Time Management Introduction
Time management can be defined as activities or tools which allow you to effectively manage your time. When you practice good time management, your productivity will increase, and if you are the owner of a business, it is likely that your business will experience larger profits.
Today, time management has been broken down into a number of categories, but they all basically seek to achieve the same objectives. When you hear most people talk about time management, they are generally referring to it on a personal level.
The idea of time management is that if you can spend more time doing things that are important, you are much more likely to be successful at whatever you are trying to accomplish. Once you have succeeded, you will be a happier person that will be able to get more out of life. To become skilled at managing your time, there are some skills you will need to develop, and these are setting goals, decision making, delegating, and prioritizing. Many people resort to using sophisticated tools such as PDAs to help them. While they can be helpful, the most important factor is the decisions you make. A machine can only take you so far.
Many people think that PDAs and other day planning devices will manage their time for them. This is incorrect. The machine will only hold the information that you put into it. It is your responsibility to make sure all the tasks are carried out. The ability to make quick decisions is very important. People who are indecisive will generally perform poorly when it comes to time management. Why? Because it takes them too long to make a decision. They "sit on the gate" trying to decide which option to go with, or they make a decision and then suddenly decide to do something else.
When it takes you a long time to make a decision, or you have to change your mind after you’ve made one, this is a sign that you are indecisive. Being indecisive can cause you to run into a number of problems. If you want to be successful with time management, you must learn how to quickly make a decision and stick with the decision you make. How do you do this? Generally, when you are presented with a decision, it will come in the form of two or more options. You must decide which option you will choose. The option that you pick can lead to your success or failure. The best way to quickly make the best decision is to look at the pros and cons of each option. Writing them down on a board can be helpful.
Once you write down the options, write down the pros and cons of each, and compare the number of pros and cons with each option. Pick the option that has the most pros with the least cons. This is a fast and simple way to make good decisions. The next skill you will want to look at is goal setting. It will be next to impossible for you to manage your time if you don’t have goals. You should have a list of things that you need to get done each day. Your "goal" should be to get those things done. Anything that gets in the way of you achieving your goal will waste your time and stop you from being successful.
Being able to properly delegate tasks is important. If you have a business with employees, you should become skilled at delegating tasks to all of them. Everyone who works for you should know what they need to do. When you are not able to quickly delegate tasks to your employees, you are failing as a business owner. The next thing you will need to focus on is prioritizing tasks. When you write down a list of things you need to do each day, rate them by levels of importance. This is called prioritizing. Prioritizing is important because it allows you to put your energy into the most important tasks. If you have an unexpected situation, you don’t want to be stuck doing things that are not important. Placing a priority on tasks based on their importance will allow you to work at a high level of efficiency.
