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Home / Personal Development / Time Management
Time Management
By:Kim Olver
Does it ever feel like there is never enough time in the day? Are you always rushing? Do you feel stressed at the end of the day? Do you believe that you are not accomplishing what you hoped? Better time management may be the answer.
Dr. Respect at http://marcusgentry.blogspot.com says we must “protect, organize and prioritize our time”. If you are having any of the above listed difficulties, then my guess is you are missing at least one of those elements.
Protecting our time is important. We all have the same amount of time in a day. It’s what we do with it that is critical. Do you find yourself doing things you really don’t want to do or spending time with people who take more than they give? These are examples of not protecting your time.
Your time is your gift to spend, as you will. You can spend it wisely or you can waste it. It’s your choice. However, one thing you can’t do is get it back to do over again.
Sometimes we all do things that we don’t really want to be doing but when we do, it should be in furtherance of a bigger goal that we have. Maybe we don’t want to be going to work today but we want to collect our paycheck at the end of the week, so it’s something we choose to do to get to the bigger payoff.
However, there are things that we do that just aren’t important, don’t lead to anything and waste our time. Can you think of any activities that fall into that category for you? Do you know that the average American watches on average three hours of television each day? How is that for a time waster?
I know when I first got my computer, one of the things I unwisely spent my time on was computer games. I don’t mean an occasional game here or there. I’m talking about an addiction, an obsession---playing solitaire until 2 AM. If I didn’t get that under control, I would have not only been wasting my time, but I would have been wasting my life.
I have three general categories for which I like to protect my time. One is for making progress toward my work/life goals. These are the things I do to move me forward in life. These are generally geared toward helping people in some way, generating more clientele, and increasing my revenue streams.
In this category, it is my sincere hope that one day I will have enough income to hire out all those necessary jobs that I don’t love to do so that I can focus all my time on the things that are my passion but until that time, there are still things I do to move myself forward that I don’t totally love. However, I try to get them done as quickly and as painlessly as possible.
The second category would be spending time with people I care about---those people who nurture me. I protect time for the special man in my life, my sons, my extended family and my friends. There are some people whom I avoid when I am protecting my time. They are the ones who generally take more than they give. Do you have people like that in your life? If they can’t be totally eliminated, at least minimize the time you give to these people.
The third category would be simply things that bring me pleasure or joy. There are things I do that I can do alone or with others when I need relaxation. I like to read a good book, watch a good movie, horseback ride, canoe, ski, walk in the woods and something I got to do this weekend---swim. Protect your time so that you get to do the things that bring you joy.
Organizing your time has to do with having a good time management system. Don’t wait until something is due tomorrow to start on it. Have a good plan and systems in place so you are in charge of your time instead of your schedule being in charge of you. Learn more about time management systems in our Time Management teleclass.
Another aspect of organizing one’s time is maintaining laser-like focus. Did you know that the average person’s mind wanders around seven to eight times a minute? Developing good work habits that include staying focused until the job is done is critical to organization.
Prioritizing your time has to do with deciding what’s most important. I said I have three categories---goal-oriented actions, time with important people and time doing enjoyable activities. They don’t necessarily prioritize in that order.
There must be a balance. I know that when I spend too much time working, I start to feel on edge and tense. This is generally a strong indicator that I need to switch my focus to one of the other areas. A person cannot be in control of their time if all they do is goal-oriented activity. A healthy balance is necessary for good time management and a healthy lifestyle.
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Article keywords: time, time management, prioritize, organization, work habits, lifestyle, teleclass, focus, schedule
Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com
Kim Olver has over 20 years experience in staff development and supervision and is an expert in leadership skills, staff relationships and diversity. Certified in reality therapy/choice theory/lead management/quality school concepts, she works with counselors, schools and businesses to apply these ideas. Visit www.coachingforexcellence.biz
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| Top Time Management Articles |
- 1). Jim Estill's 8 Rules Of Time By : Jim Estill
I study the use of time and how to maximize productivity and enjoyment from it. From these studies, I have come up with the following list of time rules:
1 – It is more important to have clear goals than to be efficient. It is more important to work on the right things than to work efficiently. I liken this to the person who wants to get to Sudbury so gets in their car and drives 150 Km/hour.
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- 2). Double Or Triple Your Time! By :
Why do some say that time is much more important than wealth? Nearly all biographies and self-help books, by top leaders and speakers from the past decades, all focus on time as being the most important resource available. When we manage our use of time, through self-mastery, success is a natural product of that effort. Success becomes the harvest we reap.
