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Time Management Skills |
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...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 Skills
For 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
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