How often have we heard people complain about not having enough time? I am often guilty of this too, wishing I could clone myself many times over, and hoping the hours would stretch more so I can catch up on some unfinished tasks. So how do I manage my time? I am not a time management expert but since I answered ‘yes’ to some of InspirationBit's test questions in her time management group writing project, I am glad to share my three simple time management tips: Prioritize. Delegate. Say no.
1. Prioritize.
Focus on your To Do list or whatever is written in your schedule first before doing other less important activities.
2. Delegate.
Don’t sweat the small stuff. We are not super heroes, we can’t put our hands on everything that claims our attention. Let go of things that can be passed on to others such as phone calls or simple computations. You can also train others to do part of your work so you can focus on the more important things.
3. Say no.
If your schedule is fully loaded, and you have lots of pending tasks that needs your personal attention and they can’t be delegated, learn to refuse additional workload, responsibilities or unnecessary distractions.
My favorite time management guru is Stephen Covey and I learned a lot from the principles he taught in his book ‘First Things First’ about the compass (vision) vs. the clock (schedule) and efficiency vs. effectivity. I’ve learned about centering your goals on a personal mission statement which serves as your inner compass, your reference point on what matters most in your life.
What about situations that do not depend on you, but on external circumstances and other people - how do you manage your time when things don’t turn out according to your schedule? I have written about this dilemma before, you can read about it in ‘Warning! Do not delay!: Lessons in Time Management for goal-driven fanatics’:
“So, it’s absolutely fine to have a goal, BUT when things don’t go according to your timetable, and things are beyond what you can manage, don’t fuss. Stay pretty (or else you’ll age faster and those unwanted wrinkles would start appearing). Keep your cool. You might be in for a pleasant surprise.”
Related posts:
33 timeless ideas on time management
Warning! Do not delay! : Lessons in time management for goal-driven fanatics
The wisdom of the perfect time
Hi Vivien (inspirationbit)! thanks for appreciating my blog design. it’s not totally mine though. it’s actually a ready made template here in i.PH which i customized with my own header image and background, using my favorite fonts Trebuchet and Arial, and my own sidebar arrangement.
I guess my time management tips are too general though. It’s just a summary and I wish to provide some practical tips in the future. Thanks for dropping by and hope your writing project will be a big success.
Posted by ideasnpink at September 26, 2007, 9:25 amthanks for the tip!
my time management trick as always is: MULTI-TASKING!!! it gets many things done.
Daisy: yeah, I do multi-tasking a LOT too! Some tasks can be done simultaneously, I love it when I get more done at the same span of time. Though some tasks needed more focus and attention, and I had to tackle them first before the others in my To Do list.
Posted by ideasnpink at September 27, 2007, 9:29 amAll comments are moderated. Your comments will not appear here unless approved by the blog owner. Thank you.
Ideas are powerful. A train of thought can make or break, build or destroy. The choice is ours. Our ideas become our future. I believe that life’s meaningful lessons are best learned when shared with others.
Hi Carey. I love your blog’s design, and actually like the idea of having the comment field before all the contact details - pretty neat.
Couldn’t agree more with you on all those 3 time management essentials. I also liked Stephen Covey’s comparison with the compass, clock and efficiency
Posted by inspirationbit at September 25, 2007, 8:26 pm