 |
 |
|
Time Management Skills |
|
|
|
...your time spent
should be something more than efficient; it should also be
meaningful.
People seeking to improve
their time management skills are generally looking for something
else. It's analogous to the story of the man looking for a shovel:
He didn’t really want a shovel; he wanted a hole. Like the
shovel, time management skills are a means to an end. But before
your can decide how to improve your time management, you’ll first
need to identify what your goals are and what obstacles stand
between you and your goal. Improving your time management will only
be effective if you can prioritize, and you can prioritize
only after you have a plan—or GoalPlans®—in place.
Once you have a workable plan, time management is what
allows you to stick to that plan. It allows you to make decisions
throughout each day based on your priorities. Time management
according to a plan allows you to more effectively avoid
distractions, over-committing, and procrastination. Time management
skills are achieved by adhering to these important components:
Time Management Skills, Component #1: High-Level
Prioritization
Good time management first requires that
you have some idea of what it is you're trying to accomplish with
the time spent. This requires that you set goals. If you aren't sure
what goals you'd like to pursue, the first step is to identify what
things are most valuable to you in life. These are your core values.
Once you have identified them, selecting goals will follow more
naturally.
Time Management Skills, Component #2:
Low-Level Prioritization
Once you have identified your
goals, the next time management step is to create plans for how
you'll accomplish them, such as using myGoals.com's goal-setting
wizard. This tool helps you plan by breaking the high-level goal
down into bite-sized tasks, such as those that would end up on a
daily to-do list.
In good time management, the most
important aspect of to-do lists is to have one place where you can
list all of the things you need to do in the near term, such that
you can see what you're dealing with all at once. The next step is
to prioritize these into things that must be done soon or
immediately, as opposed to those things that can or should be done
later.
Time Management Skills, Component #3:
Efficiency
True masters of time management carry out
steps 1 and 2 instinctively, but then go further by being more
productive during the same limited 24 hours in a day.
The
first step in efficient time management, after you've prioritized,
is to match tasks of a given size with appropriate available time
blocks. Try to accomplish large tasks first. You can always fill in
the gaps with smaller tasks. Anything that lets you break large
tasks into small tasks, such that they can be performed during the
inevitable delays forced upon other tasks.
Next, find ways
to multi-task. Examples include handling calls while driving (using
a safe, hands-free cell phone setup), and listening to recorded
books-on-tape while exercising.
Finally, if you feel
yourself switching back and forth from one task to another, without
making much headway on any of them, it's time to switch gears.
You've entered "overwhelm," and it's common but curable. Switching
between tasks takes time and energy of its own, so the solution is
to force focus. Clear other items off the day's to-do list, or just
circle one of them and say "I will accomplish this before working on
anything else."
Time Management Skills, Component #4:
Motivation & Overcoming
Procrastination
Procrastination is the enemy of all time
management plans. The problem is best thought of in terms of
momentum: When you're not doing something, it's hard to begin. Once
you've started, it's easy to continue, and sometimes even difficult
to stop.
The trick when you can't get started is therefore
to take some very small, easy step forward. It can even be a trivial
step, such as looking up a phone number or doing a search on the
Web. In this way, we don't get intimidated by the enormity of the
large objective in front of us. We just focus on the first baby
step. And then take the next, and then next, and pretty soon, we're
so involved with the task that it's easy.
Another great
trick is to enlist outside help. Just as having a personal trainer
or workout partner makes you virtually guaranteed to show up at the
gym on time, any outside influence (for better or worse) usually
gets more attention than our own inner voice. Use this to your
advantage, such as with myGoals.com's email reminders that gently
nag you to work on any given task that you have prescribed for
yourself toward the completion of your goal.
Time
Management Skills, Component #5: Flexibility
Those who
are most skilled at time management understand that unanticipated
events are a normal part of life. They schedule their time with the
expectation that they will need to make last-minute changes. The
first thing to keep in mind is that constant adjustment WILL BE
required. A good plan is one that permits flexibility and has
built-in contingency alternatives.
One simple trick for
making all of your time management more flexible is called "pad and
fill." "Padding" refers to giving yourself a little more time than
you expect a task to take. This is particularly helpful when
planning tasks that contain much uncertainty or involve other
people. A simple example is drive-time; if you expect a drive to
take 20 minutes, give yourself 30. This allows for unanticipated
traffic, the need to stop for gas, taking a wrong exit, etc., and
will actually make you a much safer driver because you won't feel
compelled to take unnecessary risks out of haste.
"Filling"
is what you do with unused padding, such as if your drive only takes
20 minutes when you have given yourself 30. The key is to always
have something handy that can easily be worked on in 10 or even
5-minute increments, such as while waiting for an appointment to
begin. By carrying reading material, or notes required to make a
business call via cell phone, you can turn 20 minutes waiting for an
oil change into productive or even quality time.
Time
Management Skills, Component #6: Perspective
It's worth
noting that all time management should be done within a larger life
perspective. Taking time to smell the roses is not just a cliché,
it's vital to making your time spent be something more than
efficient—it should also be meaningful.
If you find
yourself getting too stressed about time management, consider taking
a big step back and revisiting Step #1, in which you take a close
look at your values. If health and happiness are two of your values,
then it runs contrary to them to get stressed by the details of time
management. Figuratively speaking, it may be time to climb a tree to
see the woods. Don't be afraid to just take things off the front
burner and put them onto the back burner. It's even okay to put
goals on hold, or cancel them altogether if your priorities have
changed.
myGoals.com is designed specifically to encourage
flexibility in your goal setting. Life tends to throw
unexpected things in our direction every day, and the ability to
adapt in realtime, without losing sight of the big picture, is
paramount.
Due to this need for periodic adjustment of
plans, myGoals.com is better suited to goal management than
paper-based systems. But the real advantage comes in the form of
email reminders that you set to come just when you need reminding or
motivation to work on a given task.
Additional Resources for Improving Time
Management SkillsFor more information
about myGoals.com, our goal-setting wizard, and our famous "pre-made
GoalPlansTM," visit our goal-setting
homepage.
myGoals.com
pre-made GoalPlan: To
Watch less TV
myGoals.com pre-made GoalPlan: To
Spend More Time With My Family
myGoals.com article on Procrastination
|
| |
|
