Personal Development and Self Improvement» time management

The Balancing Act: Continuing Your Education

blogadmin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:21:04 +0000

Photo by JanesdeadContinuing your education is the first step to achieving financial security for your family. Pursuing the success you desire has its challenges, but with great responsibility comes great reward.

Your life is full of things that must get done. When you begin school, you may still need a full-time job. Your family still needs you. And, time for yourself is vital to fuel your desire to continue to pursue your dreams with all your heart. But if you keep your eyes on the dream of completing your education in furthering your career, you’ll achieve the success you crave.

With ingenuity, dedication, and careful planning, you can do it all.

Here are a few important considerations as you think through your success plan:

Child Care

First, create a plan for childcare. Determine who’ll take care of your children while you’re attending classes. Keep your monthly budget in mind while working out the details.

Your spouse may be able to care for your children while you’re attending classes. This is ideal because it breaks your child’s routine as little as possible. Family members and friends can also help in a pinch. Find a family member that is willing to watch your children for a low cost. Sometimes, they may even be willing to help for no cost all.

If your search produces few results, enlist the help of a neighboring teen or a friend’s daughter to care for your children while you’re in class. The important thing is that you’re thinking about obstacles that are in your path and finding ways around them. This will dramatically increase your self-confidence as you approach the beginning of the school year.

Home Life

Your responsibilities remain when you attend college. Your family still needs to eat dinner. The laundry, chores and time with your family still beg for a large chunk of your time. Resolve to do whatever it takes to create a schedule that allows you enough time to complete homework, nurture your family relationships and remain flexible for times when things go wrong.

Enlist the help of each member of your family. Assign age-appropriate chores that involve everyone. If your children are old enough to prepare dinner, assign them a night or two each week to prepare the meal. Alternatively, cook a large meal the night before your class and serve leftovers the following evening.

Be flexible with your daily routine as well. Wake up an hour earlier than you’re used to and tend to laundry and other household chores. Or, you can outsource the tasks by hiring a maid service once or twice each week. If you can afford it, this can be a great way to reward yourself for your hard work and to lighten the load a little.

Remember that time with your family is just as important as completing your school assignments on time. Keep a calendar of appointments and assignments. Each day, carve time out of your calendar to bond with your family away from the hustle and bustle of work and school.

Work Life

While excelling in the classroom is important, maintaining your job security is essential to your livelihood. Therefore, provide your employer and your assigned tasks with your undivided attention while you’re at work.

Leave your schoolwork at home and commit to giving your employer your best for the entire time that you’re paid. Your hard work and dedication will surely be noticed and rewarded in due time.

You can maintain your life while earning your degree. You’ll certainly face obstacles along the way. But anything that is worth having is worth working for. If you plan for success, maintain a balanced approach to your busy life, and never give up, nothing can stop you from earning your degree and achieving the success you’ve been dreaming about.

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Improving Your Time Management Skills

blogadmin — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:44:05 +0000

Photo by vpickeringStrengthening your time management skills is always a good idea no matter what your current skill level is. Life is always moving and changing, and you’ll want to keep up with the latest time management techniques.

Evaluate Your Current Skills

A good place to start is by identifying your current time management effectiveness. When you struggle to get things done, what do you think the cause is? When you successfully manage your time, what do you do differently? If you know what to work on, that’s half the battle right there.

For instance, you might have good time management in your home life, but lack the ability to get your tasks done at work. Since you’d like to improve your skills at work, you can go further by figuring out the reasons why your work projects don’t go as quickly as planned.

Is it because other people are getting in the way of your completing your work? If so, you can strengthen your communication skills too, so everyone works together more effectively. Maybe you’re just bored with your job. If that’s the case, you’ll want to find ways to fight the boredom and motivate yourself.

Better Time Management

Try these techniques to strengthen your time management skills:

Avoid procrastination. If you make a habit of procrastinating, you’re just wasting precious time. Ask yourself why you’re putting things off, and try to tackle the root problem. When you do, you’ll get back on track in no time.
- It’s possible that you’re expecting too much out of yourself and feel overwhelmed. It’s okay, and even more productive, to take breaks and make time to relax. Then, when it’s time to work, you’ll feel refreshed and motivated to get the job done.
Get organized. It’s easy to waste time if you can’t find things, or if you aren’t sure what task you’re supposed to be working on at the time. Organize your workspace and eliminate clutter. Then move on to keeping checklists and goal sheets, enabling you to use your time more effectively.

Schedule your time to maximize your productivity while still remaining relaxed and happy. Avoid stressing yourself out with unattainable deadlines, or you’ll run the risk of burnout.

Cross off the items as you complete them. In doing so, you’ll be motivated to finish the rest.

Choose a ranking system where you prioritize which items on the list should be completed first. You might want to start off your day with the most important ones, or establish momentum with some quick, easy tasks. Find something that fits your personal style.

