Effective goal setting starts and ends with time management. You must be able to balance your time in the healthiest way possible in order to accomplish your goals.
Most of us neglect to achieve goals because we “lack the time”.
The concept of time management has been in existence for more than 100 years. Regrettably the term “time management” creates a incorrect belief of what a person is able to do.
Time can’t be managed, time is uncontrollable and we can only handle ourselves and “our use of time.” That is all that can be performed. Time management is actually self management.
For effective time management, we need the ability to design, delegate, organize, direct and control every aspect of our lives just to find 30 minutes a day that is dedicated to something successful that is just for us.
There are familiar time wasters which need to be identified.
In order for a time management method to work, it is crucial to know what aspects of our personal management need to be developed. Otherwise what is the point in trying?
Below you will observe some of the most common reasons for reducing effectiveness in and about our lives. You may want to check off the ones which are causing to be the major obstacles to your own time management. These are referred to as your time stealers.
Identifying Your Time Stealers
Interruptions, for instance the telephone or TV (these are also distractions)
Interruptions, for example, guests
Meetings
Projects you should have had someone else perform for you
Procrastination and indecisiveness
Acting without complete information
Addressing with other people’s issues or troubles
Some kind of personal crisis, for example, family member is sick or injured.
Unclear communication
Insufficient knowledge
Unclear objectives and priorities
Lack of preparation
Stress, anxiety and fatigue
Inability to say “No” to anyone with a request
Personal disorganization
There are quite a few isn’t there? Fortunately there are strategies you can apply to manage your time in a better way and be more in control and reduce stress, but you can analyze your time and see how you may be both the reason and the answer to your time challenges.
Below, we will look at time management issues in more detail.
1. Shifting Priorities and Crisis Management.
Management guru Peter Drucker says that “crisis management is actually the form of management preferred by most managers.” What is ironic is that actions taken before the crisis may have prevented it in the first place.
2. The Telephone
Have you ever had one of those days when you just had to answer the phone with “grand central station, how can I help you?” The telephone can be our greatest communication tool, but it can also be our greatest opposition to effectiveness if you don’t know how to control its hold over you.
3. Lack of Priorities/Objectives
This is likely the biggest and most crucial time waster. It affects all we do both professionally and personally. Those who achieve the most in a day know precisely what they want to accomplish beforehand.
.
Unfortunately too many of us think that goals and objectives are annual things and not daily considerations. This results in too much time spent on the small things and not on the things which are crucial to our lives.
4. Trying Too Much.
Many people today feel that they have to accomplish everything yesterday and don’t give themselves sufficient time to do things the right way. This leads only to incomplete finished projects and no feeling of accomplishment as all things are done in a hurry and seem rushed to others.
5. Drop In Visitors
The five most harmful words that rob your time are “Have you got a minute?” Most people do it; co-workers, the boss, your peers, and your family and friends.
Recognizing how to deal with interruptions is one of the best skills you can learn.
6. Ineffective Delegation. Good delegation is considered a key skill in both managers and leaders of homes and work.
The best managers have an ability to delegate work to staff and family members to see to it that it is performed right. This is likely the best way of building a team’s moral and reducing your own workload at the same time.
The general rule is this; if someone else around you can do it 80% as well as you can, and then delegate it.
7. Procrastination
The biggest thief of time is not decision making but decision avoidance. By reducing the amount of procrastinating you do, you can considerably increase the total of active time available to you.
8. The Inability To Say “No!”
The general rule is; if some people can dump their work or troubles on to your shoulders, they will do it.
Some of the most stressed people around lack the skill to ‘just say no’ for fear of upsetting people. At times you must take care of yourself first.
9. Meetings
Studies have indicated that the average professional person spends about seventeen hours a week in meetings and about 6 hours in the preparation time and untold hours in the follow up.
There are many ways we can manage our time. I have recorded some strategies you can apply to manage your time in a better and more efficient manner. They are marked below.
1. Always Specify Your Goals as Clearly as Possible.
Do you find you are not executing what you want to do just because your goals have not been set the right way yet?
One of the factors which make successful and contented people stand out is their ability to work out what they want to accomplish and have written goals which they can review them constantly.
Your long term goals should impact on your daily activities and be included on your “to do” list. Without a goal or target, people tend to just drift off personally and professionally.
2. Analyze Your Use of Time
Are you spending sufficient time on the projects which although may not be urgent now, but on that you want to do to develop yourself or your career?
If you are constantly asking yourself “What can I do to make things easier for me right now?” it will help you to focus on ‘important tasks’ and stop responding to tasks which seem urgent (or pleasant to do) but carry no importance towards your goals.
Try getting and using a personalized calendar, setting reminders on your computer, cell phone or palm pilot.
3. Have a Plan
How can you accomplish your goals without a plan? I don’t even think that is realistic.
Most people know what they want but have no plan to achieve it except by plain hard work. What’s the point in doing hard work when you don’t know how to use it?
Your yearly plan should be reviewed daily and reset as your achievements are met. Successful people make lists constantly.
It enables them to stay on top of priorities and enable them to stay flexible to changing priorities. This should be done for both personal and business goals.
4. Action Plan Analysis
Problems will always occur when you set a plan. The value of a worthy plan is to identify them early and seek out solutions at once.
Good time management enables you to measure the progress towards your goals because “What you can measure, you can control”.
Always try to be proactive in the achievement of successfully managing your time.
Time management is not a hard matter to understand, but unless you are committed to building better time management methods into your daily routine you’ll only accomplish partial (or no) results and end up right back where you began.
You have to commit to managing your time better and remember to include time for yourself.
The lesson that you need to learn is that the more time we spend planning our time and activities, the more time we will have for those activities.
By setting goals and getting rid of time wasters and doing this regular, you may find you will have additional time in the week to spend on those people and the activities most important to you.
My next article will focus on
“Managing Stress for Goal Achievement”
Scott Barker- EzineArticles- Expert Author
This article may be freely reprinted or
distributed in its entirety in any Ezine,
newsletter, blog, or website. The author’s
name, bio and website links must remain
intact and be included with every reproduction.
