Let’s all start off on the right foot shall we? Time management is a myth. You cannot manage time. We all have the same amount of time in a day. 24 hours – that’s it! The key question is: Why do some get so much more out of 24 hours than others? The answer: Self discipline or self management; call it what you wish but understand that using time wisely as to increase productivity starts and ends with you.

Coming to the realization that there are only 24 hours in a day and that you can only fit a certain amount of things or activities into it is the first step to relieving the stress of time pressures. It also is the first step in setting yourself up to successfully deal with the realities of time and put your productivity numbers over the top.

Step 1: Find out where you are wasting time. Conduct a time audit by crunching your day into 15 - 20 minute time intervals. Start your daily recording from the time you get up to the time you go to bed. Write down what you are doing and for how long every 15 to 20 minutes. Audit your time for a full week. It won’t belong before you can see patterns in your schedules.

E.g.: You may waste away your morning checking emails. You should be able to deal with it in a max of two 15 minute intervals. (Yes, you can – I don’t care how busy you are – learn to separate business emails from personal, emails that will make you money and those that won’t, those you can delegate and those you must deal with immediately!)

Step 2: Create time management goals. You must have clear goals for the use of your time or you will waste it away. You must take control of your relationship with time. As Mimi Donaldson says: “You are either formal with time or casual with it. Individuals that are formal with time are rarely, if ever, late, and understand that time is a valuable commodity – they do not waste it.”

The best way to regain control of your time is to start with a pen and paper and begin to plan out what it is you want to do if you had more time.

E.g.:
I will always be on time for appointments.
I will always arrive early for meetings.
I will have plenty of time to get to meetings and appointments.

Stay tuned for our series on Time and Self Management. In the mean time drop us a comment on what time challenges you have that you would like us to address in the series.

Good read yvonneb! I would agree that time management starts with our self.

I personally use my own simpler time management technique. I'd like to share it as it might help other people too.

Before the workday, I list all my priorities already. During work, I work on these priorities one by one. I never multitask because this is counter productive. I also use this tool for management to monitor my work hours, reduce distractions and increase productivity.

At the end of the day, I will evaluate my performance for the day. This will help me improve for the next day.

This technique helped me a lot. I am sure it will help you too.