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More Advantages of Time Management

Sunday, January 22nd, 2012

More advantages of time management

Managing your time well can bring all manner of time benefits.  These are tangible things that you can realize in your life today.  All you need is a bit of persistence and effort.  Often they require only moderate changes to enable you to succeed.

Financial Stability

You can gain better financial strength when you manage your time well. Not only will you find the time to get more completed at work, but you can also find time to work additional hours, giving you more income. Your new thoughtfulness to your work may also get you a raise as your boss recognizes your extra efforts.

The financial benefits don’t stop there, with the extra time gained through good time management; the possibilities for financial gains are never-ending. You may find time to look into investment opportunities, start a small business, or discover other means to generate more income. Time management allows you to be more creative, and output can lead to better financial stability.

Stronger Family Bonds

One of the important advantages of time management is having of more family time. When your time is managed properly, everything is done within its set limits, and you no longer have to ignore your family to get more work done.

When you spend more time with your family, the results are stronger family bonds. You don’t have to make excuses anymore as to why you are missing an important event, why you can’t help them with a project, or why you have to work at the weekend. With great time management skills you are able to spend the extra time you have with your family.

Family of course can go further than those directly related to you.  It can include your close friends and relations.  These are the people that make you feel special and give you self worth.  When you have more time you are able to build this extended family and theories, like Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, show that your total well being will improve.

Better Health

An increase in the amount of time that you have can help you become healthier. If you have more time, you can cook yourself better meals, instead of eating junk food from fast food restaurants. You can also find the time to exercise and keep yourself in better shape.  Being fit is one of the keys to having a long active life.

A reduction in stress is another one of the advantages of time management.  This can help you live a healthier life. With lower stress you are less likely to develop all sorts of nasty issues.  Things you’d really want to avoid like digestive problems, ulcers, or headaches. With good time management you can get an overall greater sense of well being, and an increased ability to better care for yourself.

With so many advantages of time management, it is easy to see why people are trying to achieve it. With a little bit of persistence, the right activities and techniques good time management can be achieved. When you have become successful, you will be able to gather the many advantages that good time management has to offer.

If you’d like some more thoughts, tools, tips and techniques on time management then visit my web site www.time-management-huddle.com.  The site has lots of information and free tools to help you tame time.

 

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Knowing the Definition of Time Management

Sunday, December 25th, 2011

Words are all about giving people a chance to better understand their surroundings. Words give people a way to actually grasp a concept and allow them to turn something obscure into something that they can utilize. This is the reason why definitions are very important. People think that a definition is equal to the meaning of a term. However, you should know that it is so much more.
Saying that the definition is just what you find in the dictionary would be wrong. What you find in the dictionary is just a translation of something. The dictionary translates a concept or a word into terms that our brains can comprehend. The definition of time management is so much more than what is written in the dictionary.
The definition of time management is not merely the translation of the concept into words. It is what makes time management. The definition of time management will ultimately be understood by people who apply it. So what is the true definition of time management?
The definition of time management lies in practicing it. The definition of time management lies within each person. As with everything in this world, the definition of time management is not absolute.
The definition of time management depends upon the interpretation of each person. Some people define time management as being able to do the most things in a short period of time. There is truth in this, but not all truth is in this definition of time management. However, for the person who holds this definition, this definition gives him or her a glimpse of the whole concept of time management and makes him or her a better person.
Other people would define time management as being able to do the most important things first. This means that the definition of time management lies in prioritizing your tasks. This definition of time management is also great in conveying what the term “time management” means. However, this is not the total definition of time management.
The definition of time management should include a little bit of who the person defining it is. The definition of time management should show the world what time management did for that person. The definition of time management should include what a person had to do in order to get it right. The definition of time management should change for each person who does it.
The definition of time management is important to learn about because once you can say that you truly know it, you would be able to do it. Every successful person knows that time management cannot be defined by what you read in dictionaries. The words in a dictionary can give you the basic framework to help you find the definition of time management for yourself. This is the sole reason why so many books have been written on the definition of time management, but people rarely really agree on what time management is.
That time management is important is a fact that we cannot deny. We are all running out of time. No amount of money can buy us more time. The importance of knowing your personal definition of time management lies in this crisis. You need to learn how to properly manage your time because you have so little of it.

Time Management in a Time Challenged World

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

Time management is a decades old concept that has been taught in many different flavors by many different experts.  It is also a topic taught by hundreds of organizations to their employees.   Yet this continues to be one of the most challenged areas in people’s lives.  How can something so well taught and so common be so misapplied?

