Tweet

Time Management: How to Become a To-Do List Conqueror

Guest post by: Jennifer Loftus

Article Overview: Do you always perform at your peak? Do you always provide ample support and attention to the projects and people in your life? Do you always finish your work and leave your job at the end of the day with a clean desk and an agenda for the next day? If you have answered “yes” to all these questions, congratulate yourself and move on to another article.

Time Management: How to Become a To-Do List Conqueror

Stacey Jerrold MBA, SPHR of Jerrold HR Solutions LLC. (Guest Author)

Do you always perform at your peak? Do you always provide ample support and attention to the projects and people in your life? Do you always finish your work and leave your job at the end of the day with a clean desk and an agenda for the next day? If you have answered "yes" to all these questions, congratulate yourself and move on to another article.

If for any reason you answered "no" to one or more of these questions, or you feel that life has gotten out of control, there's no need to worry. Time management is a skill, a technique, a mindset, and a lifestyle that can be adopted by you if you have the desire--

to feel more in control.

to get more out of life.

to achieve success in business while having time to enjoy a personal life.

to reduce stress and realize more balance in your life.

Your success depends upon utilizing a time-management system that works best for you as well as one that addresses your attitudes, feelings, and habits. If you don't focus on what you value and what your goals are, any success you might achieve will be short-term.

If you think about the concept of time management, it is actually an oxymoron. There really isn't anything to manage. There are a fixed number of days in a week, hours in a day, and minutes in an hour. The only thing that changes about how you spend your time is your perception of it. Some days you are a conqueror and can complete everything on your to-do list while, at other times, you can probably barely get through the first few items on it. If you were to look back at your "conquering" days, you would see the projects/tasks that you completed were directly related to your goals, which put your achievement level into high gear and time sped by.

So, how do you become a "conqueror" of tasks and projects? When you're able to define your purpose, establish your vision and values, and develop success-oriented attitudes, a direction and meaning to your life will begin to emerge. The best way to decide what you want and to set goals is to have an understanding of yourself, by examining past accomplishments and identifying your strongest and most enjoyable skills.

Although your motivated abilities tell you the elements needed for happiness, a vision needs to be created to help you shape the scope of what lies ahead. The dreams and goals from your vision of the future are the driving forces that motivate you.

A clear vision accompanied by WHY SMART (Written Harmonious Yours Specific Measurable Attainable Realistically High Time-Bound) goals will enable you to prioritize options and make good decisions.

By activating positive thoughts and embracing the power of visualization, you bring about the necessary behavior that will help you accomplish all that you want in your life. Successful people have a passion for what they do and have set predetermined goals that are harmonious with the vision they have created for themselves.

One of the most important concepts of time management is to understand and acknowledge the difference between spending time and investing time. The definition of spend, according to the dictionary, is "to use up, exhaust, consume." However, when you invest your time, you do so with the expectation of some sort of ROI, return on investment. If you were to attach the value you put on money to the concept of time, you would be more motivated to manage it better.

Time is like money. You can expect returns if you invest wisely and you can expect losses if you spend without purpose. The way you use your time is a reflection of who you are. Not only is it an indication of what you think about yourself, it also reveals what you think of others. Your focus on achieving the goals you have set for yourself is reflected in your use of your time. The way you allocate your time mirrors your purpose, your vision, and your values.

Put focus on the activities that are harmonious with your personal goals and the goals of your organization. Each day set out to achieve the highest level of performance and gratification. By investing in your time wisely, you will reap significant rewards in every aspect of your life.

Fundamentals of Time Management

• Get organized. Set aside time and organize all paper and projects. Block the time on your calendar or PDA.

• Three D's - Delegate, Dump, Do. Get rid of anything that is not in alignment with your personal/professional goals. When paper comes in, create a filing system not a piling system.

• Delegate -- to the appropriate person.

• Dump -- in the nearest recycling bin.

• Do -- Decide which category it falls into (1) Immediate, (2) This Week, (3) Next Week, and (4) When I have the time.

• Do the Right Thing Right. Management expert, Peter Drucker says "doing the right thing right" (effectiveness) is more important than doing things right (efficiency).

• Timing. Determine your most effective time of day and take advantage of your body's natural clock to achieve your tasks. Decide the best time of day to plan out your day (typically, the night before is the better option).

• Expand upon Your To-Do List. Break the tasks into "Must Do" and "Should Do" sections.

• Plan for Interruptions. Build in buffer time. If necessary, take your phone off the hook, and post a ‘do not disturb' sign on your cubicle wall if you don't have an office door.

