Advantages of Time Management

• gain time
• motivates and initiates
• reduces avoidance
• promotes review
• eliminates cramming
• reduces anxiety

Time management is commonly defined as the various means by which people effectively use their time and other closely related resources in order to make the most out of it.

Never enough time? Too much to do? Take a quick look at these tips. At one point in time I thought people who worked from their homes had it easy, until that work-at-home-person became me. On any given day, my desk was piled high with projects to complete, calls to return, emails to respond to and orders to ship. Add to this the lessons to be implemented for my homeschooled daughter, a variety of meals to prepare, housework, animals to care for, carpool for extra-curricular activities and somewhere in the midst, a shower and some “me time” and before I knew it, the day was over. I have now been a work-at-home-parent for 5 years and will admit my opinion is that it is much more difficult to be a work-at-home-parent than it is to drop the kids off at school, go to an office for eight hours a day and collect a paycheck, return home to supper and a short time later, bedtime for the kids. Yet, I would not trade working for myself, from home, for anything in the world.

Set priorities. Not everything has to be done ‘right now’ and some things probably don’t need to get done at all. Figure out the things that are important to you and get those things done first. The other extraneous things on your to-do list can get done if time allows, or you may choose to even cross them off your list because you realize there are better things to do with your time!

Delegate responsibilities. This works in both the office and at home. You don’t need to do everything yourself and very often it is better if you don’t. In the workplace, clearly define what you expect from a task and give explicit directions that can be followed. At home, teach your children (and spouse!) how to do things for themselves and give them specific responsibilities. Delegating to others not only frees up time for you, but makes others more independent, confident and productive, too.

Learn to say” no". This one sometimes takes some getting used to, but once you start saying “no” to the things that don’t rank high up on your priority list, you’ll find you have more time in your day to do what you want. The first few times, it’s natural to feel bad about not doing everything that’s asked of you, but you’ll soon see that people will learn to ask others and you will have more joy in your life if you’re not doing tasks out of a sense of obligation, but rather out of an inner desire to be more involved in those things that add meaning to your life.

Don’t procrastinate. The more you put off tasks, the more stress it adds to your life because you know the tasks are just sitting over your head and piling up. Very often, you’ll find that when you get things done right away and don’t put them off, you can knock them off more quickly than you expect. This also avoids other responsibilities getting in the way of you completing your tasks at all.

Don’t strive for perfection. Don’t obsess about doing everything perfectly. Just do the best you can and move on. There are lots of things that need to get done in your life and being perfect all the time doesn’t leave you much time to stop and smell the roses!

Of course for a lot of people it depends on how much time they have. But do you actually need a lot of time? What about if you don't have a lot of time, perhaps you have work commitments and a family to consider? Maybe you work 10 hours a day then have to come home and feed the children. Or are you one of the lucky ones who has many hours in the day to spend on your chosen goal.

If you had another hour every day, what would you do with it? What can you change about the way you work to get an extra hour in your day? Look at how and where you're spending your time and decide what changes you need to make in order to use your time more effectively. Could you get up an hour earlier or go to bed an hour later. Spend a few minutes at the beginning of each day to plan your working day and you'll be able to get more done and be more productive. Look at where you potentially 'waste' time and decide what you can do to change it. Make sure you're getting enough breaks during the day. It's all very well working hard but how productive is that working time? If you're getting tired, you won't be as effective, take frequent breaks. In order to make the most effective use of your time you need to make sure that you're focusing on what's important. Prioritize your tasks and actions in order of importance or urgency. Ensure you spend most of your time focusing on the important to avoid them becoming urgent later on. Get the high priority tasks done first and break larger tasks down into smaller ones.