It doesn’t matter if you’re Oprah, Steven Spielberg or Homer Simpson, we all have 24 hours in a day. How well we manage the hours we have is up to us.
We often blame the lack of time for not being able to achieve the success we so desire. If you’re constantly late for your appointments, miss important family events, or fail to meet a deadline at work, maybe it is time to evaluate how and where you spend your time.
I love this quote: “Time management is self-management,” which means how we manage our energy and unhealthy habits. Are we comfortable making decisions about our home, work, and life? Do we procrastinate with certain jobs because we are lacking skills, don’t like the job or don’t like the boss telling us what to do?
Here are three ways to improve time management:
1. Set realistic goals
Goals give you the ability to imagine the possibility for your future, mindset and purpose to work toward. They help you have an uncluttered mind on where you want to go and how best to manage your time and means to get there. By setting goals, you will able to recognize what’s worth spending your time on and what disruptions to avoid. Start by asking yourself where you want to be in one week, one month or one year. Set personal and professional goals that are workable and possible.
2. Prioritize your projects
Prioritizing cannot be overstated when it comes to successful time management. It can be difficult to know what jobs to attack first, especially when you have a flood of neglected projects and all seem very important. It is, however, relatively easy to prioritize activities if you have clear goals already set. Ask yourself three basic questions to know what tasks should take first priority: Why am I doing this task or activity? How does this task help me achieve my goals? What’s important to me?
Keeping a to-do list helps you stay organized and on top of things. It helps break things down into small, manageable steps so you never forget to do the important things. Don’t try to keep everything floating in your head, even if you consider yourself a genius.
Write down the things you need to do, including meetings, appointments and deadlines. Prioritize items on your list by listing items in order of importance from high priority to low priority.
3. Focus on one task at a time
According to a study published by the American Psychological Association, multitasking does not work; you actually spend between 20 and 40 per cent more time when you multitask. Besides costing you time and productivity, multitasking can also reduce the quality of your work.
Concentrate more on completing one task at a time. Completing tasks in order leads to better use of time, according to study researchers. Moving from one task to another encourages procrastination and very seldom contributes to the achievement of your goals.
Ranka Burzan owns a professional organizing company based in Powell River and has written several books on reducing clutter and becoming more organized. For information, go to solutionsorganizing.com.
