Time Management For Success

It's always nice to think that you can just get out of bed each day and do whatever you want, whenever you want. Unfortunately, everyone knows that type of living will never get them anywhere. At best, you'll end up living life day-to-day with no real goals in sight, but only accomplishing the things that you must do in order to get by. Without practicing time management, people will definitely get by, but they won't achieve much.

The key to practicing effective time management is to realize your goals in life. What are the things you want for your life? Do you want more money, a nicer car, a bigger house? Where do you see yourself ten years from now if you continue on the road you are currently on? Most likely, you'll see yourself struggling like you are now, but only because you don't have it together.

Getting organized is often one of the hardest aspects of life, however if you can master it, then you have nothing to worry about. Everyone needs to follow a daily "system" to ensure they accomplish their goals. No one says that your "system" needs to be the exact same everyday. One of the easiest ways to make sure you meet your goals is to start small. Creating a daily to-do list will help you accomplish everything from the smaller goals to the larger ones.

All too often, people fail because they don't believe that their goals can become a reality. They give up on doing things that will lead them there because they are intimidated at how much is involved. The truth is that if you take things slowly (as in day-by-day), you will get there and continue to move at a steady pace.

It's important that you make your daily to-do list a priority. Try not to overload yourself by placing too many things on your list. Start with listing five tasks each day that you must complete, and then move on to listing six, then seven, then eight, all the way up to ten and maybe even fifteen if you think you can handle it. Place small check boxes out beside each task so you can check them once you've completed each one.

Do not expect your day to go exactly as planned. Doing so will only set you up for disappointment. Realize that there will be phone calls, people who need you, people who stop by, etc. Always make time for those things each day, and if you have too much to do, let everyone know that you will be busy.

Creating a daily to-do list along with realizing what your big goals are is a great tool for managing your time and making sure that you become successful. Have your list right beside you when you wake up in the morning. Pick it up and look it over after you've had your coffee, shower, etc. Carry it around with you if it makes it easier. It's crucial that you keep your mind alert and fresh on your goals all day long so you do not get lazy and tempted to quit.

You'll notice a drastic change in your life and the way you feel once you start practicing time management. Best of all, you'll have more time for the things you want to do, after achieving the tasks that you must do.

About The Author
Natalie shares her personal experience overcoming shyness, building self-esteem and making positive changes in your life at Thoughtful-Self-Improvement.com. Learn more tips on time management by visiting her Web site.

Use a Day Planner to Budget Your Time

To maintain balance in your life you have to examine your personal values and make sure that the things that are important to you are reflected in your day planner. Your day planner should display your personal time budget.

Planning is important in order to avoid impulse spending of time. Plan what TV programs you will watch, the sporting events you will attend, the family outings, jogging, quiet time and so on. The best day planner should go from 7am to 10 pm, 7 days a week so that personal activities can be scheduled as well as business activities. Block off your vacations, evening classes, church activities, your child's little league games, those scheduled dates with your spouse, those special events, that annual cruise or camping trip. Sometimes you may have to schedule personal activities during work time and work activities during personal time. Balance is a blend of work and personal life; there's no guarantee that one won't intrude on the other - but it balances out.

You should plan both your work priorities and your personal priorities at least a week in advance, and schedule them into your day planner. Don't over schedule. We recommend that you schedule between 30% and 50% of your available time after work for those key areas of your life, including family, friends, exercise, household projects and so on. Allow time for last minute opportunities, family demands and spontaneity. You must have plenty of discretionary time.

If you develop poor working habits, such as continually working overtime, working through lunch, not taking breaks, working at the kitchen table after dinner - your life can soon get out of balance. The habit of eating in front of the TV set can cause problems as well, since we develop the habit of watching TV with no purpose in mind.

Just as meetings consume a lot of time at work, TV consumes a lot of time at home. And just as we should have meeting-free days at work to concentrate on priority tasks, so we should have TV-free evenings at home to concentrate on quality time with the family. So it makes sense to decide in advance which TV programs you will watch - then stick to your plan.

Don't rely on "To Do" lists - they're simply intentions and are frequently postponed. Activities and projects that are scheduled in your planner become commitments, and those are the things that usually get done.

About The Author
Harold Taylor's website https://www.taylorintime.com
Harold Taylor has been speaking, writing and conducting training programs on the topic of effective time management for over 30 years. He has written 16 books, including the Canadian bestseller, Making Time Work For You. He has developed over 50 time management products that have sold in 38 countries around the world.

A Follow-up File is the Best Friend to Your Day Planner

It's important to schedule time in your day planner - appointments with yourself - to work on the important tasks that must be done. But it's equally important to have any reference material, instructions or guidelines handy when you are ready to do the actual work.

Whenever you schedule time in your day planner to work on a priority task, place any relevant paperwork in your follow-up file so it is available when you need it. This also keeps your in-basket and desk clear of any paperwork.

