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.