The method I used to get over the hump in my time managementaction process was very simple… I used an action list to plan myday. In fact, I still use a list. When I start working in themorning (I work from home so it’s usually whenever I get up) Ispend a few minutes reading my email then I make a list of howI’m going to spend my time that day.

Think of it like a list of tasks to accomplish that day. I alsoblock out time blocks as to when I will work on each taskthroughout the day. If I run out of time on that task beforeanother starts on my schedule I will stop that task and start thenext one to keep on my planned schedule then come back to thefirst task later in the day during a time slot that I hadreserved for unfinished work.

The way I plan and execute my day certainly works very well forme; however, it may not work for you. You need to come up withyour own method of planning, and putting your plan into action toachieve what you want to achieve. If you’re working from home,turn off the TV and stay focused on what you you want toaccomplish during your workday. Stay motivated and avoid puttingoff your work because something “came up”.

Time management comes down to not only planning what you aregoing to do but also TAKING ACTION! Having goals are meaninglessif you’re not willing to take the necessary action steps toachieve those goals. Just do it! http://www.abusinessinfo.com

About the Author

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Time Management Program: I’ve Tried a Time Management Program Before and It Didn’t Work

Article by Cheryl A. Clausen

There are a number of reasons most time management programs don’t work for you or anyone else, but the biggest reason is because most time management programs don’t take a holistic approach to the problem. Almost never are you having difficulty with time issues because you don’t know about a technique or system. You are having trouble with time issues for reasons that are very specific to you. Until you know and understand what specific to you is getting in the way you can’t even hope to get your time troubles out of your life.

Many time management programs are focused on a day planner system. There are a number of day planner systems that include time management programs either with them or have them available for sale. Yes, you will need to use a day planner system to gain control of your time but there isn’t one day planner system that is perfect for everyone and until you know your exact behaviors that are causing your time management problems you aren’t in a position to choose a day planner system. You need two key pieces of information before you spend one penny on a day planner system. You need to know your own problematic behaviors and you need to know what you want to get out of or from the day planner system.

Sometime time management programs are focused on certain techniques that are supposed to resolve all of your time management issues. Again, I highly doubt that there are magical techniques out there that you have never heard of. But even if there are, the ones that will be important to you are the ones that address you and your specific needs. So, even if you know about the technique you probably don’t recognize its value in relation to you and your needs.

Rarely do time management programs address you and your specific needs because they are designed to help the masses rather than to help just you. The next time you pick up a prescription from the pharmacy read the insert the pharmacist gives you with the medication paying close attention to the information about adverse events. Drugs only have adverse events in a very small percentage of the population or they don’t get approved by the FDA. That’s great right? Well, it’s great unless you happen to be one of the people in the small group that has that adverse event because now for you it is a 100% occurrence. The correlation here is that what may work for the masses and be a great solution for most people may have zero value for you, and you are the only person you really care about.

Rarely do time management programs include the personal support you need to make the changes that will have the highest impact and most value for you. You can’t see your own blind spots, that’s why they are called blind spots and those blind spots that you can’t see may be the very behaviors that are causing you the most damage in your efforts to get control of your time. Outside personal support can help you to identify those blind spots and help you to get results faster than you ever could on your own. When or if you ever played sports you had a coach to spot your bad form, to show you the correct form, and to help you practice it so you didn’t keep making the same mistakes. Same concept applies with how you handle time. Why make it harder than necessary and prolong the stress?

Frequently time management programs are given in a workshop or seminar format. Workshops and seminars can be highly motivational and you can walk away with some great ideas. The big problem with that format though is that you will forget 50% of what you heard after one day and after two weeks you will remember less than 16% of the information you were exposed to. Obviously, if you want to make real life changes this isn’t the best format for the problem.

About the Author

Would you like to learn more about your time behaviors? Try this Time Management Analysis and find out where your opportunities for improvement are.

When you absolutely must have measurable results to consistently and predictably get where you want to go for Superior Success…visit CoachingMegaAgents to star

Importance of Time Management in the Place of Work

In several leadership seminars one of the things that are generally taught is importance of time management. In reality, time management has been considered by several business entrepreneurs and leaders as one of the most vital success secrets.

