Apps typically fall into one of the following categories: If you keep more than one, make sure your phone, computer, and paper planning tools match.Īpps on your phone can be great planning tools. Keep a list of your priorities in your planning tool and refer to it often.Jotting notes elsewhere that must be transferred later is inefficient and wastes more time. Always record your information on the tool itself.The key is to find one planning tool that works for you and use that tool consistently. Auditory learners may prefer to dictate their thoughts instead. Writing down your tasks, schedules, and items to remember can free your mind to focus on your priorities. Personal planning tools include planners, calendars, phone apps, wall charts, index cards, pocket diaries, and notebooks. Time management experts recommend using a personal planning tool to improve your productivity. A prioritized “to do” list allows you to set boundaries so you can say “no” to activities that may be interesting or provide a sense of achievement but do not fit your basic priorities. The goal is not to mark off the most items, but to mark off the highest priority items (MacKenzie, 1990). You may choose to group items in categories such as high priority, medium priority, or low priority number them in order of priority or use a color-coding system. Rank the items on your “to do” list in order of priority (both important and urgent). List manageable tasks rather than goals or multi-step plans. Be careful to keep list-making from getting out of control. Whether you need a daily, weekly, or monthly list depends on your lifestyle. Reply to coworker’s email regarding future eventĭelegate these tasks to the appropriate people who can manage them.ĭelete these tasks – they are often time wasters.Ĭreating a "to do” list is an easy way to prioritize.Focusing on these important activities allows you to gain greater control over your time and may reduce the number of important tasks that become urgent.ĭefer these tasks until all urgent and important tasks have been completed. suggests spending less time on activities that are not important (regardless of their urgency) to gain time for activities that are not urgent but important. While activities that are both urgent and important must be done, Covey et al. Covey, Merrill, and Merrill (1994) categorize activities into four quadrants in their Time Management Matrix: urgent, not urgent, important, and not important. However, we tend to let the urgent tasks dominate our lives. Experts agree that the most important tasks usually aren’t the most urgent tasks. Managing your time effectively requires a distinction between what is important and what is urgent (MacKenzie, 1990). Many apps exist to help you keep track of your time, as mentioned in Strategy 3. Having a good sense of the time required for routine tasks can help you be more realistic in planning and estimating how much time is available for other activities. Identifying your most time-consuming tasks and determining whether you are investing your time in the most important activities can help you to determine a course of action. Where is most of your time is devoted (i.e.What time of day when you are most productive?.Did everything you needed to do get done?.Record what you are doing in 15-minute intervals for a week or two. Know How You Spend Your TimeĪ time log is a helpful way to determine how you use your time. By incorporating some, or all the ten strategies below, you can more effectively manage your time. (Dodd and Subdheim, 2005)įinding a time management strategy that works best for you depends on your personality, ability to self-motivate, and level of self-discipline. Have more free time to do the things they want.Have more energy for things they need to accomplish.People who practice good time management techniques often find that they: It must be protected, used wisely, and budgeted. Much like money, time is both valuable and limited. How you use that time depends on skills learned through self-analysis, planning, evaluation, and self-control. You may often wish for more time, but you only get 24 hours, 1,440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds each day. You cannot manage time you manage the events in your life in relation to time.
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