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Time Management Tips that really work!

Written by: Karen Parsons

Article Overview: Why are Time Management Tips important? If done effectively they should give you more unscheduled time. Time to relax, reflect and reconnect with friends, family and your authentic self. Sometimes we are so used to doing things the same way that we miss the opportunity to streamline processes that can make us more efficient! The following Time Management Tips are meant to help!

Time Management Tips that really work!

Please make a list of what it is that you do each day. Write down everything. When you get up in the morning, what do you do? When you get ready for work, what does that consist of? What do you do all day? What does your bedtime regime consist of?

As you look through the list, think of ways that you could be more efficient with what you do.

Analyze what it is that you could stop doing or give up.

The following Time Management Tips may help!

Could you start taking the train or bus to work? Freeing yourself some time for catching up on work-related reading, computer work or just unwinding with that book you never have time to finish.

If you must drive to work could you program the people you need to call into your phone and call them on route (with a headset or hands free)?

You can download audio books onto your MP3 or burn them on CD’s. You can also get audio books at the library or bookstore. There are all kinds of them, from learning a new language to listening to an inspirational or motivational story!

If you have a secretary or assistant you can ask them to update you or share ideas with you on a recording device so that you can listen to them while driving and make voice memos back to them. You can also use the quiet time in the car to record your own ideas and strategies. This method has saved me a lot of time. I trained my assistant to only interrupt me with information that couldn't wait. The rest of the information she would summarize on tape for me and I would listen to it on the way home. While listening I would record my feedback for her on another recording device and in the morning she would listen to it and have the information she needed for that day!

In my business it is important to constantly read and learn new things so I always try and bring a book or something I can learn from with me when I am waiting in line at the bank or the doctors office etc…

For your next computer get a dual-core processor so you don’t have to wait while you are doing a virus scan or downloading something. You can multi-task. I find this feature very helpful.

With the invention of Voicemail very few people actually answer their business phones anymore therefore making it very difficult to connect with someone. So most of us tend to play a lot of telephone tag. It is a waste of time and can get frustrating for both parties. Instead, set up a specific time that the two of you can speak. Although, it may not work out in every instance, it has saved me an enormous amount of time.

When you are talking on the phone whether it is personal or business are you using a hands free headset? This way you can do other things at the same time. Like input information into your computer that the client is sharing with you. Or at home you can talk to a friend while making dinner or cleaning up.

Almost every business professional I deal with complains about the amount of emails they receive on a daily basis. Make sure you put a Spam filter on your email. You can also get a Spam feature that sends an automatic reply to emails sent from people who are not in your contact list. They are asked politely to fill out some more information and if it isn’t that important most people will not reply.

Secondly, if you find that you are replying to multiple emails with the same type of information, create a standard reply that you can customize if needed.

Thirdly, educate people who send you emails, what is important to you and what you don't need to be copied on.

Fourthly, do your best to prioritize them.

Making mistakes can take up a lot of unnecessary time. When it is important to proofread a document or take instructions, stop what you are doing, clear your head and focus specifically on that task.


Many people say they don’t have the opportunity to exercise. If you play golf, make sure you walk the course! Walk to work if possible. Ride your bike to work if possible. Always take the stairs. Incorporate your exercise into your family routine, do sports together, take classes together. Push the stroller with roller blades on, walk the dog at a quick pace!

Put less into your day. Learn to say NO!

If you are a parent and you find that you are racing with your children from one class to the next; stop and analyze whether it is really necessary for your children to be enrolled in so many things. Children need downtime and time for creative and unstructured play.

Do you watch too much television? If so turn it off and you will have lots more time to do what you want.

Can you afford a Cleaning person?

Can you get a live-in Nanny who takes care of your house, does all the cooking and is there to baby sit your children or take care of elderly parents? It is far less expensive than you would think. It can actually cost more not to have one when you consider the price of daycare, driving to daycare, hiring babysitters and cleaning persons. Also, there is the cost to consider of your personal well-being. When you are haggard and run down it will eventually catch up with you and create more of a burden, so be proactive!

Can you afford to hire a gardener or a student to cut your lawn?

Learn how to unbutton your pants on the way to the bathroom?

Read magazines or work-related information while at a red light?

Learn how to dial the phone or text without looking so you can talk to your friends or colleagues at the same time?

Okay so the last three are a joke! But the sad truth is that I used to do these things and more! If you don’t see the problem with this then you have a problem!

If you take efficiency to the extreme like I did then you can become rigid and irritable when things don’t go as planned. Things won’t always work out to fit into your nicely laid out schedule. Just as you are running out the door, your child will get sick or you spill your coffee on your clothes and have to change. Then you find that your car has a flat and so on.

You don’t want to lose your spontaneity and light-heartedness and allow these or any other Time Management Tips to become your ruler.

Don’t try to fill every last minute with something that you deem is useful.

Make sure you put aside at least a half a day per week where you don’t have anything scheduled. You don’t wear a watch; you don’t look at a clock and maybe you just stay in your pajamas. Also, make sure that there are pockets of time in your day, everyday, where you can sit quietly and just relax with no distractions.

Now for the most important of all Time Management Tips!

All of these ideas are beneficial but if you really want to maximize the advantages of these Time Management Tips, you need to change your definition of Time Management. To change this you need to shift from being time-centric to being timeless. When you achieve this time is no longer something you never have enough of or something that you need to manage!

Related Articles
  Bookkeeping Tips on Tips
  Time Management is an Oxymoron
  Effective Time Management Strategies
  Time Management in an Instant by Karen Leland and Keith Bailey
  Happy About an Extra Hour Every Day by Nicolas Soergel

Article Tags: organization, personal development, productivity, self help, time management tips



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