10 Time Management Tips

Men talk of killing time, while time quietly kills them.  ~Dion Boucicault

There are two types of time, hard time & soft time. Hard time is made up of the tasks that you need to perform through out the day, like your commute, your job, or sleep. Soft time is made up of family, social or recreational activities. In order to lower bad stress & increase your life span (or your time here on earth) one must strike a balance between hard time & soft time. If we break the day up as follows; 8 hours of sleep (hard time), 8 hours of work (hard time) & 8 hours of other (soft time). The question becomes; How can I become more productive during my working hours so that I can protect my 8 hours of soft time for myself, my family & my friends?

Here are my 10 favourite time tips, to maximize my daily return on energy:

1. When you Wake up write down your long-term goals & review them daily. Use SMART as a guide when doing this; Specific, Measurable, Appropriate, Realistic & Time-Limited.
2. The first thing you do when you arrive at your place of work should be to divide your tasks into three priorities A, B & C. Then start completing the high priority, or ‘A’ tasks.
3. Block off your time for important activities. Schedule an appointment with yourself in your calendar, and stick to it.
4. Stop spending hours on fluff, for example don’t prep a proposal or presentation when a phone call or face-to face meeting will get the job done. Stop sweating the small stuff like routine admin items, find ways to automate, delegate or outsource them.
5. Say no more often, if you try to please others all the time you’ll end up dropping the ball more often when you start missing deadlines or dates for the real priorities.
6. Be punctual, start meetings when they are scheduled, get to work 10 min early & leave 10 min later. Be sure to not punish those who show up on time & reward those who are late.
7. Slow down, productivity isn’t about doing more tasks at a faster pace. It’s about doing the right things and doing them the right way…Once. Rushing around, driving too fast & losing your temper about things you can’t control isn’t going to allow you to focus on completing the task at hand. Remember less bad stress = longer, & happier, life.
8. Completing unpleasant tasks first. Break down the large, complex tasks into bite size pieces that are easily completed.
9. Control technology, don’t let technology control you. Smart phones, IM Chats and email have simply added more ways to be out of touch, and sync, with each other. Simplify your life and leave your phone off when in a meeting or ignore it when talking with someone. Give the people in front of you the attention they deserve and focus on the task at hand. Multi-tasking is a time thief, you spin your wheels in all things that you’re trying to get completed instead of completing one task and quickly moving to the next one.
10. Set aside time for family, fitness, educational, social & spiritual needs. Balance is key.

If you plan for balance and stick to the plan you’ll achieve the success that you’re looking for in both work & family life.