Your follow-up file can be a set of 12 hanging folders, one for each month, and 31 manila folders marked 1 through 31, representing the possible days of the month. There should be only one set of these manila folders, placed in the current month's hanging folder. (You may need a couple of additional unmarked hanging folders to house them comfortably.) The manila folders are transferred, a day at a time, to the next month's hanging folder once the contents have been dealt with. This means you will always have 31 folders for future days as you continue to plan ahead.

When you schedule time in your day planner to work on a task, and there is material you will need to refer to when you do the work, include the note "See FF" as a reminder to check your follow-up file at that time. In fact, don't put anything in your follow-up file without first indicating that it is there. Let your day planner tell you when to look in your follow-up file. The more details you include the better, but even a simple "See FF" will remind you that something has to be done that day. If there are electronic files that must be referenced, add a note in your planner accordingly. Don't rely on your memory; let your planner be your memory system.

Your follow-up file can be used for invoices to be paid, tickets for future events, greeting cards to be sent - anything in paper format that must be used or acted upon in the future. Just remember to schedule enough time to actually do the task.

It is a simple matter to scan the pages of your planner if you want to find anything that is awaiting action in your follow-up files.

Coordinated with your planner, which is your guide to the future, a follow-up file will help keep your in-basket empty, your desk organized, and your mind at ease.


About The Author
Harold Taylor's website https://www.taylorintime.com
Harold Taylor has been speaking, writing and conducting training programs on the topic of effective time management for over 30 years. He has written 16 books, including the Canadian bestseller, Making Time Work For You. He has developed over 50 time management products that have sold in 38 countries around the world.

Time Management, Planning and the Sigmoid Curve

Charles Handy in his book, The Age of Paradox, makes an interesting case for launching a second career before the first one starts going downhill. Or a second business before the first one starts to falter. Or a new product before the sales on the first one starts to peter out. Handy feels the Sigmoid Curve, an s-shaped curve tilted forward, sums up the story of life.

For example, if we start a new business, we usually start slowly, sales take off, and then level off and finally start to decrease. The time to make a change is while we're approaching the crest of the curve, while everything is going great. At that point we have the energy and resources needed to get a new curve through its faltering first stage. But we are reluctant to change when things are going great and tend to ride the first curve down to oblivion. The various stages of growth are marked on the diagram.

Take products for example. I have probably developed over 100 products over the last 30 years, if you include manuals, self-study programs, books, training programs, videos and so on. But we probably have less than 50 available on our website at any one time. You can't wait until one product fizzles out before developing a new product. When things are going well, it's easy to sit back and do nothing. My public seminars were still doing well when I started doing teleseminars, and electronic products on flash memory sticks were developed long before book sales declined. You shouldn't wait for sales to plummet before introducing something new.

My experience in large companies showed that such things as austerity programs and cost-cutting measures took place whenever the company was on a downswing - at a time when the company could ill afford the damaged morale and resentment that normally ensued. By then it was too late anyway. Band-Aid approaches seldom work. Companies should have examined their spending habits during prosperous times when sales and profits were soaring. Living high on the hog during good times and panicking during recession is no way to run a company.

I like the concept of the Sigmoid Curve because it is more than just planning, it's anticipation.

A similar situation could occur in our personal life as well. If we get a higher paying job, an inheritance, a big sale or some other sudden influx of money, we might go on a spending spree that eventually escalates to a lifestyle. And when the source of the extra money dries up, we find ourselves unable to stop the downward spiral to bankruptcy.

It's difficult to determine where we are on the sigmoid curve at any point in time, only that we're on an upswing or a downswing. But companies usually underestimate how far they are on the upswing. Taking action before reaching the peak is a lot better than finding we're on the verge of a downward slide. Successful companies introduce new products; packaging or other innovations while things are going well, not as attempts to turn things around.

The things that make you successful are rarely the things that keep you there. The environment in which we live keeps changing. It takes courage and a degree of risk to change things when everything's going well. But not to do so may lead to disaster.

How do you know where you are on the curve? You don't really know until it's too late. So you must guess. In this fast-paced environment where change is exponential, it's likely that you're farther along on the curve than you think. In his book, The Age of Paradox, Charles Hardy refers to a study of 208 companies over a period of 18 years to find out which ones were consistently successful. Only 3 companies lasted for the entire 18 years. 52 percent could not maintain their record for more than 2 years. By that example, it would be reasonable to introduce change after 2 or 3 years. If you start a second curve too soon there are no great consequences. Start too late and it could mean disaster.


About The Author
Harold Taylor's website https://www.taylorintime.com
Harold Taylor has been speaking, writing and conducting training programs on the topic of effective time management for over 30 years. He has written 16 books, including the Canadian bestseller, Making Time Work For You. He has developed over 50 time management products that have sold in 38 countries around the world.