Getting Outstanding Time Management Skills

How well we manage our time determines how our future would be.

Michael LeBoeuf said ‘Waste your money and you’re only out of money, but waste your time and you’ve lost a part of your life.’

Even the Bible says ‘Act like people with good sense and not like fools. These are evil times, so make every minute count.’ (Eph 5:15-16, CEV).

Time is the most important resource we have, and our success depends on how we manage it.

But really, taking charge of our time does not have to be so difficult. All it takes to start taking REAL charge of your time is 2 things. “WRITE and REFOCUS.”

What does this mean?

Well, ‘WRITE‘ has to do with setting your plan for your day (you can call it your TO DO list) in writing. Settle down with a notepad etc, and think what are really important things that you would do today that would make it a great success. Then write them down in a list, one by one. Put the most important/difficult things right at the beginning of the day – at your most bright time. They should be followed by the most urgent ones. This is because urgent things demand for your attention, but might not be so important to your moving forward as the more important ones.

This time is also for looking at your medium and long term goals, and thinking of how to fit them into your daily schedule, so you would achieve them. You can write the time and maximum time span for each task for the day.

Then, VERY importantly, have a firm plan to REFOCUS intermittently during the day. How? ‘Refocusing’ has to do with setting your alarm at, for example, 2 hour intervals during the day; and at this time to take 5 minutes to assess your day so far. Early in the day, ask yourself, have I written down my To Do List for the day? Then, am I following my list? What have I achieved so far today? What do I need to do to get my day back on track NOW? Take a look at your list at this time, and assess how well you are doing so far.

My work demands that I use my PC a lot, and I have a nice software that is essentially a personal time assistant which helps me with this. Here is a screenshot of the alarms (they go with bold text reminders) on it:

When it gets to the particular time, the alarm goes off, and it gives you a bold, pre-configured reminder of what you need to do now.

You can download this software here.

Refocusing is very important, because it helps you know when you are getting distracted, and makes you look at your list again, and have an idea about and what is basically a distraction from the day’s plans – and helps you get back on track.

Making a daily habit out of these two activities would help you become much more focused and more of a successful achiever. Time management is the basis for success. Make a success out of it!

Keep winning!