Improve Your Time Management Skills
Welcome to the 25-Hour Day!
Time management is a catch-all phrase to describe how we use our most precious resource – time.
All of us have 24 hours in a day, but why are some people so much more productive during those 24 hours than others?
Well, they have simply mastered their time management skills.
Many of us run around with a seemingly endless supply of work that we haven’t yet gotten to.
Time management skills are important to everyone. They are critically important to the homebased business entrepreneur. It can, in fact, mean the difference between the success or failure of your work at home enterprise.
I’m an author, educational consultant, wife, mother of five children, college admissions consultant, and tutor who has operated several work at home businesses, so I know a bit about successful ways to improve your time management skills. I may be one of the original multi-taskers, so I’ll let you in on my favorite time-management secrets.
Most of us can accomplish a great deal if we can add as little as an extra hour a day to our productive time. I’m going to show you how you can gain even more than an hour. So here it is – 7 ways to improve your time management skills.
1. Sleep Less. – According to a survey of 18 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the average American sleeps 8.5 hours per day. The average healthy adult only requires 7-8 hours of sleep per 24-hour cycle. If we simply slept less, we could gain an hour of productive time. Some of our most effective citizens get by on much less sleep. I understand that
2. Limit your email reading. This is another way to improve your time management skills. Follow a vacation schedule for email reading … especially when you have big projects to do. Email reading has become a phenomenal time waster. Scan for crucial emails and let the other just sit there. Only read and respond to the essential emails until you get “to do list” down to a manageable size..
3. Stop Talking on the Phone So Much. Limit your telephone conversations. If you must talk on the telephone, please reduce the number of minutes you talk. Be like a lawyer and set a time. Talk up to the specified time and no longer.
2. Limit your email reading. This is another way to improve your time management skills. Follow a vacation schedule for email reading … especially when you have big projects to do. Email reading has become a phenomenal time waster. Scan for crucial emails and let the other just sit there. Only read and respond to the essential emails until you get “to do list” down to a manageable size..
3. Stop Talking on the Phone So Much. Limit your telephone conversations. If you must talk on the telephone, please reduce the number of minutes you talk. Be like a lawyer and set a time. Talk up to the specified time and no longer.
4. Reduce TV watching time. Busy people cannot afford to watch too much TV. I used to joke that I could spend an hour watching “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” or I could spend that hour building my business so that later on I could live “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”. Would you rather watch it or live it?
5. Limit Your Shopping Trips. Another way to improve time management skills - Schedule your errands so that you can go to several stores in one outing. This saves time, gas, and money.
6. Reduce time spent on social media sites. Chatting on social media sites is fun and addictive. Browse your favorite sites for a few minutes everyday. Respond to the few items that you must deal with. Then go on with your work.
7. Outsource. Of the top 7 ways to improve your time management skills, this is probably the most difficult to implement. It is however, probably the best time saver.
Delegate the tasks that are repetitive – high tech and low touch – if they cannot be automated. Delegate any task that does not require your personal attention. Delegate the work that you just can’t seem to get to.
So, there you have it - 7 ways to improve your time management skills. You’ve gained an extra hour or more of productive time. Now you can relax and kick back with your special someone. You’ve earned it!
5. Limit Your Shopping Trips. Another way to improve time management skills - Schedule your errands so that you can go to several stores in one outing. This saves time, gas, and money.
6. Reduce time spent on social media sites. Chatting on social media sites is fun and addictive. Browse your favorite sites for a few minutes everyday. Respond to the few items that you must deal with. Then go on with your work.
7. Outsource. Of the top 7 ways to improve your time management skills, this is probably the most difficult to implement. It is however, probably the best time saver.
Delegate the tasks that are repetitive – high tech and low touch – if they cannot be automated. Delegate any task that does not require your personal attention. Delegate the work that you just can’t seem to get to.
So, there you have it - 7 ways to improve your time management skills. You’ve gained an extra hour or more of productive time. Now you can relax and kick back with your special someone. You’ve earned it!
