As a business coach, one of the challenges that I hear most often is “I need to better manage my time.” Well, the thing is that time management is really not a “Time Management issue”. It’s really a goals clarification issue. Once you’re clear about what your goals are, and then what your priorities are, managing your time is much easier. Also, the way of managing your time effectively is really your ability to manage yourself.
Here are some basic rules to better manage your time:
First, set hour time blocks to take care of your daily operations and tasks at hand. During this time don't allow any outside distractions to come in the way. Schedule it on your calendar, treat this time like an appointment, and keep it.
Don’t let technology control you. With all the text messaging, emails and the internet, it almost makes it difficult to do your job! Get into the practice of checking your email only 2-3 times a day, and you will notice you get a lot more work done!
One of the biggest challenges is letting your personal, mental, or physical frictions come into your work life. As difficult as it is sometimes, try to give your work all your focus when you’re working, and give your personal life all your focus when you’re not. Controlling your emotions and focusing on the tasks at hand will always help you get more work done and will help you relax and re-energize when you’re not at work.
Your attitude toward how you’re managing your time is essential. If you believe that you are in control and have the ability to get everything done that you need and want to, you’ll be able to prioritize your time efficiently. Then just stick to your plan!
The other evil to time management is procrastination. This is a very common trend. The simplest way to solve this is to first ask yourself why you are putting this off. Is it because it’s something you just don’t want to do? Then force yourself to do the unpleasant things first and be done with them. Is it a big project and you feel overwhelmed? Figure out a way to break it down into several smaller more manageable steps. Is it something you’re not sure how to do? Ask for some advice. (That’s really hard for a lot of people). Create a task list based on priority and stick with it.
Remember to celebrate your successes, even though small, when you finish each one. There’s something that’s psychologically satisfying when you check things off your to-do list. It always feels good when you accomplish something that you needed to do!