You may have outstanding skills and talents but if you are not able to effectively manage your time, you’ll not be able to achieve what you want in the business planet.

Time is precious:

Since time is very little and precious it is considered to be very vital particularly in the workplace. Whether you are a proprietor of a home based business or working in a conservative office as a worker you only have to finish all the tasks and meet the everyday jobs you need to complete at the stipulated time.

Knowing how to manage your time permits you to make value of every minute. One more reason why management of time is important is because if you do not manage your time well you will lose that much profit in your business.

Project based workers:

The importance of time management plays a major role in project based workers who are remunerated based on the work amount that they finish. You would be able to finish more tasks resulting in an income increase by efficiently managing your time.

Simultaneously, you are able to reduce your operating cost brought about by the funds you require in order to finish these projects. Therefore, this will further raise your revenue margin.

The advantage of effectual time management goes beyond the place of work. You are able to attain a control of your life when you are able to manage your time effectively.

Once you have understood the importance of time management you will be astonished to discover just how much spare time that you have left to pamper yourself and to use up with your family. When you manage your time efficiently you are more peaceful and less prone to anxiety, which has been found to be a foremost cause for individuals obtaining a stress level and the decline of their social relationships.

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Time Management : Does Training Work And Where Do We Start?

The term time management is somewhat of an anomaly because we can’t actually manage time!

Telling delegates this at the beginning of a time management course can produce some frowning faces. We quickly move on to suggest that what we can do though is to manage ourselves in relation to time, we can control how we use time and we can control how we spend it.

Time Management courses are attended by many different types of people and, in a sense, that’s another of the fun factors.

Learning about what other people do and how they manage their time is not only interesting, but also gives insight that is beneficial to all attendees.

Our company has welcomed all levels of organizational membership from clerical workers up to regional and top CEOs.

A critical issue in time management training is what can be taken away. We tell our delegates that we provide them with a toolbox of skills to enable them to become more productive, less stressed and happier at work.

However, research actually shows that many time management courses just don’t hit the mark. Why?

Often they are not designed within the principles of human learning. There may be little thought given to preparing for the course, analyzing how time is spent before attending and to how learning from the course can be effectively transferred back to the workplace.

Make sure that you consider all of these issues before signing up for a course. Once you have signed up, if your facilitator does as we do and asks you to carry out some pre-course work, make sure that you do.

I recently ran an in-house course where not one of the attendees did the pre-course time log. Not only does this say something about the company and those attending, but it means that they lost at least 20% of the value of the course.

If we do not know where our time goes, how can we learn to control it??!!

Today’s high paced offices are full of time-wasters. The phone is always ringing, bosses are always demanding meetings and there’s always the drop-in visitor who asks for five minutes of your time only to leave you feeling overwhelmed an hour later.

We all face different time-wasters and at times, we are our own culprits! Human traits such as ego and pride see us accepting too much work, always picking up the ‘phone and being unable to say “no”.

On the other hand, a sense of pride in our abilities also leads us, at times, to accept too many challenges.

Economic and job pressures result in us spending more and more time at work but often not achieving any more than we would in a “regular” 8 hour day.

What’s happening? These factors are leading us to procrastinate. There’s so much to do that we feel overwhelmed. We make deals with ourselves such as have a coffee first then start, or do the easier task first. The problem is, that critical but oh so big project gets put back time and time again! This just adds to the stress and pressure.

In many industries, workers spend a lot of their time “fighting-fires”. This is where everything is classified as urgent and important. Ideally, such people need to find a mechanism to transform and spend more time working on projects which are still important, but not urgent. Ultimately, that’s where effective management of time comes in.

Planning and self-examination helps you know what you are capable of, when your most productive energy cycles are and what issues tend to bog you down.

Learning to overcome procrastination is critical, as is learning to trust your direct-reports and allowing yourself to delegate more work – remembering to delegate responsibility as well as the work itself!

Once you have mastered that, you need to go on to set smart* goals and learn how to plan your work and projects and build contingencies into these plans.

