Time Management
Time Management

Which one of the times best describes your personal and business world? Is it clock time or real time? With effective time management, clock time is not as relevant as real time. All of us reside in real time where once time passes, you cannot get it back. For you, the good news is that real time is more mental than physical. You are the one that creates it in your mind. And once you create it, you are able to manage it, but there are certain steps that you will need to take.

Planning and Setting Goals

More importantly, if you fail to manage your time well, you will only limit and sabotage your efforts. You will not think that there is not enough time in the day and you will learn how to document your goals and stick to them. Planning your day and executing those plans are instrumental to effective time management. This will only serve to work in your best interest. The planning phase will incorporate your thought process, your actions and possible conversations during scheduled meetings.

The Distractions

As a staff member or business owner, you will be interrupted from time to time as you try to get thing done on a daily basis. While you are unable to get rid of those distractions, you probably won’t be able to dictate the amount of time spent to handle these and on the time spent on the thought process, actions and conversations. To master your time, it is important to follow some practical techniques. Let’s look closely.

Scheduling and Recording

First, you should schedule and document your conversations, thoughts and actions for a week. In doing so, you will become aware of how much can be done each day and what you are concentrating on as it relates to your thoughts. You will be able to notice the amount of time spent on being productivity and successful. You will also be able to tell the amount of time that is spent on unproductive thoughts, actions and conversations.

Setting Appointments

Any conversations or actions taken toward your success should be timed. A to-do-list may get too long to be practical or workable. It is important to keep an appointment log instead. Believe it or not, you should also set appointments with yourself so you can sit and brainstorm ideas and clear your thoughts. Schedule these appointments to the exact timing, while making sure to include the start of the appointment and when it will end. Be disciplined in keeping your appointments. Half of your time should be spent being engaged in conversation, thought and action in order to produce the most results.

Conclusion

When scheduling your time, include distractions. Never start the day without making plans for being interrupted during the day. However, be sure to tackle the tasks with the most priority first so you can engage interruptions later. If you have to hang a “DO NOT DISTURB’ sign outside your office door to take care of the most important issues, then by all means, do so. Take about five minutes after each action to determine whether you have achieved your desired results. Always be mindful that it is not always possible to complete everything in one day. However, real time dictates that you engage your thoughts, conversations and actions in order to get the most done and for effective time management.

Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/annbee1985/3246324414/