The central principle of time management is a simple one: people should spend their time doing things they value and enjoying and achieving their goals. However, that is not to say that people should do those things in their interest at the expense of other people – because altruistic people value helping others and themselves.
Summary
Clarifying Values and Goals for Time-Management
It can be difficult to clarify goals and values when setting up an effective time-management system. One helpful method to help explain what’s important is for a person to imagine that they have died three years into the future, and friends and family have gathered for their funeral.
The key part of this exercise is for the person to think very carefully about what they would like the following people to say about them:
- best friend
- husband/ Wife/ Partner
- work colleague
- neighbor
The purpose of this exercise is to make people think about the kind of person they want to be seen as and the kind of things they’d like to achieve. After completing the exercise, the person should be ready to write a personal statement outlining their values and goals, which is essential in identifying their priorities.
A Piece of Pie
Once a list of priorities has been drawn up, the next stage of time management is to decide how much time to dedicate to each of the values and goals were drawn up in the personal statement. The most effective way of doing this is to draw up a pie chart, splitting up time according to the priority status. The pie chart can then be used to manage days, weeks, and months.
Nine Important Tools and Rules for Time-Management
- Get down to the task at hand – quickly, without wasting time in limbo. Thinking about a job doesn’t help get it done!
- Establish a routine that will help to release time and energy. Instead of delaying starting a task, resolve to establish a way that works for hand in hand with point 1 above.
- Try not to say yes to everything. Before a person commits to a task, they should take a step back and think about how they can fit it in – particularly about thinking about what they will have to take time away from to add in an extra task.
- Don’t commit to unimportant tasks.
- Tackling large tasks can be daunting, so it helps break large tasks into smaller, more manageable tasks, so they are easier to contemplate and complete.
- Perfectionism is the great enemy of anyone who wants to manage their time effectively. Instead of getting hung up on the tiniest details, concentrate on getting the task at hand done.
- Unpleasant or tricky tasks are bound to occur at some point, and often the instinct is to put them off ‘until later,’ but it is much more productive to deal with such tasks immediately – getting them out of the way instead of putting them off time and time again.
- It is important to remember, when scheduling appointments, that all meetings should have a scheduled end time as well as a start time – to avoid spending too much time on one task, thus taking time away from other studies.
- One of the most crucial time management stages is scheduling time to sit down and plan activities. The minutes spent in planning save much more time than they take up.
The Importance of Time-Management
Time-management is an essential skill in modern times when there seems to be less time to complete an increasing number of tasks. Without effective time-management, it can be increasingly challenging to fit everything that needs to be done each day. Planning, setting goals, and having priorities can make managing time a much easier task.
Thank you for reading!