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Time Management
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| Introduction to Time Management |
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| (Work Smarter. Reduce the Stress of Work Overload). |
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Time management is about understanding the importance of managing priorities and applying techniques and tools to manage time regularly.
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Effective time management leads to higher productivity and satisfaction both on the job and in you personal life. It leads to better work life balance and leads to lowering stress, higher poise and greater well-being.
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Personal time management skills are essential skills for effective people. People who use these techniques routinely are the highest achievers in all walks of life, from business to sport to public service. If you use these skills well, then you will be able to function exceptionally well, even under intense pressure.
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What's more, as you master these skills, you'll find that you take control of your workload, and say goodbye to the often intense stress of work overload.
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At the heart of time management is an important shift in focus:
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Concentrate on results, not on being busy
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Many people spend their days in a frenzy of activity, but achieve very little because they're not concentrating their effort on the things that matter the most.
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| The 80:20 Rule |
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This is neatly summed up in the Pareto Principle, or the '80:20 Rule'. This says that typically 80% of unfocussed effort generates only 20% of results. The remaining 80% of results are achieved with only 20% of the effort. While the ratio is not always 80:20, this broad pattern of a small proportion of activity generating non-scalar returns recurs so frequently that it is the norm in many situations.
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By applying the time management techniques you can optimize your effort to ensure that you concentrate as much of your time and energy as possible on the high payoff tasks. This ensures that you achieve the greatest benefit possible with the limited amount of time available to you.
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| Technique 1 : Beating Procrastination |
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| (Manage Your Time. Get It All Done.) |
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If you’ve found yourself putting off important tasks over and over again, you’re not alone. In fact, many people procrastinate to some degree - but some are so chronically affected by procrastination that it stops them achieving things they're capable of and disrupts their careers.
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The key to controlling and ultimately combating this destructive habit is to recognize when you start procrastinating, understand why it happens (even to the best of us), and take active steps to better manage your time and outcomes.
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| Technique 2 : Activity Logs |
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| (Find Out How You Really Spend Your Time) |
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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."
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| And are you aware of when in the day you check your e-mail, write important articles or do your long-term planning? |
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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.
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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.
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| Technique 3 : Action Plans |
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| (Small Scale Planning) |
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So, you know that you need to produce a newsletter, organize a team-building session, put together a bid for a new piece of work, or organize moving Jenny's team up to the second floor. Exactly what do you need to do to achieve this?
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None of these are major projects. In fact, you can probably think of all the steps in your head right now. But how do you ensure that you really have covered everything? Would anyone else know where you'd got to with the work if you were unexpectedly off sick for a few days? And are you quite clear about when you need to start if everything is to be done and dusted by the deadline?
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An Action Plan is a simple list of all of the tasks that you need to carry out to achieve an objective. It differs from a To Do List in that it focuses on the achievement of a single goal.
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| Technique 4 : Prioritized To-Do Lists |
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| (Your first step in beating work overload. ) |
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By keeping a To-Do List, you make sure that you capture all of the tasks you have to complete in one place. This is essential if you're not going to forget things. And by prioritizing work, you plan the order in which you'll do things, so you can tell what needs your immediate attention, and what you can quietly forget about until much, much later. This is essential if you're going to beat work overload. Without To-Do Lists, you'll seem dizzy, unfocused and unreliable to the people around you. With To-Do Lists, you'll be much better organized and much more reliable. This is very important!
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Whilst To-Do Lists are very simple, they are also extremely powerful, both as a method of organizing yourself and as a way of reducing stress. Often problems may seem overwhelming or you may have a seemingly huge number of demands on your time. This may leave you feeling out of control, and overburdened with work.
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| Technique 5 : Effective Scheduling |
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| (Plan Your Time. Make Time for Yourself. ) |
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Scheduling is the process by which you look at the time available to you, and plan how you will use it to achieve the goals you have identified. By using a schedule properly, you can:
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Understand what you can realistically achieve with your time |
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Plan to make the best use of the time available |
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Leave enough time for things you absolutely must do |
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Preserve contingency time to handle 'the unexpected' |
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Minimize stress by avoiding over-commitment to others |
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A well thought-through schedule allows you to manage your commitments, while still leaving you time to do the things that are important to you. It is therefore your most important weapon for beating work overload.
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| Technique 6 : Personal Goal Setting |
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| (Find Direction. Live Your Life Your Way.) |
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Goal setting is a powerful process for thinking about your ideal future, and for motivating yourself to turn this vision of the future into reality.
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The process of setting goals helps you choose where you want to go in life. By knowing precisely what you want to achieve, you know where you have to concentrate your efforts. You'll also quickly spot the distractions that would otherwise lure you from your course.
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More than this, properly-set goals can be incredibly motivating, and as you get into the habit of setting and achieving goals, you'll find that your self-confidence builds fast.
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Some hints for effective time management:
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Update your TO DO list daily - 15 minutes of investment will help you everyday |
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End of day: Review status |
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Status C- Completed, T-Transferred, A-Abandoned, I –In progress |
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At the end of day you will get a feeling of accomplishment |
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Deal effectively with interruptions |
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Do not over schedule |
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Keep Your list in sight |
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Delegate, if possible |
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Get Organized: Paper, e-mail |
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Do difficult tasks first |
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Throw away every information that you think you do not need |
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Think twice before you interrupt anyone, Their time is as valuable as yours |
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Avoid time wasting practices |
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Time Management
