Time Management – "Get Organized!"

How often do you find yourself running out of time? Weekly, daily, hourly? For many, it seems that there's just never enough time in the day to get everything done.

When you learn how to improve your time management you gain better control of your life. Rather than rushing around all over the place, like a chicken with its head cut off, managing your time effectively helps you to choose what to do and when to do it. Time management may possibly be one of the most valuable life skills you can have if you intend to achieve anything of any real value.

A) INTRODUCTION

Initially, time management referred to just business or work activities, but eventually the term widened to include personal activities as well. A time management system is a designed combination of processes, tools and techniques. Dr. Don Wetmore is a time management consultant at Connecticut’s Productivity Institute. In the 1980’s he taught 600 people time management courses. In the next decade, that number rose to 30,000, and in the last decade inscriptions rose to. Dr. Wetmore sees this as clear evidence that time-famine is on the increase. (1) To tackle it, he recommends that you start with the basics. “Take a few minutes to plan your day in advance. Very few people actually do this, although they make long lists of all the things they want to get done, it’s not the same as a realistic plan of what you will do, and how and when you will do it. This can dramatically improve your effectiveness and cut down on wasted effort.”

Keep interruptions to a minimum. ‘My phones don’t take calls, they take messages,’ says John Naisbitt author of High Tech/High Touch. ‘How can I find time for my own agenda when everyone’s trying to make me part of theirs?’ (11) The most powerful word in our Time Management vocabulary is "no".

One of the best and most powerful ways to take back time and reduce your stress levels is to maintain good relationships with others. This is an often overlooked but uniquely effective method of minimizing stress, (2) staying happy and reducing the amount of time wasted on counter-productivity.

B) TECHNOLOGY AND TIME

Technology was supposed to reduce our workloads, make our lives more flexible, and give us back time and space to spend on leisure activities. However, according to Dr. Wetmore, “Five years ago it was assumed that email would make postal communication redundant. Last year, the highest amount of emails ever were sent, and the highest number of letters, too.’(4)

You cannot turn a blind eye to technology. Like it or not you have to accept the fact that you have a relationship with it. Examine that relationship thoroughly and ask yourself what you really need from technology and what you can manage without. Very few people do this. Technophobes pass over its many potential benefits and the rest are seduced onto the endless slope of one upgrade to another, without ever really thinking why.(12) We often think of technology as a toy, but behind its promise to make life easier, faster and better lie unspoken consequences. Not least of these is the way technology shapes our sense of time. The speed of response it now requires from us has contributed to the need for instant gratification. (6)

We need to lose both our awe and our fear of technology, and see it with clear eyes. With a conscious approach, its true benefits and deficits become apparent.(13) It’s possible to estimate how we might apply it constructively in the future. And if you can see where it’s going, it gives you much less to feel anxious about in the present. (7)

C) TIME AT WORK

Time management and energy management are essentially the same thing. You may have an important deadline to meet, but if you’re tired and stressed, stop. Identify your personal energy levels. Resolve to work only as long as that permits. You may have to ask yourself, ‘Is this job more important than my health and family?’ Be realistic in your expectations. Most psychological pressures in the workplace come from unrealistic and unmet expectations. Many small disappointments grow into one big one. Lowering your expectations – to real rather than low levels – allows you to focus much better on the reality of what you can achieve.

Aim for an appreciation of working processes, not just results. The adage “You are what you achieve” isn’t necessarily true but still hangs over from the 1980s when it was paramount’(14). Don’t ask yourself relentlessly “What have I achieved?, but “Did I enjoy the process of doing it? Did I learn from it?” This alleviates guilt and anxiety over work. A positive approach to processes produces a higher standard of work, more quickly than focusing only on the end result.’(3)
Adjust the quality of your work to the time available. You may have noticed that PC printers offer “fast”, “good” and “best” options. Why? Because excellence is not a prerequisite for all tasks.(10) Realise that good enough is still good, increasing productivity and free time for other tasks.

D) TIME AT HOME

Being a couch potato in front of the TV creates a lot of ‘dead time’ and usually results in making you feel more tired, and just as time-pressured as before. You could always use ‘video on demand’ and plan a specific time to watch what you really want to in a shorter time frame. Another suggestion is to put the TV away in a cupboard so that you have to make a conscious effort to get it out.

Satisfy your personal and spiritual needs. It’s easy to let the thoughts and effects of work overbalance into home time. At the end of the day take the opportunity to have some time for yourself. It’s extremely unlikely that your job gives you what you need to satisfy your innermost requirements, so having an occupation outside of work is a prerequisite for achieving that balance.(9).

Actively managing your time allows you to do a lot more with your life. Sadly, this does not translate into no longer having to do the housework. ‘We all have routine chores and responsibilities to attend to. (5) However, if you’ve accepted that pre-planning is essential, it’s easier for you to recognise the best time for taking care of the basic needs of home life. It’s the accumulation of small daily victories that enhance our sense of self-worth. Be self-disciplined, do the work at a pre-determined time, and you’ll find that beating the housework counts among them.


