7 Effective Time Management Techniques

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:05:11 EST

Did you know that if you go to Amazon.com's book department and type in"time management" you will get 90,545 results!! Apparently, you and I are notthe only ones that struggle with managing our time wisely!

With that beingsaid, we'd like to give you 7 effective time management skills that we'velearned and implemented to help us be more successful.

1. Be On time, Every time: My family would probably bustout laughing if they knew I was giving this advice, but this is huge. Someoneonce told me that being late is a symptom of arrogance. When you arrive late toan event you are telling other people that you are more important than them,otherwise, if you truly valued them or the event you would have been on time!Not only do you save time, you and others respect your actions and can count onyou.

2. Be done on time, every time: If you are conducting ameeting that is set to run for 30 minutes, then consider ending it at 29minutes. Not valuing other people's time commitments wastes everybody's time.Having a predetermined agenda that is written out will also keep you on trackand limit tangents that so often steal the center of attention becoming theculprit for unnecessarily long meetings.

3. Follow up, follow through: It is better to do quickcheck-ins on a projects progress to make sure the results are what will beneeded. If requirements change, or someone ‘didn't get the memo' on what wasneeded, early course correction can save a ton time, not to mention unneededheadaches.

4. Have a Plan B: Sometimes you will experience delays dueto things beyond your control. For example, your flight might be delayed. Whensomething like that happens to you, don't play a video game or surf Facebook!Have a book, audio book, or e-book ready to enrich your mind. Use that delay toyour best advantage.

5. Create Accountability: As humans we tend to take theeasy road and waste a lot of time. Having someone you can be accountable towill motivate you to get things done effectively and efficiently. Choose wiselysomeone you can rely on and someone you trust.

6. Schedule Your Tasks: First, once a week make a list ofall the tasks you need to accomplish and prioritize them. Now schedule when youare going to do each task. Try scheduling down to the date and time - the morespecific you can be the more likely you are to get it done. Outlook is afantastic tool for scheduling and even will sync up with many cell phones soyou can be organized on the go.

7. Outsource: It's ok to ask for help - in fact werecommend it! If you overload yourself with too many tasks, it's easy to becomeoverwhelmed. Once you're overwhelmed, you will not be able to focus on thetasks you need to do and run your day efficiently. You'll be too busy beingoverwhelmed! So if you find your day too packed ask for help from other people.If you can, hire someone to do the tasks that you are least efficient andskilled at, thus freeing up your time to focus on the tasks that you are bestand most skilled at.

Being able to manage your time wisely is not just something that you areborn being able to do, but rather it's a skill that anyone can develop with alittle bit of practice and determination. It may seem like extra work at first,but we've found that it will soon become a habit that will enrich your life andlead to success.

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7 Effective Time Management Techniques