Quick Tips On Time Management

By Ed Smith

Want to improve your time management?

Edward W. Smith, motivational speaker, author and TV show host, who specializes in quick tips on how to move your life ahead even faster, offers the following advice.

First, write out your top three priority goals.

Next commit to only working on these three until they have been completed. Then layout a plan that includes how each goal is to be achieved. Formulate a "time" budget that goes with each part of the plan, so you can understand what is involved with the projects.

Next begin to lay out a flow of the steps needed to be done across a time line and plug it into you daily schedule with "appointments" to work on specific tasks at specific times. Take into account your personal effectiveness level at various points of the day, scheduling more intensive tasks for when you are at your peak mentally. Say no to people and distractions that take you away from these priorities.

Finally, don't get bogged down trying to make things perfect, do enough to get things moving and go on to the next step.

Contact Information
Edward W. Smith, 201-568-0019, edsmith@brightmoment.com,
www.brightmoment.com, PO box 8106, Englewood NJ 07631-8106

Copyright Edward W. Smith 2005

Edward W. Smith is the Author of Sixty Seconds To Success, produces and hosts the Bright Moment TV show, is a motivational speaker and is president of the Bright Moment Seminars.

Time Management: 11 Tips

By Amy Andrews

Work more efficiently and be more productive using these time-management tips:


Use a timer.
Pick one item on your to-do list, set your timer for 15 minutes and get to work. Don't worry about finishing, just get started. It's easy to feel overwhelmed and get nothing done at all. Tackling tasks in small chunks helps you stay focused.
Delegate.
Don't be afraid to enlist the help of others to complete projects that are time consuming or monotonous. Whether you have to hire a professional or your 10-year old son, do it.
Set goals.
It's much easier to get something done if you know exactly what it is you're working toward. Set long-term goals first and then determine the short-term goals that will serve as stepping stones toward the larger goal.
Sort mail immediately.
Mail can quickly become beastly, taking over every nook and cranny. When you get your mail each day, open it directly over the garbage can. Most likely, the bulk of it can be dropped right in. For the rest, determine what action needs to be taken and deal with it appropriately.
Make an appointment with yourself.
Schedule at least one hour each day for "catch up" tasks such as work overflow, returning phone calls, answering emails etc. If you pencil time into your calendar, you're less likely to let the mundane (but necessary) tasks pile up.
Become friends with your voice mail.
Don't be a slave to the phone. It really is OK to let voice mail get it once in a while.
Have an assembly line mentality.
Complete like tasks together such as returning phone calls, answering email, sending out invoices etc. You'll be much more productive.
Work when you're most alert.
Figure out your most productive time of day and set your work schedule accordingly.
Use checklists.
For tasks that must be completed on a regular basis, make and keep simple checklists to ensure you don't overlook important steps in the process.
Give everything a place.
Don't waste your time trying to find things that seemed to have disappeared. Organize your workspace so that every item has a home. It'll make locating and storing items a snap.
Be prepared.
Reserve 5 minutes at the end of each day to review your schedule for the next. That way, you'll have no surprises.

Amy Andrews is the owner of SimplyComplete.com, where businesses & individuals hand off their "got-to-dos" so they can focus on their "want-to-dos."

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Time Management

By Kimberly 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.

To learn about stress management, visit www.Coachingforexcellence.biz and schedule a time management workshop for your workplace or check our events calendar for upcoming teleclasses, chats and workshops.

Kim Olver has an undergraduate degree in psychology, a graduate degree in counseling, is a National Certified Counselor and is a licensed professional counselor. Since 1987, Kim has extensively studied the work of Dr. William Glasser’s Choice Theory, Reality Therapy and Lead Management. She was certified in Reality Therapy in 1992 and continued her studies to become a certified instructor for the William Glasser Institute. She is an expert at empowering people to navigate the sometimes difficult course of life---teaching them how to get the most out of the circumstances life provides them. These are incredibly powerful ideas with equal application to one’s work and personal lives. Kim can work with you to empower your staff and clients and propel your organization to the next level.

To learn more about Kim and how she can help your organization, visit her website at http://www.Coachingforexcellence.biz

Effective Time Management - Delegating Techniques

By Ofer Tirosh

Do you manage your time or does your time manage you? Do you start your day knowing what you want to achieve today and how you are going to achieve it?

Time management is a skill. You should learn the basics and learn how to implement it.

Following a thorough research on the topic of time management , I strongly suggest you use the most important time management tip - delegate “Do not do what you do not have to do” You had enough time to realize what you are good at and what you are not so good at. Hand over things you are not so good at to others. Make people work for you.

Take a look at some of the delegating examples below. Create a personal effective time management using delegation techniques.

1. Take some one to sort your mail – most of the mail we get is junk mail or routine mail messages. Make someone sort the mail for you to manage your time better.

2. Send others to meetings – Meeting are great time wasters. When you are invited to meetings make sure you know what the purpose of the meeting is. If you do not have real contribution send some one else to the meeting. Give him a brief and make sure he gives you a summary of the meeting after it is finished.

3. Take a secretary – Your life must be organized. Most of us tend to lose our focus of the important things due to the amount of tasks we have to do. Prioritizing the different tasks and finding the right balance between business, family etc. is almost impossible.

Make it easier. Delegate it. You will soon not understand how you have organized your life without a secretary. Let the secretary manage your time – let her decide when you come and go from work, let her schedule meetings for you and most important let her handle all paper work and mails.

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