Many business professionals have significant challenges managing their time in an extremely busy and distraction filled world.    Not only do they manage a work calendar, they often have family calendars as well.  Family obligations may often occur during business hours or business obligations may occur during evening, non-traditional work hours. 

Finding a system that works for you is essential to managing your schedule and ensuring all priorities, both professional and personal, are addressed. 

I decided recently to take my own life as a case study into how challenging it can be to implement a time management system.  I am hoping my challenges and lessons learned can be applied by others in shortening the learning curve to successful time management.

I am a married man with 3 children.  I am also an IT professional who travels often for my job.  In fact, every billable hour I have works for 2 years has been worked in the road. 

I have taken almost every time management course throughout my 20 + year professional career.  From Covey to off shoots to company tailored training, I have taken almost a dozen variations on Time Management techniques.  I began using the Covey system – complete with the heavy, leather binder and the daily 2 page systems about 15 years ago.  I practiced the prioritized task lists, copying each list forward daily, and even mapping the tasks to my value statements.  I always wound up ‘falling off the wagon’ though.  The effort required to follow the disciplined Franklin Covey system was just too much for me to follow on a daily basis. 

I am also a technical IT consultant – residing in a technical, mobile world.  The techniques of 15 years ago don’t work well today.  The purpose of this article is to covey some of the challenges and some of the lessons learned I have discovered through my journey.

I have tried to apply a non-technology solution to a technology based life – it is doesn’t work too well. 

I no longer have the desk area and file area to help support an organized time management solution.

Thus, there are several common themes that are challenges for me.  These challenges include:

There are several changes I have made in my life to make the application of a time management solution easier and more effective.  These changes include:

Stick to a routine that includes 30 minutes at the start of the day to plan the day.

Being in a different time zone, meetings are often scheduled before 8 AM or over the typical lunch time.

Comparison between my mom and my wife. 

I was raised to be a multi-tasker.  I was taught the human mind can handle many simultaneous tasks and can accomplish them with equal quality.  Experience has taught me the folly of this theory.  I am now much more of a linear thinker and doer.  If I manage m task list one task at a time, I feel I am much more productive and much less stressed. 

Tools I have used in my life

The changes described above carry with them some implicit tools that have also helped in my journey.  The tools I have found most useful include:

I used to be a “messy desk is a sign of a hard worker” person.  I now subscribe to the organized desk is a productive desk person.

This activity was a challenge.  I did find that I was wasting time when I would try to multi-task – as I was having to ‘shift gears’ more often. 

I do my best thinking during linear events.  When I am able to focus on one activity and devote my entire energy towards that activity. 

This was also a challenge to implement.  It requires you to give more thought to each task on your to do list – as you need to understand the anticipated effort to complete a task.

I need to better implement a time management/task management system and properly apply the discipline of interacting with the system to help my time management. 

·         Getting things done by putting them off till tomorrow

This is an effective email management system that involves organizing your emails into a couple of different batches.  Respond to today and respond to tomorrow.

I have found that making too many changes to quickly only makes the likelihood for success lower.  Small changes, properly and effectively applied help much more that drastic changes. 

There are many obvious benefits to using a disciplined, effective time management system.  Some of these benefits include:

·         Peace of mind

·         Less stress

·         Better productivity

·         Appearance of competence – the more organized you are, the better (more affective) you look. 

Conclusion

Time management is a must.  Finding the right combination of tools and methods is key to keeping time management a reality in your professional and personal life. 

