There Is No Such Thing As Time Management

Wow! How many times have you been told that you need to learn to “manage your time better” or “time management is the key to success?” At some point we have all had those dreaded words thrown at us, from past teachers, mentors, parents, etc. I’m here to tell you that I believe they are all wrong!

It is impossible to manage time, plain and simple. You can manage yourself within a given period of time but YOU cannot manage time. Time is abstract. How do you manage the abstract? You can’t.

Whether you are an entrepreneur, an employee, an investor or anything else, you must learn how to effectively utilize time to your advantage. Once time is gone, there is no recapturing it. If you waste it, kiss it good-bye. Time is precious and needs to be treated as such. You are the key to successful management of yourself. You must learn how to effectively utilize the time you have been given to get the most from it.

Once you learn to manage your schedule, you will be in control. Being in control is the step toward success. If you are not in control of the tasks that need to be accomplished, you will not be successful.
Begin to compile a “To Do List” daily, weekly and monthly. Prioritize this list each day so that you can make necessary adjustments. Follow the list beginning with the most important first. Do not work on the least challenging tasks first, this is putting off the most important tasks and justifying the delay. Take on the most challenging tasks first. Once you accomplish the highest priority task you will have a great sense of accomplishment. You will see your goals moving closer within reach.

Keep an activity log of everything you do for a one week period. After that week, review the log. How much of your time was spent generating results? You’ll often be surprised at what you see.

Beating procrastination is probably the most difficult to overcome. You can always find a reason to not tackle a task. I have written about this previously in an article entitled Getting Ready to Get Ready which you can read at http://www.annshipley.com so I will not spend much time on it here.
Learn to effective schedule your time. Print out a schedule and follow it. There will always be an excuse to bend the rules and not stick to the schedule, however if you are serious about becoming effective in your use of time, you will learn to stick to the schedule. Learn to manage the interruptions after all that is what this is all about.

If you know what your goals are and they are laid out in front of you each day, these steps will be easy to follow.

Below is a short little quiz that I found on MindTools.com that may help put it in perspective for you:

Instructions: For each question, give yourself the following points: Very Often-5pts, Often-4 pts, Sometimes-3pts, Rarely-2pts and Not at All-1pt.

1 Are the tasks you work on during the day the ones with the highest priority?

2 Do you find yourself completing tasks at the last minute, or asking for extensions?

3 Do you set aside time for planning and scheduling?

4 Do you know how much time you are spending on the various jobs you do?

5 How often do you find yourself dealing with interruptions?

6 Do you use goal setting to decide what tasks and activities you should work on?

7 Do you leave contingency time in your schedule to deal with "the unexpected"?

8 Do you know whether the tasks you are working on are high, medium, or low value?

9 When you are given a new assignment, do you analyze it for importance and prioritize it accordingly?

10 Are you stressed about deadlines and commitments?

11 Do distractions often keep you from working on critical tasks?

12 Do you find you have to take work home, in order to get it done?

13 Do you prioritize your “To Do” list or Action Program?

14 Do you regularly confirm your priorities with your boss?

15 Before you take on a task, do you check that the results will be worth the time put in?

Score Interpretation

46-75 points You're managing your time very effectively! Still, check the sections below to see if there's anything you can tweak to make this even better.

31-45 points You're good at some things, but there's room for improvement elsewhere. Focus on the serious issues below, and you'll most likely find that work becomes much less stressful.

15-30 points Ouch. The good news is that you've got a great opportunity to improve your effectiveness at work, and your long term success! However, to realize this, you've got to fundamentally improve your time management skills.