Set deadlines. It’s always a good idea to start your projects with a time goal in mind. Without a clear goal, you might give yourself a week to complete a task that should have only taken a day.
- Set attainable deadlines and then stick to them.
Learn to delegate. When it’s appropriate, delegate certain tasks in order to save yourself time for things that you must do on your own. At work, this might mean passing out jobs to your employees or colleagues. At home, this may mean sharing tasks with your spouse or assigning chores to your children.
Have a daily to-do list. At the beginning of each day, make a to-do list and plan the tasks that you hope to accomplish. Keep flexibility in mind, because plans might change.
- Cross off the items as you complete them. In doing so, you’ll be motivated to finish the rest.
- Choose a ranking system where you prioritize which items on the list should be completed first. You might want to start off your day with the most important ones, or establish momentum with some quick, easy tasks. Find something that fits your personal style.

If you have the will to change, you’ll be able to strengthen your time management skills. Practice these strategies each day and soon you’ll be a master at time management.

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Do More in Less Time – And Have More Time for Yourself

blogadmin — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:15:39 +0000

Photo by alancleaver_2000Getting things done brings such a great feeling of accomplishment, but it can also be overwhelming if the task seems insurmountable. Sometimes, the days just don’t seem long enough to do everything we want to do. When that happens, worry can set in, but it doesn’t have to!

You can do more than you ever thought was possible, and in less time too, giving yourself time to relax and really enjoy life!

It all begins with a solid foundation of time management and scheduling. It’s okay if you’re not a good time manager right now, you can learn to be. It just takes a little bit of practice and you’ll soon be getting more and more done.

When you see how much you’re accomplishing, you’ll work even harder during your busy times, and enjoy those down times more thoroughly.

These scheduling strategies will help you become an expert manager of your time:

Schedule your life for maximum benefit. You can avoid procrastination and the big stressed-out rush to meet a deadline by scheduling each day and using just a bit of self-discipline to stick to your schedule.
- It helps to break things down into smaller tasks. For example, do you have a big presentation coming up at work in two weeks? Don’t try to do it the night before it’s due. Start now. Working for just a half hour each day can help you get that presentation done with plenty of time to spare.
- By scheduling your day according to your priorities, you can better utilize the time that you might otherwise have wasted doing unproductive things, like watching television or waiting for the next item on your to-do list to come to you.
Disallow doubts from getting in your way. That little voice in the back of your mind that tells you, “It’s too much work,” or “It’s not going to happen,” doesn’t know what it’s talking about!
- You can do anything you set your mind to. Keep that thought in mind as you go through your day. The more you think it – or even say it out loud – the more you’ll internalize and believe it.
- When you remind yourself how much you’re capable of doing, you’ll work harder so you can reap the rewards of being done with work.
- No matter how you reward yourself, make it a point to do so regularly. Finished that presentation? Take the evening off and watch your favorite movie! Whatever reward works for you is a good one – as long as the work’s done first.
Recognize when you’re getting stressed and why. Sometimes, in an effort to get more done, you’ll find that you aren’t getting the time for yourself that you’d hoped for. When this happens, stop and reassess your schedule.
- Are you following your agenda? Are you productive during your scheduled working times? Are you meeting your goals? Where can you make changes for better success?
- Do you concentrate and get your work done during your working hours? If not, you may find that you still have to work when you should be relaxing. This is a vicious circle that leaves you feeling stressed, while getting nowhere.
Eliminate your stressors while building in stress relief. Think about the following as you go about your workday:
- By focusing during working hours, you’ll complete each task much sooner. Get your drudgery tasks out of the way as quickly as possible to make more time for more enjoyable tasks.
- Work time is for work only – so avoid distractions. Ringing phones and other issues can stop you from accomplishing your work. Forward calls to your voice mail and establish “do not disturb” times. You’ll be amazed at how much work you can get done without distractions!
- If you complete your tasks early, keep working until your schedule says it’s time to stop. Perhaps you can tackle some work for the next day to get ahead. Being a little ahead gives you the flexibility to take care of inevitable emergencies without falling behind in productivity.
- Recognize when you need a break. People are not machines so your schedule should reflect that. Realistic break times should be part of even the busiest schedule.

By planning your time wisely, you’ll accomplish more and be able to reap the many benefits of true relaxation when you’re done. It’s well worth the effort!

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10 Time Management Exercises

blogadmin — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:50:42 +0000

Your use of time can truly make or break you. You can either get more done in less time or less done in far more time than it’s worth!

If you struggle with time management, perhaps it’s time to take a look at some tips. However, the truth is, there are no pre-set time management rules. What works for your friends, may not work for you, and that’s okay.

