Making Positive Time Management Changes

Understanding what time management is might seem odd to those people who are never late or who manage their day perfectly. However, for many people this management of their time doesn’t come easy and it is something that people have to work at every day, to ensure they get the most out of the time available.

Time Management In My Day

As you might have already realised I live using lists, and my diary; it is what organizes my day, without these, I feel lost and unsure of a plan of action. I get up the same time and I start work at the same time each day, it is as if I go out to work.

I know what my first tasks are for the day because I have them planned out, whilst some days do slip, I need to ensure that I finish the items each day and I check the items of my list as I complete each task, it gives me a sense of accomplishment.

Creating The Tools That Work For You

It is important that you find tools that work for you to keep your day on track. There are different options that you can choose; it depends on what you are looking for and how you work.

• Alarms are a great tool to keep your focus on the time that a task takes, but it also ensures that more time than you want, hasn’t slipped by. If I have an intense project and I know there is little to interrupt me, I will set alarms during the time to ensure that I take a break away from the project at regular points.
• Set mini goals throughout the day, the easiest one for me is to stay focused until I have finished the article I am writing; I allow a reward, even if it is just a cup of tea or a 10-minute break.
• Realistic planning, know how long a project will take, or how long the journey to the meeting will take is important. This ensures that you are not rushing and always late.
• Multi-tasking is a waste of valuable time, it often means that more than one task ends up unfinished and this can make the time spent difficult to justify, whereas, if you finished one task that’s crossed off the list, two half-finished projects can seem like more work, it doesn’t give you a sense of accomplishment either.

Teaching Others Time Management Skills

If you are a manager of a team you need to not only ensure that your own time management skills are fine-tuned, you need to ensure that you teach your team the time management skills that you expect. You can’t expect them to know your expectations unless you tell them in advance and the consequences for missing these expectations.

It is important that while money is a great incentive for working, for many these are not regular payments for rewarding skills and accomplishments in the short-term. It is therefore important that you show your satisfaction with praise and rewards in a smaller non-monetary scale, at least to begin with.

If a team member, is late to a meeting, don’t draw attention to their tardiness but punish with completing a task that, if they had been on time, they might not have been the chosen one. This emphasises the importance to them for not being the centre of attention when they arrive late.

Therefore, while time management might come naturally to some, many people have to work towards maintaining their time management skills and what they expect others to maintain, too. It is important that if you manage a team of people to define what you expect concerning their own time management, to ensure that the team knows the boundaries you expect them to follow.