Success in almost any endeavor that lasts for longer than a spit second takes some form of time management. There is an action to be done, and there’s a time in which to do it. For your daily planning, having a good grasp of time management is essential. Without that, you might well create a plan, but it will be worth little more than the paper it’s printed on.
A quite common mistake made when people plan is simply not being realistic enough about how much time they have to do it. This can be a big glaring mistake, like allotting an hour’s slot for something that clearly takes at least two. Or it can be more practicalmissteps such as failing to factor in the time taken to drive to a location or assuming that what you could do in an hour in the morning you can also do late in the evening after a day’s work.
Such considerations are what time management is all about. Furthermore, in many ways, time management is what planning is all about. The only way you can put tasks onto a plan is if you know how long they take.
Time Periods
If you are new to planning and time management, you might well think that planning things in such minute detail is difficult, and perhaps it is at first. Nevertheless, the correct way round is to organize your shorter tasks first, then the longer ones that take more than a day, and right the way up to your long-term goals. At that point, you could say you’re organizing your time effectively. Nonetheless, it’s clear to see how this can be a bit of a daunting task.
Tools of the Trade
There are also many tools that you can make use of to help you do so effectively as well as a range of a new software innovations. However, sometimes you can come across organization apps that simply require too much input from you, on a daily basis, and are ultimately complicated and unwieldly. A solid visualization of some long-term goals and a daily planner is all you really need to get started.
Next Level Daily, producers of a PDF daily planner, note that the integration of communication and digital technology has one great advantage: it makes your planner more easily editable and portable. But a planner should be foremost for consulting and so if you find yourself constantly inputting data into the planner, this a bad sign.
Time Management Tips
So, with that out of the way, here follows some of the top time management tips which you can apply when planning – and when doing.
Cut Out Distractions
If you allot yourself a certain amount of time for a task, you will need to assume that you are actually completing the task during that time.Otherwise, your planner means little. Avoid the things that might distract you when you should be working.
Be Realistic About Times Slots
But then again, sometimes a time slot isn’t realistic precisely because you are unable to work solidly for that time. The solution? Make a bigger timeslot. This will ultimately provide you with a more honest daily plan.
Plan Far Ahead
Specifically, you should consider your long-term goals and a certain time you wish to have them completed by. After that, it is all about how you work towards it on an incremental basis. Your planner should at least be organized on the timescales of each increment.
Fail to prepare and you prepare to fail, as the saying goes. Still, you’ll need good time management if that preparation is going to be worth anything at all.