Time Management Ideas to Help You Organise Your Life

"Time Management Ideas" contributed by Juliet du Preez

These days the world can become quite hectic and life can easily seem to spin out of control.

Time management techniques are effective in getting your life back in order.

See if some of these typical time management ideas grab you (even if your life seems manageable at the moment):

Take a Look at Your Life As It Stands

Go through each of these areas in your life and really consider how you are currently running your life:

• Routine
• Habits
• Practices
• Typical day
• Typical week

What does it look like? Is there room for improvement?

Let’s use myself as an example and focus on my routine:

I work from home and I can see that my work hours have been shifting from starting fairly early and finishing fairly early, to starting later and finishing the day later. I may be working the same number of hours, but, the shift in work time is definitely not the best for me. I am fresher in the morning, so my concentration is better and, I sleep more peacefully if I have a good period of relaxation in the evenings. Also, I tend to “waste” the extra time that I now have before I start work, whereas in the evenings I would use it on hobbies and specific activities that I enjoy.

What do I need? More self-control and a set starting time.

A common problem when it comes to life practices is that people check their e-mail almost constantly throughout the day. This can really make your mind spin – especially if you address each e-mail as it arrives in your inbox. Rather set a time to check and handle your e-mail once or twice a day.

What Is Important?

As we whirl through life and more and more things arrive on our doorsteps grasping for our attention, we often become lost in a sea of “to-dos”. We need a regular life clean-up where we stop all of the activities and drop all of the unnecessary things that distract us and take away our energy.

Are you really enjoying those classes you started? Why do you sift through all of the junk mail, isn’t it a waste of time? Are you truly going to save money by spending the time shopping around for bargains – do you need to?

What is dead wood and what do you really want in your life?

Starting Over

Sometimes we have a task or a goal and it’s become, well, complicated. Perhaps we’ve been attacking it in spurts, or the situation has changed over time or…whatever. Occasionally it is better to start from scratch. We may feel as if we have wasted a great deal of time and effort, but, you know what? It may take more time to push forward, it may be unpleasant to move on in this way and it may never be achieved. Start again with a better, more effective plan. A fresh slate can often also spark new motivation.

Plan

This is probably the cornerstone of time management. It is just as important in your life as a whole. You need a plan; otherwise you are likely to wonder around fairly aimlessly. You need a plan in order to set and achieve goals. You need a plan in order to feel motivated, excited and enjoy life.

If you have what you want in your life, a plan can make sure you keep it; if you don’t have what you want, a plan can help you to get it.

For example, perhaps you exercise daily and it is important to you. Now you start a new job which is more demanding; what do you need to do to keep up your exercise regime?

Plan how you would like each day to be. It doesn’t mean you have to lose flexibility; make sure that you plan for that too. Work towards living this life plan.

These time management ideas are well suited for sorting out some of the chaos that we can get ourselves into. Using set methodologies to get organised enables us to experience the wonder of life.

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