Don't Let Time Get Away From You
Elliott Roberts
Our days fly by so quickly that without a plan, it is easy to lose the value of them completely. All of the tasks we need to complete are easily neglected for things that pop up and grab our attention. When this happens too often, we are allowing the day to control us, when to be effective and successful we need to be in control of our days.
Too often we work in reverse, taking care of what has already happened, rather than ensuring a desired effect the first time around. Whether you spend your time or waste it, once it is gone there is no getting it back. Therefore, it is essential to use your time wisely in order to achieve what you desire in life, at home, and on the job.
Start out by planning your day ahead of time. The key is to schedule a routine time either first thing in the morning or sometime the night before, and stick with it. Make note of what needs to be done for that day. Set new goals and review those previously set.
Set times to start and finish your projects so that one task doesn't hijack your whole day. Divide big tasks into a series of smaller ones to be completed in increments.
Lastly, take your bigger projects and divide them into smaller more manageable tasks. They will get done quicker because you won't dread them so much, and your other, smaller tasks will not suffer because of it.
No matter how well we plan our days, though, there are things that pop up and try to distract us. That's okay, let them. They are usually very small and can be handled in a matter of minutes, so handle them.
We have many pitfalls in our day that work against our time management efforts. We tend to spend too much time contemplating the start of a new project and often avoiding it. So just start it. Then finish it. It is bad practice to pick it up, think about it and put it aside for later only to repeat the process again in an hour.
Either finish it at the moment or schedule a more appropriate time and forget about it until then. Unless deeply focused on one project, handle as many as you can of the small, unexpected tasks as they come, rather than putting them off until later. This will prevent them from piling up and leaving you feeling overwhelmed.
The Author, Elliott Roberts, is a writer at Becomng, a http://becomng.com/ Personal Development blog that covers issues from software to meditation. Find additional http://becomng.com/topics/time-management/) Time Management articles here.
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