As you begin to experience more control over your time, your mind will start to free-up and you’ll think more clearly and embrace more passion for your work. To do this effectively, you’ll also need to clear up your workspace, keep things neat and tidy and ensure adequate light (preferably natural) and optimal temperatures in the office.

Then once you’ve spent time working on your own time management, you’ll need to look to doing the same in others. Not just making sure they go on the same course as you, but also respecting their styles and preferences and not interrupting them during their most productive time periods.

So if we can learn to manage time effectively in the office, can we do the same if we have to travel a lot for work? Of course! The trick is learning to always have something with you that you can be working on.

So, for example after you’ve checked-in for your flight, you may have an hour or two to spare. Use this time for work that won’t require high levels of concentration such as replying to emails or drawing up lose business plans.

When you are visiting a client and he makes you wait in the conference room for 5 minutes, you can be working on some new sales ideas or reading the latest industry news.

So, it’s all about always having something that will ultimately need to be done ready to do in whatever situation you are in and in that case, when you are made to wait, you don’t have to feel unhappy about it, rather in full control.

In summary, research shows us that time management (or managing ourselves in relation to time) does work as long as we are committed to this and start out well from step one.

Thinking that a one or two day course in time management will produce lasting results is erroneous. However, examining the current workplace, how time is spent and what changes can be made and being willing and able to make those changes as well as being committed to lasting time management success is what will produce consistent and long-term results.

Those who report mastery of their time not only report being happier and more productive in less time, but they also report increased financial success.

Like anything that produces a good return, an initial respectable investment is the key.

*SMART goals are those which are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bounded

Further reading: Does time management training work? An evaluation. Peter Green and Denise Skinner. International Journal of Training & Development, Volume 9, Issue 2, pages 124-139.

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Encouraging Better Time Management ? Link Behaviors to Personal Work Goals

You have decided that your employees could benefit from better time management. Specifically, you want them to do better at managing interruptions, prioritizing tasks, planning activities, and meeting deadlines. 

You did all the right things.  You sent everyone to time management class, showed videos on time management, and bought the latest TIPS books on managing time.  You even emailed your employees several websites that contained some great ideas.  Still, you have seen very few changes. Or if changes do occur, they are temporary.

So how do you encourage improvements, especially the long lasting kind? Try linking the time management improvements you want to your employees’ personal work goals. For example, suppose you wanted employees to do better at prioritizing tasks.  You might explain how prioritizing tasks could lead to achievement of the following personal work goals:

• Increased personal productivity

• Increased personal quality

• Less need to work overtime

• Less personal frustration and stress

• More time available to take a full lunch

• Less time spent on the telephone explaining delays to customers

Don’t fret if you don’t see your employees’ personal work goals on this list.  You will have an endless list of personal work goals to choose from if your employees are not doing a good job of managing their time.  That’s because if they are not managing their time well, they are probably complaining. Use these complaints (or goals) to explain the personal benefits of better time management.

What makes this approach more effective than classes and videos?

This approach is more effective because you create a heightened sense of the value and urgency around better time management.  You also approach improvements with a focus on personal benefits to employees.  Finally, and most importantly, this is not a one time strategy for improving time management.  This is something you can use whenever you talk to employees.  So the next time your employees wistfully talk about how they would love to take a longer lunch, improve their quality, or have less stress, link these goals to a specific time management behavior you want.

If you like this song you will like my music. Please support and go pick up an album here: www.equalibrum.bandcamp.com myspace www.myspace.com Facebook: www.facebook.com Made this in about 3 hours. 3 years ago. There wasn’t many MPD24 video so I posted it. Lucky for me it got featured on the front page of youtube for a week. People really ate it up.. and this video still magically gets tons of regular plays..It blows my mind because I really don’t think its THAT good haha.. I highly suggest watching the other one..It’s way better in my opinion..but the other video is more of a display of the live looping technique I came up with using the MPD32, FL studio and a loop pedal VST using 2 of the pads to time the loop of what I was playiing right there on the fly. I plan on posting more..just gotta sit down one day and make another one. Enjoy..
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