Regardless of your time management system, there are key elements for effective time management. Unless you include these in your time management system, you will likely operate at less than peak efficiency. So, take a look at the these that are outlined below.
Motivation. Humans are motivated by the avoidance of pain and the desire for pleasure. So, to achieve effective time management, you have to set up a time management system that increases pleasure and avoids pain. Therefore, the key to winning the time management pain is to focus on the pain that is associated with continued inaction. Then contrast that with the perceived pleasure associated with the freedom of having gotten everything done.
Keep Written Records. You have to write down the things that you need to remember. Furthermore, writing the tasks down gives you the ability to see that which needs to be done and more effectively prioritize the tasks to maximize effective time management. The human brain is incapable of remembering more than four to five things in its short term memory at one time. So, unless you make a written record of what you need to do, you will only get those things done that you remember as opposed to those that are the most important.
Accountability. Accountability is the twin sister of the written to do list. I am not talking about being accountable to some exterior person. No, I am talking about accountability to yourself and your plan to accomplish all that you have to do. In order to be able to practice effective time management, you have to have something to measure your progress. This should not be an opportunity to beat yourself up. It should be an opportunity to fine tune and adjust your course, or figure out why you have failed to meet your expectations. Use that information to make fine adjustments and resume course.
Multitasking Works. An effective time management strategy might be to begin bringing your laptop to a doctors appointment. Learn to listen to books on audiotape rather than buying a printed book. Return phone calls while waiting on appointments. Learn to text while at lunch. These are all effective time management tools to help you get things done during dead times throughout the day.
Delegate simple tasks. Guess what? You are not indispensable. Other people can do your work.and should. Most tasks do not have to be perfect, only good enough. I would suspect that, if you are a perfectionist, you definition of good enough is probably well above average definition of perfect. If you have subordinates, let them return phone calls or draft simple correspondence. Let the boy down the street mow your yard. Have your clothes dry cleaned and pressed. If your time is worth more than the cost of having the job done, then it makes economic sense to let someone else do it.
No Is Not A Four Letter Word. Those with effective time management systems learn how to say No. Your time is as important as that of your colleague. You cannot volunteer your time, you can (1) keep it; (2) sell it; or (3) give it away. Since you only get a fixed amount each day, each hour you give away decreases your time by one hour and increase their time by exactly one hour. At the end of the day, the recipient has more time to complete his tasks and you have less. I am not advocating the refusal to help others. If time were food and you were starving, how much of your daily rations would you give away? None. You would save it to be consumed by you and your family, right? If your time is already scarce, should you be giving it away?
Effective time management is a process with many components. You must find a reason to motivate you to make more effective use of your time. You must write down those things that you need to do and be accountable to yourself. You must also learn to multitask and delegate so that more can be done in a given amount of time. Lastly, you must guard your time as a valuable resource and learn to say No when appropriate. If you incorporate all of these time management tips into your time management, you will eat the elephant and still have room for desert.
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