The application of time management skills has tended, in the
past, to be thought of as something that is for business life
only. In reality, though, time management is something from
which we can all benefit in our personal lives as well, and in
the art of marrying our working lives with our home and social
lives.

Those benefits show in a number of ways, including health, well
being and satisfaction with our lives overall. Manage your time
well, and you can feel in control of your life, rather than
letting events control you. There is no single "method" of time
management, either in business or personal life. However, there
are various time management tips and techniques, practices and
theories, which it is worth knowing about.

Acquiring time management skills is something we can set about
doing in a methodical way. Really, we all practice time
management whether we know it or not. It is more a matter of
whether we do it well or badly. The following tips are for
improving time management skills, building on those that you
will naturally have. Even primitive man used time management,
it was just a lot simpler in those days. Time had to be
allocated for hunting, and that time had to be used to the
fullest effect possible to survive.

Here are just a few time management tips:

1. Before learning any techniques to help you manage your time,
have a clear idea of what you are setting out to achieve. Give
yourself the opportunity to get your life in some sort of order
so that you can both enjoy it to the full and succeed to the
full. If you just apply time management to areas of your life
that do not really matter to you, then you will not be
progressing at a personal level.

2. Get your priorities clear in your mind, so that they are a
natural part of you. This will need to become a habit to be
very effective, and you will need to apply prioritizing over a
number of time spans. Your long term success will probably
depend on your being able to prioritize what you need to do to
achieve that success. However, to use your time well on a
particular day, you need to start the day with a clear idea of
your priorities. that also applies to the week, the month and
the year. Your priorities for the shorter period must always
feed positively into the priorities in the next longer period,
and so on, so that each time period is mapped out with
priorities that lead to your ultimate success.

3. When assessing priorities, be ruthless with parts of your
life that are not contributing to your longer term goals.
Removing the areas of your life where you are wasting time,
will free up more time for you to apply to reaching your goals.


4. Always be sure to build your health and enjoyment into any
plans. Time for relaxation and exercise are critical to your
long term achievements; always make time for proper meals, and
keep to a healthy but enjoyable diet. Time management is not an
exercise in being macho with your business life; it is an
opportunity to build a balanced life for yourself and your
family.

5. Once you have set your priorities for any period, write them
down and refer to them from time to time, updating them if
necessary. Should you appear to be failing, examine why, and
reset and reinforce your goals and priorities. It is too easy
to slip back into bad habits that inhibit your progress.

6. Be sure to keep a diary and use it to plan out each day,
week, month. There are all sorts of electronic gizmos, online
planners, software etc to act as aids to your time management.
Personally, I think a good old fashioned diary is just as good,
if not better. About 18 months ago I reverted to using a
traditional diary to plan my working time. That forces me to
get away from the computer, even for a few minutes, and think
what my priorities are, and what I need to be reminded about.

If you can become better at time management, you will find your
life more satisfying and less stressful, as well as being able
to achieve greater things. For millions of people, life just
sweeps them along in a torrent of activity, or inactivity, over
which they have little or no control. That can be very
stressful, unhealthy, inefficient, and demoralising over the
long term. There is nothing quite like controlling your own
destiny to reduce stress and aid success.


About The Author: This time management article was written by
Roy Thomsitt, owner and part author of the Routes To Self
Improvement website.
http://www.routes-to-self-improvement.com/TimeManagement.htm