There is likely nothing in this  life that affects our success as much as our ability to manage our time wisely. It affects our success in the workplace, with our spouses and kids, and it largely determines how we are seen and perceived by others.

It is imperative that we learn how to control our use of the time that we have if we want to see success in our lives.

One of the first steps in getting where we want to be is to know where we want to be. We must have some clear goals that spell out our desired destination in detail. Once we have a desired outcome in mind, the following steps can help us to arrive where we want to be… and get there on time.

Use a To Do List

Researchers say that over 70% of successful business professionals use a to-do list on a daily basis for the tasks that have to be done each day. Only 5% of those same people use a to-do list for everything in their lives, including the non essential activities in their lives.

A to-do list not only includes a list of things that need to be done, but is should also give a priority to the things that are more important. The most important things should somehow be moved to the beginning of the list.

A good time manager will spend time each day in both planning and in evaluation. A list should be made before starting each day but it must be evaluated at the end of the day to see what was accomplished and what is left to do.

Planning Ahead

The statistics vary, but in general, one hour of planning can save you somewhere between five and ten hours of doing.  Planning makes us more efficient in the things that we do.

Don’t get in such a hurry to get started on a project that you don’t take time to plan out the most efficient method to make it happen. Be sure to account for all project needs and for how to handle unforeseen needs that may  changes to the plan. In other words, have a plan “B” in mind as well and it will save you time in the end.

As you begin to use a to do list and to plan ahead, you will find that most activities will automatically spread themselves into whatever time was allotted for them to happen. If we plan only one project or activity in a day, we find that the project will take up the day. However, if we plan that same activity and another one for the day, we usually find that both projects can be accomplished in the same day. Be reasonable as you plan, but failing to plan enough projects can lead to wasted time as well.

Using a to-do list and planning ahead to use our time to maximum efficiency both take some practice. It takes doing them over and over to make them a regular part of who we are. The old, inefficient “you” has been around for a long time. Give the new, more efficient “you” some time to get established. Don’t give up and throw the whole plan out when you experience a failure. Determine to learn from your mistakes and to do better going forward.

You will find that over time and with practice, using your time to better advantage will become a new habit.

There is one of those unwritten laws or rules of the universe called the 80/20 rule. It states that 20 percent of our efforts will produce 80 percent of our results.

Logically, this also means that the additional 20 percent of the results that we are after will require another 80 percent of our efforts.

The 80/20 rule also applies very much to the way that we use our time.  20 percent of our day will produce the majority of our accomplishments for the day and then the entire rest of the day will be spent tying up loose ends, spinning our wheels with few or no results, or working through distractions. For the average 8 hour work day, this means that less than 2 hours of work leads to the majority of our accomplishments for the day. Sound familiar?

Obviously we can’t just ignore the results that fall into this last category, we still have to get these things done, right? However, this area may be a great place to focus our efforts at improving our time management skills.

The following tips may help you as you evaluate and make changes to the ways in which you use your time.

• Plan your day.  One hour  of planning can save up to ten hours of doing. Simply starting each day with a to-do list can give us a big jump on our efficiency for the day.
• Declutter your desk or work space.  Efficiency researchers say that the average worker who has a messy or cluttered work space or desk spends 1 1/2 hours per day either looking for things or distracted by things around them. The old “Out of sight, out of mind” adage comes into play in a very real way.
• Delegate to others.  Delegation is the only real way to add extra hours into your life. Assign out tasks that don’t require your total attention. Assume a supervisory role and let someone else do the leg work when possible.
• Limit interruptions. The average worker gets interrupted about once in every 8 minutes. This works out to more than 7 interruptions per hour. The average lost time from each interruption is said to be 5 minutes. This works out to be 35 minutes of lost time from each hour of work… more than half of the day. While some of these interruptions may be needed and necessary, the vast majority of them go down as wasted time.
• Make the needed changes. If you keep on doing things the way that you have always done them, you will keep on getting the same results that you have always gotten.

One of my favorite audio programs is a speech given by motivational speaker Earl Nightingale, titled The Strangest Secret. In that speech, he tells us that in our lives, where we focus is where we will see results. Paying attention to where and how we use our time will bring about more efficiency and more success in the things that we choose to do.

It is a fact that we all have the same 24 hours in a day and the same 168 hours in a week. Why then is it that some of us struggle to get things done while others seem to have all of the free time that they want?

In many ways, time management is really all about managing our selves. Ultimately, it is up to us to make the decisions that will help us to use the time that we have in the most effective ways, which will then lead to the most productivity and/or happiness for us.

The following steps can help you to better understand and use the time that you have wisely:

Assess

Before we can manage our time better, we first need to know where our time is currently being spent.  I would suggest keeping a log throughout the day to identify where your time is being spent. Until we know where our time is going, it is impossible to find ways to improve its use.

Prioritize

When we travel, we leave home with a clear destination in mind of where we want to arrive. Proper time usage works in a similar way. We have to know what we want out of life and what outcome we want from our usage of our time. It is important to set goals as to what our desired outcome will be.

Organize

When we want to get our money under control, we write a budget. Good time management works on the same principle. To get our time usage under control, we need to set a time budget. This can be as simple or as complex as we want it to be, depending on our goals and desired outcome.

Plan

Once we have evaluated what our current habits are, and we know where we want to be, the next step is to put in place a plan to get us there. Use your time budget  and your logs of where you are currently spending your time to develop a plan of action that will move you in a new direction and help you to accomplish your goals.

Delegate

If there just aren’t enough hours in the day, maybe it’s time to learn to delegate.  Assigning out or even hiring out tasks that don’t fit into our schedule is a great way to add hours into our day. Sometimes delegating trivial tasks to others can free up time in our schedule for things that we deem as more important.

Conclusion

We do all have the same number of hours in our day. The determining factor between the “successful” people and the “less than successful” people is just how we manage the time that we all do have.