• Make the most use of waiting time.

• Make your meetings productive.

• Provide a written agenda and include the purpose and objectives of the meeting.

• Start and end on time.

• Have someone take notes and send a summary with the action items to attendees.

• Determine the best way to share the information communicated in the meetings.

• Time Management at Home. Our professional and personal lives are intertwined, so use the same time management skills at home to help maintain control.

Learn to say "no." Taking on too much causes stress.

Time management is not about managing time; it is about setting goals that align with your vision and purpose. Time management is a personal choice. Time is the great equalizer; we all have the same amount. The effective use of time depends upon your attitude, your goals, and your skills.

Related Articles
  The Wrong Things
  Branding Secrets from Genghis Khan, the Mongolian Marketer
  What to keep in your brain.
  Achieve more Through Time Management
  So I Just Wasted 60 Minutes of System Time
  Do MNEs Train More than Domestic Firms?
  Does Availability of Educated Workers Increase Enterprise Training?
  Banks Cant Sell
  20 todo's for Windows 7
  While working from home make the most of your time
  The Dreaded "To Do" List
  Determinants of Enterprise Training: What are the Training Constraints?
  What is Reputation Management?
  MANAGING RISK
  A Designer in the Making: The Early Years of Calvin Klein
  Are you a “Paper Person?” Consider an Electronic To Do List
  Entrepreneur Time Management
  How to take your thought leadership campaign to market: One – strategic business imperative
  Time Management Is the Apex of Goal Setting for Business and Personal Success
  Twitter Quick Tips

Article Tags: achievement level, ample support, attitudes, concept of time, conqueror, desire, feelings, guest author, having time, hr solutions, jerrold, mba, mindset, oxymoron, perception, personal life, sphr, stress, success depends upon, time management system



Related Forum Posts
No B.S. Time Management - A great book I read on Time Management is No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs by Dan Kennedy.
Your Intial Mistakes Business - Hi, When I started my business I had made a lot of mistakes initially. These helped me in learning the art of the trade and today when I look back, I feel that these mistakes were quite silly. I had made my learnings then and those learnings have helped me time and again. Some of the mistakes I made were - i. Wrong Time Management ii. Wasting money on glossy Brochures and Business cards iii. Believing what they taught me at school was 100% correct iv. Giving too much when it was not required...... I would like to find out what have been your faltering moments in Business when you had started and what/how did they help you grow. Regards
Re: UPDATES: New Campaign! New Layout! New Ideas! - We've also expanded the list for Contest and All-Time Leaders. It's great to now see David and Yinka on the All Time list and recognize the contributions they've made to the forums!
Re: 365 Foolish Mistakes Smart Managers Make - [quote="litekepr":2v18lglp]This morning's Google Alert held a pleasant surprise. WORTH MENTIONING A List of New Books Compiled by The Management and Government Information Center (MAGIC) Chinn Park Regional Library 703-792-4880Summer 2007 Indicates titles relating to the FISH Philosophy 365 Foolish Mistakes Smart Managers Make Every Day: How and Why to Avoid Them by Shri L. Henkel, 2006 interesting. Is anyone else here familiar with the FISH philosphy? i[/quote:2v18lglp] Congrats on the mention of your book! Hopefully it will drive up sales! For myself, I don't really care for their acronym... MAGIC. Gives people the subtle impression that good things happen at the snap of a finger instead of lots of hard work!
Re: Email autoresponder messages: what delivery intervals? - Sub-lists are primarily created around the products I own. If my list A was about one topic, I will not promote anything to that list about another topic until I first have them opt-in to another list. Example of this is, let's say you were interested in internet marketing and you opted-in to a list for driving traffic (List A). I will not send information about product creation tips to that list unless I first have you opt-in for another list (List B). These two may be close enough so that might not be an issue, but what I find is most internet marketers drive all their promotions to their one and only list they own. So one day, it's about teaching mom-pop offline businesses about marketing, another day about oh let's market on Facebook, next day about, hey I found great product on promoting stuff on Mobile or cell phones, next week, let's talk about Amazon's Kindle, then Pinterest... You get what I mean. If I have to do above, it will be after subscribers decided not to buy any of my own products. Then I will send other promos to that list. But I think by minimum, it's good to create sub-lists for buyers of your own products so that you can send more advanced and higher end items exclusive to that list.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

10 Golden rules to survive the Global Crisis

Convening a focus group for a niche product

Angel Investors Where Are You?

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.