Flexibility - A Key Element To Effective Time Management
Wendy Hearn
As life goes on our situations, our goals and our priorities change so it is important to be flexible. Since so much of our lives is determined by how we choose to spend our time, flexibility is also vital for effective time management.
Since time is a limited commodity, we need to consider the most important way to use it. Work, family, and recreational activities can lay claim to the entire day, so it's critical that we spend it doing what brings the greatest return in the time we've invested.
Because of this it is important to know what is important to you and to plan the use of your time around this. So, the first thing you need to do is to identify your goals and write them down. Once this is done, you can sit down and decide on what actions you need to take to achieve these goals. Some of these may be quite simple, like cleaning your car. Others will be more complicated and will require a number of steps to achieve.
Now you can start planning your time around these goals. However, because your life is constantly changing this is always going to be a work in progress. You need to periodically reassess your situation as you will find some priorities may have changed. In turn, how you spend your time will need to change accordingly.
Also, the more you plan your time and evaluate how your time is spent, the more you will see the small adjustments that you need to make. As with many things, practice makes perfect. The more you ask yourself these important questions, the better you will be at finding the right answers.
You need to be willing to keep assessing your plans. Keep track of what gets done and whats doesn't so that you can keep making improvements. While this is a useful tool for identifying and adjusting to the priorities in your life it can also help you on a daily basis.
While making a time plan for every day is essential for effective time management, no time plan is written in stone and no day will turn out exactly as you envisaged it. Because of this it can be a good idea to take time out in the middle of the day to re-evaluate your situation. Perhaps a meeting has been cancelled at work, or you have received a last minute invitation to an event that evening. If you are flexible with how you spend your time you can weigh up your options again and decide what is best for you given the new circumstances.
Another great advantage of regularly assessing your situation and how you spend your time is that you are much better prepared to identify and take advantage of new opportunities as they arise. So be flexible, and you will make much more effective use of your time.
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