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- 3). Staying Organized! Organize Your Life For Success! By : Jake Sebastian
Organizing the content of your life based on your needs is a best practice for managing your time, resources and money and is an essential first step if you are to fully achieve your potential in life. The reasons for this are simple. An organized clear mind leads to clear and objective goals, which in turn leads to you being able to achieve what you set out to do.
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- 6). Time Management for High School Students By : Gord
High school student are one of the busiest people in the world. This people study, takes classes, join school activities, and socialize. They have a lot of work in school and at home.
Being organized is essential in high school students. If you are a high school student, it may seem like you never have enough time to finish all your work in a day. You may feel that you are always running out of time and all you do is study and never get enough time with your friends and family.
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- 7). Time Management: A Non-Renewable Resource By : Gwen Nyhus Stewart
Benjamin Franklin wrote: "If you want to enjoy one of the greatest luxuries in life, the luxury of having enough time, time to rest, time to think things through, time to get things done and know you have done them to the best of your ability, remember, there is only one way. Take enough time to think and plan things in the order of their importance.
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- 9). Being Organized: Is it Worth the Effort? By : Lila Norden
The payoff of being organized goes beyond saving time, energy, and money. Organization increases the likelihood of success in achieving your goals. Here are a few ideas to help you get better organized.
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- 10). Effective Time Management - Ten Top Tips By : Jackie Fletcher
Have you ever thought to yourself that there aren’t enough hours in the day, or felt overwhelmed at the tasks facing you? If you have, this article can help you!
• Clarify your goals and strategy. Be very clear about your aims and ambitions, both short and long term. Write them down. Once you know what you really want to achieve (and why) it’s easier to make decisions about what needs doing, and to plan accordingly.
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| New Time Management Articles |
- 1). How to Use a To-Do List to Control Your Time By : Gerri Stone
Good time management is simply managing the events and activities of your day. If you feel like your days are getting away from you, you are not alone. Advances in technology have brought more information rushing toward us than ever before
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- 2). Know the Avantages of Maintaining a To-Do List By : Mitch Johnson
There are times we are very confused which are the things that we have to complete or do in a day. There are many things which need to be done, but sometimes we tend to missed few things or tend to forget them because we were to busy.
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- 5). Personality Test- Your Time Management By : CD Mohatta
All of us have heard quite a lot about time management. Thousands of books have appeared on this subject. The objective of time management is - how to set priorities, how to allocate time, how to effectively use it and how to get the best of the given time.
After learning all this and implementing, most of the people manage to implement only a part over long term.
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- 6). Time is a Unique Resource By : Terence Traut
How many times have you thought or said, “Sure, I’d like to (take a course, take a vacation, work on an additional skill or project, etc) but there just isn’t enough time.” When we say, “There just isn’t enough time,” we’re shirking responsibility.
Let’s look at time and I’ll show you what I mean.
Time is a unique resource. It cannot be saved, stopped, or replaced.
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- 7). Time Management for High School Students By : Gord
High school student are one of the busiest people in the world. This people study, takes classes, join school activities, and socialize. They have a lot of work in school and at home.
Being organized is essential in high school students. If you are a high school student, it may seem like you never have enough time to finish all your work in a day. You may feel that you are always running out of time and all you do is study and never get enough time with your friends and family.
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- 8). Business Time Management By : Josh Riverside
Time Management, as the name suggests, means activities, ideas or methods that help a person perform the jobs allotted to him or her in a speedier, quality-conscious-manner within a given time frame, be it personal or professional.
Business Time Management would simply mean business planning with definite milestones of achievement of overall success.
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- 9). What Would Save You Time? By : Cynthia Morse, CAP
We all get overwhelmed from time to time, and sometimes it seems as if 24 hours a day is just not enough to get everything accomplished that we would like. Let's consider this a brainstorming session. Start creating a list of everyday tasks that, if you didn't have to do them, would allow you to have more time in your day. For example, most of us have to do laundry on a regular basis.
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- 10). To-Do list for success. Time management: theory & practice. By : Yola Eve
Yola Eve
Business Trainer
VIP Quality Software
Time Management is getting more and more popular day by day. People want to be more successful, proactive and wealthy. It is not new to everyone that there are common time wasters in our lives. Watching TV all evening long, spending too much time on the Internet, having a very long conversation over the phone, and, my favorite one, doing trifles instead of going bed and loosing your precious sleep – these are common time wasters that you already know of.
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