What Is Time Management? Activity Logs - Smart Goals

TIME MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION

Where does the time go? How time flies. If only we had more time. These are often the statements made about the much neglected management resource - time.

As the job of the manager and the employee becomes increasingly complex with the introduction of new methods, new policies, new procedures, tighter planning and control systems, it is essential that we review how effective we use the time at our disposal.

Time Management is concerned with the activities, concepts, and techniques employed in deriving the best ultimate value if every rupee spent in the management of resources. When emphasis was on the resource of time, the term Time Management was used to describe the business and managerial responsibilities. The term Time Management is more applicable today because of equal emphasis on providing and securing a larger measure of prosperity and happiness for the working people.

Work Pressures continue to increase daily. There are more books, magazines, journals, newspapers and letters to read. There is more information to sort through on the Internet, more e-mail messages to answer. There are more radio and television stations competing for your time. As cities increase in size it takes longer to get to work.

At the same time there are more family pressures, more social and networking pressures. If you think you are busy now, I can assure you your life will get busier so don't let other people take control of your life.

Sound time management is the key to a successful career. Value your time. It's your most precious resource. The successful people in this world are those who can get things done quickly and efficiently. They don't let trivia and time-wasters clog their day. They plan their work so they can devote their time to their most important jobs and delegate to others as much as possible.

TIME MANAGEMENT

"Learn to better manage your time"

Time Management is the art of arranging, organizing, scheduling, and budgeting one's time for the purpose of generating more effective work and productivity. There are an abundance of books, classes, workshops, day-planners, and seminars on time management, which teach individuals and corporations how to be more organized and more productive. Time management is also crucial for students, teachers, factory workers, professionals, and home makers. Time management is perhaps most essential for the person who owns his or her own business or who runs a business out of the home. Managing work and home responsibilities under the same roof takes a special type of time management.

An important aspect of time management is planning ahead. Sometimes, successful time management involves putting in more time at the outset in order to reorganize one's life. Though many time management books and teachings differ in their suggestions, most agree that the first step in efficient time management is to organize the workspace or home. Even if one's schedule is well-ordered, but the office and filing system are a disaster, time will be wasted trying to work efficiently in a disorderly place.

After cleaning, purging, and reorganizing the home or office, the next step in time management is to look at all the activities one participates in during a week. Every last detail should be written down, including the time it takes to shower, dress, commute, attend meetings, make phone calls, clean the house, cook dinner, pick up the children from school, take them to after-school activities, and eat meals. Also include time for entertainment or exercise, such as driving to the gym, going for a walk, watching television.

Lastly, good time management involves keeping a schedule of the tasks and activities that have been deemed important. Keeping a calendar or daily planner is helpful to stay on task, but self-discipline is also required. The most efficient to-do list in the world will not help someone who does not look at or follow his own daily planner.

Of course, the other side of the argument is to remember to live. Get on top of your time management, get organized, and stay on task, but live your life. Schedule some time off every day and at least one day off each week. Be organized, but do not be a slave to time management.

Life is hectic: Let's make a plan!

organization

• daily lists
• weekly schedule
• long term goals

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be conscious of time wasters

1. TV
2. Friends
3. E-mail

Discipline

• Follow your schedule
• Be flexible but firm
• Take breaks and reward  yourself

Activity Logs

Find Out How You Really Spend Your Time

How long do you spend each day on unimportant things; Things that don't really contribute to your success at work? Do you KNOW how much time you've spent reading junk mail, talking to colleagues, making coffee and eating lunch? And how often have you thought, "I could achieve so much more if I just had another half hour each day."

And are you aware of when in the day you check your e-mail, write important articles or do your long-term planning?

Most people find they function at different levels of effectiveness at different times of day as their energy levels fluctuate. Your effectiveness may vary depending on the amount of sugar in your blood, the length of time since you last took a break, routine distractions, stress, discomfort, or a range of other factors.

Activity logs help you to analyze how you actually spend your time. The first time you use an activity log you may be shocked to see the amount of time that you waste! Memory is a very poor guide when it comes to this, as it can be too easy to forget time spent on non-core tasks.

SMART Goals:
A useful way of making goals more powerful is to use the SMART mnemonic. While there are plenty of variants, SMART usually stands for:

• S Specific
• M Measurable
• A Attainable
• R Relevant
• T Time-bound

For example, instead of having "to sail around the world" as a goal, it is more powerful to say "To have completed my trip around the world by December 31, 2015." Obviously, this will only be attainable if a lot of preparation has been completed beforehand!

Key points:

Goal setting is an important method of:

• Deciding what is important for you to achieve in your life;
• Separating what is important from what is irrelevant, or a distraction;
• Motivating yourself; and
• Building your self-confidence, based on successful achievement of goals.

If you don't already set goals, do so, starting now. As you make this technique part of your life, you'll find your career accelerating, and you'll wonder how you did without it!