Consider the following exercises while you build your time management skills:

Close your door and turn off the phone. If you have an important task at hand, it’s important that you avoid unnecessary interruptions. Sitting alone can certainly help you to clear your head. Also, if you have Internet access, resist the urge to go online to time-wasting websites, like Twitter, MySpace, or Facebook.
Have a place for common items. When you get home, place items like your keys and wallet in the same place. The next time you go out, there will be no question where they’re located and you won’t waste precious time looking for them.
Change your behavior. If you’ve identified a certain behavior that’s counterproductive to your time management, take steps to correct this behavior.
- For example, if you always take a long lunch, make it a point to set a timer so you can return to your duties on time.
Minimize and organize your documents. Even though a lot of information is digital these days, it doesn’t mean you should keep every email, file, or document on your desktop.?
- Delete what’s unnecessary, organize files in folders, and only keep documents that you’re actively using at your fingertips.
Estimate your time. Whether you’re doing a work assignment or something fun, plan in advance how long you think it will take. As long as you remain aware of the time, you won’t suddenly lose a few hours without realizing it.
Less planning, more action. How often do you find yourself thinking about what you have yet to do? Merely thinking about the future won’t get you anywhere.
- Strive to live in the “now” and take action to complete your tasks.
Avoid procrastination. This is a difficult one for most people! When you keep putting something off that you need to accomplish, you tend to spend more time thinking about the fact that you have to do it when you could have already completed the task. ?
- Quit making excuses and work up the willpower to do the things you hate to do. Once you do it, you’ll strengthen your resolve and build momentum.
Set goals. Setting goals is an important part of any plan. When you’re working, it’s far easier to track your progress and complete your task more efficiently if you have a specific goal to achieve.
Reward yourself. Ensure you reward yourself for a job well done. A reward will motivate you to get through the tougher tasks and avoid procrastination.
- It’s important to have some fun in life!
Take breaks. It’s important to be self-disciplined, but you don’t want to overdo it and burn out. Mental breaks will actually boost your productivity because your mind has a chance to reflect, rejuvenate, and repair itself subconsciously.
- Schedule frequent 10-minute breaks to clear your mind.

Final Advice

The most important thing to remember about time management is to find something that works for you personally. Start by paying attention to your habits and decisions so you can better identify when you feel tempted to waste time and procrastinate.

Just be sure to keep taking steps in the right direction and you’ll soon conquer the time wasters that have kept you from success for far too long!

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How to Get More Done in Less Time

blogadmin — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:32:48 +0000

Do you find yourself wishing there were more hours in the day? Our lives are so filled with work, family, and appointments that we often can’t seem to fit in everything we need to accomplish in a 24-hour day.

But what if we could accomplish more in less time? If this were actually possible, it would allow us more time with those we care about and more time to focus on ourselves.

The good news is: there are simple strategies you can use to make the most of your days!

These tips will enable you to get more done in less time:

Make a list. Write out everything that you need to accomplish, and then joyfully cross off each task as you complete it. As you see your list dwindling, it’ll provide the needed motivation to get the rest of the list done, too.
- Put your list on the refrigerator, in your daily planner, or on the computer. Keep it somewhere handy so you can look at it often and stay focused.
Prioritize effectively. Determine which tasks are most important and what can possibly wait until later on in the day, week, or month. If this is something you’re having trouble with, you may be trying to squeeze in tasks that can actually be put on hold for a future time.
- Note the deadlines for your tasks. If your in-laws are coming to visit, then cleaning the guest bathroom takes priority over re-organizing the basement.
Avoid procrastinating. Far too many people put things off to the last possible minute. When this happens, we rush frantically to accomplish everything, but we end up doing a cruddy job and get ourselves all worked up for no good reason. There is a better way!
- Use your morning hours wisely and get tasks started early in the day. Chances are you’ll finish them in one day rather than having it drag into a second day because you didn’t have enough time to get things done. For some, this may mean waking up an hour or two earlier instead of sleeping an hour or two later.
Do the unpleasant tasks first. A great time management trick is to get the things you dislike out of the way first. If you keep putting it off, you’ll attempt to squeeze it in somewhere, and you’ll get the feeling of being overwhelmed.
- Schedule something fun after you finish your to-do list. This will motivate you to complete the list quicker.
Multi-task if you can. If you’re able to accomplish two things at once, then by all means do it. If you can put dinner on the stove while making a doctor’s appointment or wait for a load of laundry to finish while you mend a pair of pants, you can cut your time in half.
- Don’t sacrifice the quality of the tasks you’re performing. If you burn dinner because you were looking at the calendar to make an appointment, this only wastes more of your time in the long run.

Unfortunately, there are days where it seems like we don’t have enough of the precious gift of time. Thankfully, we can improve our time management skills so we’re able to accomplish more in any given day.

Improving these skills will reduce your stress level and give you more time to do the things that make you happy, leading to a more peaceful and fulfilling life.

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