The first rule of better time management is understanding the value of your time. Different people place different value on their time, but each of us have the same number of minutes in a day and it is how we use them that will make the difference. Once they are lost, they are gone forever.
Here are more rules to better time management:
- Plan your success:
- You don’t plan for failure, but you have to plan for success
- Plan for tomorrow:
- Do tomorrow’s planning tonight
- Know what it is you need to accomplish and prioritize before the day starts
- Plan 75% of your day, allow for emergencies and interruptions
- Identify your “prime time”:
- What times of day do you have more/less energy?
- Plan high-energy or low-energy tasks accordingly
- Use the 80/20 Rule:
- Start your day working the first 96 minutes on your most important task (understanding the difference between urgent and important)
- That is generally not doing email, voicemail, getting coffee or making phone calls, etc.
- Work from an action list:
- Create and prioritize your task by using a to-do list or a tickler file
- Break projects into small task
- Delegate anything from your list that someone else can do
- Ask yourself:
- “Why am I doing what I’m doing right now?” and ask it often
- Always evaluate what you are doing to make sure you are making the most productive use of your plan/time
- Can someone else be doing this? “Delegate, Delegate, Delegate”
- Is what I am doing making money, retaining/creating clients, contributing to the bottom line?
- You have the control:
- Eliminate clutter, file those things you have completed, delegate tasks wisely
- Learn to say NO
- Learn to minimize interruptions
- The more organized, the easier it will be to deal with last minute unexpected problems
- Check your calendar:
- Have a good date-planning system that you feel comfortable with and use it
- Include all activities: work, social, family, travel, church, etc.
- You only have one life; you only need one calendar
- Be flexible:
- Have the ability to accommodate the unforeseen. Sometimes the urgent will have to override the planned.
- Have days for unplanned relaxation and spontaneous activity.