What Is Effective Time Management

Saturday, December 10th, 2011

Time management is basically about being focused. The Pareto Principle, also known as the ’80:20 Rule’ states that 80% of efforts that are not time managed or unfocused generates only 20% of the desired output. However, 80% of the desired output can be generated using only 20% of a well time managed effort. Although the ratio ’80:20′ is only arbitrary, it is used to put emphasis on how much is lost or how much can be gained with time management.
Some people view time management as a list of rules that involves scheduling of appointments, goal settings, thorough planning, creating things-to-do lists and prioritizing. These are the core basics of time management that should be understood to developing a efficient personal time management skills. These basic skills can be fine tuned further to include the finer points of each skill that can give you that extra reserve to make the results you desire.
But there are more skills involved in time management than the core basics. Skills such as decision making, inherent abilities such as emotional intelligence and critical thinking are also essential to your personal growth.
Personal time management involves everything you have or do not have to do every day. No matter how big and no matter how small, everything counts. Each new knowledge you acquire, each new advice you consider, each new skill you develop should be taken into consideration.
Having a balanced life-style should be the key result in having personal time management. This is the main aspect that many practitioners of personal time management fail to grasp.
Time management is about doing everything that are most productive in an effective way, not just about being busy.
The six areas that personal time management seeks to improve in anyone’s life are physical, intellectual, social, professional, emotional and spiritual.
1.The physical aspect involves maintaining a healthy body with balanced meals and regular exercise, and managing stress and fatigue.
2.The intellectual aspect involves learning and other mental growth activities.
3.The social aspect involves developing personal or intimate relations and being an active contributor to society.
4.The professional aspect involves school and work in establishing your career.
5.The emotional aspect involves appropriate feelings and desires, and manifesting them accordingly.
6.The spiritual aspect involves a personal quest for meaning in life.
Thoroughly planning and having a set of things-to-do lists for each of the key areas may not be very practical, but determining which area in your life is no given enough attention is part of time management. Each area creates the whole of you; if you are ignoring one area then you are ignoring an important part of yourself.
Personal time management should not be so daunting a task. It is a very sensible and reasonable approach in solving problems big or small. A great way of learning time management and improving your personal life is to follow several basic activities.
1.Review your goals often whether it be short-term or long-term goals. A way to do this is to keep a list that is always accessible to you.
2.Always determine which task is necessary or not necessary in achieving your goals and which activities are helping you maintain a balanced life style. Each and every one of you have a peak time and a time when you slow down, which are your natural cycles. You should be able to tell when your most productive time of the days and nights are so that you can plan to do the most difficult tasks at those times.
3.Learn to say “No” when you do not what to be involved. You actually see this advice often. Heed it even if it involves saying the word to family or friends.
4.Give yourself a pat on the back or just reward yourself with something nice for an effective time management result.
5.Try and get the cooperation from people around you who are actually benefiting from your efforts of time management.
6.Don’t procrastinate. Attend to necessary things immediately.
7.Have a positive attitude and set yourself up for success. But be realistic in your approach in achieving your goals.
8.Have a record or journal of all your activities. This will help you get things in their proper perspective.
These are the few steps you can take in becoming a well-balanced individual. As they say, personal time management is the art and science of building a better life. From the moment you integrate time management skills into your life, you have opened several options that can provide a broad spectrum of solutions to your personal growth. It also creates more doors of opportunities for you to knock on.

Achieve More From Your Day Through Time Management Training

Thursday, December 1st, 2011

We can do nothing to increase time and we must always remember that time is one of the few things in modern life that is not recyclable. However time management training  and getting good at time management skills can provide you with the feeling of achieving a certain amount of work at the end of each day, as opposed to going home from work and feeling although you have worked long hours you have achieved nothing during the day.

Good time management skills is about many things, prioritising,managing interruptions, avoiding procrastination etc. But time management really starts with having a plan of action which clearly states the tasks you are hoping to complete on any given day—other wise known as a to do list.

I am not a fan per se of to do lists however I do believe you need an action list outlining the actions you are going to take to achieve your tasks on a daily basis. Time management training will always speak of the importance of planning your work and working your plan

I have set out below some key points for getting into the habit of writing a list and managing the list.

Before writing a list as part of your time management skills, you should always check your diary for that day, as if you use effective diary control to make appointments with yourself for the tasks you need to carry out, there will always be daily entries in the diary.

Remember the 80/20 principle 80% of things on your time management list will produce 20% of the results and 20% of the list will produce 80% of the results. A key element of time management training is to always remember this rule and work on the key areas that produce the important results.

Get yourself in to the habit of writing a time management list every day, try to write the list at the same time daily so as it forms a habit. Some will do the time management list first thing in the morning whilst others will use time management skills to prepare the list the night before, just before you leave work—leaving it on your desk for as soon as you arrive the following morning.

Time management training courses will tell you that the important thing is to get into the habit of writing a list each day on one piece of paper (not a thousand yellow stickies all over your pc)The list should take no more than 10 minutes maximum to compile. Time management is not about having loads of things on your list, it is about having the most important things on your list. Time management skill training will teach you it is not the amount of items on the list but the importance of the items.

You must allow time for emergency changes in your daily schedule. No matter how effective you are at training yourself in the skills of time management, there will always be the possibility of unscheduled important tasks popping up or interruptions etc.

Be realistic with your time management lists and try your best to allocate each task a start time and finish time. Group similar tasks together for momentum and remember to carry forward items from one day to the other (only if they are important and must be actioned.)

Even think of rewarding yourself after each task has been done and crossed off the time management list. Remember the key saying in effective time management skills training:

Is what I am dong now helping me to achieve my objective?