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 How much is your time worth?
How to Achieve More With Your TimeIntroductionThis set of articles explains Time Management. Time Management is a set of related common-sense skills that help you to use your time in the most effective and productive way possible. By using Time Management skills you can learn to: - Determine which of the things you do are important, and which can be dropped
- Use your time in the most effective way possible
- Increase the time in which you can work
- Control the distractions that waste your time and break your flow
- Increase your effectiveness and reduce stress
By becoming more effective in your use of working time, you can reduce stress by:- being more in control of what you do
- being productive, and secure in your job because of this
- enjoying what you do
- giving yourself more quality time to relax and enjoy life outside work.
The Central Shift in AttitudeAt the heart of the subject is a simple, but obvious, shift in focus:Concentrate on results, not on being busy Many people spend their days in a frenzy of activity, but achieve very little because they are not concentrating on the right things. This is neatly summed up in the Pareto Principle*, or the 80/20 rule. This states that typically 80% of unfocussed effort generates only 20% of results, and that the remaining 80% of results are achieved with only 20% of the effort. By applying time management, including planning, we aim to change this to ensure that we concentrate as much of our effort as possible on the high payoff tasks. This ensures that we achieve the greatest payoff possible with our investment of time. Why don't people manage their time?Despite the benefits of time management, very many people do not use it. This can be because:- they don't know about it
- they are too lazy to plan
- they enjoy the adrenaline buzz of meeting tight deadlines
- they enjoy crisis management
The problem with crisis management and tight deadlines is that while they can be fun, often they can lead to high levels of stress, a disrupted private life, tiredness and, occasionally, to failure of projects.Mind Tools Time ManagementThis section on time management shows you how use your time in the most effective way possible. It concentrates on the following 'how to' areas: - Evaluating your use of time
- Focussing on your priorities
- Planning for effective use of time
- Using time more effectively
- Creating more time
- Avoiding distractions
Following this we explain some of the tools that help in time management: - The Activity Log
- Delegation
- SWOT
- Reading Skills
- Writing Skills
- Phone Skills
- Prioritised To Do
- Time assessment, and PERT
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