Finally, wherever you are, time spent in your own company is an enormously powerful way to get back a feeling of owning your own time (8) and balancing the pace of your life. There’s no set method for spending spare time alone. The trick is simply to relax properly, not necessarily just do nothing.

A) INTRODUCTION

Initially, time management referred to just business or work activities, but eventually the term widened to include personal activities as well. A time management system is a designed combination of processes, tools and techniques. Dr. Don Wetmore is a time management consultant at Connecticut’s Productivity Institute. In the 1980’s he taught 600 people time management courses. In the next decade, that number rose to 30,000, and in the last decade inscriptions rose to. Dr. Wetmore sees this as clear evidence that time-famine is on the increase. (1) To tackle it, he recommends that you start with the basics. “Take a few minutes to plan your day in advance. Very few people actually do this, although they make long lists of all the things they want to get done, it’s not the same as a realistic plan of what you will do, and how and when you will do it. This can dramatically improve your effectiveness and cut down on wasted effort.”

Keep interruptions to a minimum. ‘My phones don’t take calls, they take messages,’ says John Naisbitt author of High Tech/High Touch. ‘How can I find time for my own agenda when everyone’s trying to make me part of theirs?’ (11) The most powerful word in our Time Management vocabulary is "no".

One of the best and most powerful ways to take back time and reduce your stress levels is to maintain good relationships with others. This is an often overlooked but uniquely effective method of minimizing stress, (2) staying happy and reducing the amount of time wasted on counter-productivity.

B) TECHNOLOGY AND TIME

Technology was supposed to reduce our workloads, make our lives more flexible, and give us back time and space to spend on leisure activities. However, according to Dr. Wetmore, “Five years ago it was assumed that email would make postal communication redundant. Last year, the highest amount of emails ever were sent, and the highest number of letters, too.’(4)

You cannot turn a blind eye to technology. Like it or not you have to accept the fact that you have a relationship with it. Examine that relationship thoroughly and ask yourself what you really need from technology and what you can manage without. Very few people do this. Technophobes pass over its many potential benefits and the rest are seduced onto the endless slope of one upgrade to another, without ever really thinking why.(12) We often think of technology as a toy, but behind its promise to make life easier, faster and better lie unspoken consequences. Not least of these is the way technology shapes our sense of time. The speed of response it now requires from us has contributed to the need for instant gratification. (6)

We need to lose both our awe and our fear of technology, and see it with clear eyes. With a conscious approach, its true benefits and deficits become apparent.(13) It’s possible to estimate how we might apply it constructively in the future. And if you can see where it’s going, it gives you much less to feel anxious about in the present. (7)

C) TIME AT WORK

Time management and energy management are essentially the same thing. You may have an important deadline to meet, but if you’re tired and stressed, stop. Identify your personal energy levels. Resolve to work only as long as that permits. You may have to ask yourself, ‘Is this job more important than my health and family?’ Be realistic in your expectations. Most psychological pressures in the workplace come from unrealistic and unmet expectations. Many small disappointments grow into one big one. Lowering your expectations – to real rather than low levels – allows you to focus much better on the reality of what you can achieve.

Aim for an appreciation of working processes, not just results. The adage “You are what you achieve” isn’t necessarily true but still hangs over from the 1980s when it was paramount’(14). Don’t ask yourself relentlessly “What have I achieved?, but “Did I enjoy the process of doing it? Did I learn from it?” This alleviates guilt and anxiety over work. A positive approach to processes produces a higher standard of work, more quickly than focusing only on the end result.’(3)

Adjust the quality of your work to the time available. You may have noticed that PC printers offer “fast”, “good” and “best” options. Why? Because excellence is not a prerequisite for all tasks.(10) Realise that good enough is still good, increasing productivity and free time for other tasks.

D) TIME AT HOME

Being a couch potato in front of the TV creates a lot of ‘dead time’ and usually results in making you feel more tired, and just as time-pressured as before. You could always use ‘video on demand’ and plan a specific time to watch what you really want to in a shorter time frame. Another suggestion is to put the TV away in a cupboard so that you have to make a conscious effort to get it out.

Satisfy your personal and spiritual needs. It’s easy to let the thoughts and effects of work overbalance into home time. At the end of the day take the opportunity to have some time for yourself. It’s extremely unlikely that your job gives you what you need to satisfy your innermost requirements, so having an occupation outside of work is a prerequisite for achieving that balance.(9).

Actively managing your time allows you to do a lot more with your life. Sadly, this does not translate into no longer having to do the housework. ‘We all have routine chores and responsibilities to attend to. (5) However, if you’ve accepted that pre-planning is essential, it’s easier for you to recognise the best time for taking care of the basic needs of home life. It’s the accumulation of small daily victories that enhance our sense of self-worth. Be self-disciplined, do the work at a pre-determined time, and you’ll find that beating the housework counts among them.

Finally, wherever you are, time spent in your own company is an enormously powerful way to get back a feeling of owning your own time (8) and balancing the pace of your life. There’s no set method for spending spare time alone. The trick is simply to relax properly, not necessarily just do nothing.