Effective Time Management Techniques

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Are you using your smart phone or a tablet pc to read this article right now? If yes, are you reading it while waiting for someone, or while riding on a subway or a taxi cab? If yes, then congratulations, you’re already practicing one of the effective time management techniques that we will talk about today. For those of you who are unclear on what I just said, let me elaborate. We have a lot of free time, but they’re scattered all throughout our day. Those are the times when we’re waiting in line for our morning coffee, or the 5 minutes we have to wait for our food to be cooked inside the microwave. These moments spent on waiting can be put to good use. You can read a book about business inspirations, call people that you have to call, or read an article here at Martial Arts Business Magazine. Whatever you do, put those moments to good use.

Another technique is to make lists, so grab a pencil or a pen and a trusty notebook. Write all the things that you need to do and the deadlines for each. Appoint days on when you need to do important things. Label them for priority and urgency. You can make plans and lists for tomorrow, next week, next month, and the whole year. The more you write the more organized you’ll become. Successful people plan ahead so do as successful people do.

Tickler files are also excellent ways to keep notes on time-sensitive tasks that you may have. You can do it the old fashioned way by having a lot of folders color coordinated or dated. They can include to-do lists, plain tickets, bills, invoices, and any kind of reminders. You can also try tickler file apps for your tablet or your smart phone. Whatever method you decide on whether digital, virtual, or physical, having different ways to organize your tasks is very important.

Aside from lists and tickler files, you can also use this technique to save time. If you can, do everything in your power to avoid meetings. I’m sure you’ve been in one meeting, and you’ve might have noticed that nothing really happens and nothing gets done. People come to meetings because they can sit at the corner and not say a peep, just using their phones and texting people on the outside world. Other people use meetings to get attention. If you have to head up a meeting, make it brief and focused. If you’re not going to facilitate it, do your best to avoid it.

To end, I will leave you with this. There is no such thing as “no time”. All of us are given with the same hours for the day and the same days for the week. We run out of time because we like to procrastinate. We can discipline ourselves to the point of having complete control of our will power. When we reach the point of saying no to the little urges that waste our time, we will surely have all the time that we want.

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