Entries Tagged 'Time Management' ↓
May 25th, 2010 — Time Management
Each of us has spare hours in every week – about thirty of them to be exact. This includes all the time we have discretionary choice over. And though we may trick ourselves into believing we have no time left, the truth is rather revealing, even compelling.
Come. Let’s unfold some time together.
What are we going to do with this notional thirty hours per week (if we’re not otherwise committed to other discretionary tasks already)? I’m implying choice here.
These discretionary hours are considered after our non-discretionary time is spent: most of us need to include eight hours for sleep; ten hours, five days a week for work and travel to and from; and, then say three hours per day for meals and catching up with loved ones and friends.
Using what’s left responsibly is up to each one of us as individuals to decide.
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May 24th, 2010 — Time Management
Life happens. Things must get done. How? By prioritizing. When you prioritize, you determine the order of importance of your tasks and then set about getting them done. But often, it seems as if we have too much on our plate and that we’ve bitten off more than we can chew. Speaking of chewing, the other day I called a realtor friend of mine to find out what new and interesting things had been happening in the real estate market. And I asked her to talk to some other agents to get their insight and then call me back with all the juicy details.
Well, a couple of days went by and I had not heard back from her so I called her up to chew her out. And much to my surprise, she chewed right back! "I’ve been so busy. I had a home inspection this morning. I have to go back to the office to prepare for a listing presentation. I have to drive my son to his baseball game." And she went on to name a half dozen more things she had on her plate. (Sidebar: Another friend of mine once told me she was talking to a friend and was telling him how she was overloaded with all the things she had to do and that she just had too much on her plate. He responded by saying, "The problem is not that you have too much on your plate, the problem is that you’re not eating fast enough!")
So, that got me to thinking about the importance of prioritizing. Because at times, with all the things we have to do, tasks can seem overwhelming. Prioritizing can make things more manageable. Here are some tips for staying sane in an insane world:
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February 12th, 2010 — Time Management
So here is how to decide what to work on first. I’m going to give you two techniques, two different approaches, and I actually use both of them. The first approach is the most intuitive, the most logical. And this is the simple approach of figuring out what’s most valuable. Often times, it’s not easy to weigh two things against each other and figure out which one is going to be more valuable. Sometimes I’ll actually just try to figure out which is more valuable by asking how much money will it be worth. Now I don’t like to idolize money or turn money into God, but sometimes, it’s a great little measuring stick or measuring tool. So let’s say I have two things that I could do. One of them is I know I’ve got a bunch of e-mails that I need to answer, and another one is I know I need to create a sales letter because I’m launching a product. If I look at these two things and ask myself, “Okay, who are the e-mails likely to be from? What’s the value of the e-mails? If I answer all those e-mails, how much money will that actually wind up making?”
Versus if I create this sales letter that’s going to sell a bunch of my products, how much value will that create? And on the e-mails, I might estimate, “You know what? If I answer all those e-mails, it’s probably going to be worth like $50.00, where as if I create this sales letter, it’s going to lead to the sales of thousands or tens of thousands, or probably more; probably hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of products. Clearly, doing this sales letter is more important.”
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February 2nd, 2010 — Time Management
Time management tips empower you to meet your goals. But what if your current goals are holding you back?
You may discover that new goals, like new shoes, require some breaking in!
Let’s say you have set a goal, only to find that you feel trapped by it later. Feeling saddled with a goal that doesn’t work for you wastes your time and saps your morale.
Yet, you’ve probably experienced first-hand how productive goals energize you in countless rewarding ways!
What distinguishes workable goals from burdensome ones?
And how can you keep your goals healthy?
Here are three common ways that goals become traps, along with specific strategies to handle each one:
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December 9th, 2009 — Time Management
By Ryan J Cosby
Learning how to avoid procrastination is not as hard as it seems. It is simply a question of overcoming laziness and getting started on what you must be doing. The first step towards learning how to avoid procrastination is to define it.
Procrastination is that state of mind where the individual feels he is committed towards doing unimportant things while she could have done more important ones. You must try to understand that objectively there is no such thing as important and unimportant. These things are subject to time and place. The importance of things tends to change with circumstances and situations.
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July 11th, 2009 — Leadership, Relationship, Self-improvement, Team Work, Time Management
The salutation, says a French writer, is the touchstone of good breeding. According to circumstances, it should be respectful, cordial, civil, affectionate or familiar: an inclination of the head, a gesture with the hand, the touching or doffing of the hat.
If you remove your hat you need not at the same time bend the dorsal vertebr’ of your body, unless you wish to be very reverential, as in saluting a bishop.
If an individual of the lowest rank, or without any rank at all, takes off his hat to you, you should do the same in return. A bow, says La Fontaine, is a note drawn at sight. If you acknowledge it, you must pay the full amount. The two best-bred men in England, Charles the Second and George the Fourth, never failed to take off their hats to the meanest of their subjects.
If you have anything to say to any one in the street however intimate you may be, do not stop the person, but turn round and walk in company; you can take leave at the end of the street.
If there is any one of your acquaintance, with whom you have a difference, do not avoid looking at him, unless from the nature of things the quarrel is necessarily for life. It is almost always better to bow with cold civility, though without speaking.
Good sense and convenience are the foundations of good breeding; and it is assuredly vastly more reasonable and more agreeable to enjoy a passing gratification, when no sequent evil is to be apprehended, than to be rendered uncomfortable by an ill-founded pride. It is therefore better to carry on an easy and civil conversation. A snuff-box, or some polite accommodation rendered, may serve for an opening. Talk only about generalities, the play, the roads, the weather. Avoid speaking of persons or politics, for, if the individual is of the opposite party to yourself, you will be engaged in a controversy: if he holds the same opinions, you will be overwhelmed with a flood of vulgar intelligence, which may soil your mind. Be reservedly civil while the colloquy lasts, and let the acquaintance cease with the occasion.
June 6th, 2009 — Time Management
Time management is basically about being focused. The Pareto Principle also known as the ’80:20 Rule’ states that 80% of efforts that are not time managed or unfocused generates only 20% of the desired output. However, 80% of the desired output can be generated using only 20% of a well time managed effort. Although the ratio ’80:20′ is only arbitrary, it is used to put emphasis on how much is lost or how much can be gained with time management.
Some people view time management as a list of rules that involves scheduling of appointments, goal settings, thorough planning, creating things to do lists and prioritizing. These are the core basics of time management that should be understood to develop an efficient personal time management skill. These basic skills can be fine tuned further to include the finer points of each skill that can give you that extra reserve to make the results you desire.
But there is more skills involved in time management than the core basics. Skills such as decision making, inherent abilities such as emotional intelligence and critical thinking are also essential to your personal growth.
Personal time management involves everything you do. No matter how big and no matter how small, everything counts. Each new knowledge you acquire, each new advice you consider, each new skill you develop should be taken into consideration.
Having a balanced life-style should be the key result in having personal time management. This is the main aspect that many practitioners of personal time management fail to grasp.
Time management is about getting results, not about being busy.
The six areas that personal time management seeks to improve in anyone’s life are physical, intellectual, social, career, emotional and spiritual.
1. Physical Aspect
The physical aspect involves having a healthy body, less stress and fatigue.
2. Intellectual Aspect
The intellectual aspect involves learning and other mental growth activities.
3. Social Aspect
The social aspect involves developing personal or intimate relations and being an active contributor to society.
4. Career Aspect
The career aspect involves school and work.
5. Emotional Aspect
The emotional aspect involves appropriate feelings and desires and manifesting them.
6. Spiritual Aspect
The spiritual aspect involves a personal quest for meaning.
