Common Time Management Mistakes

Time management is a skill and there are many ways to sharpen this skill. Yet, there are certain methods of time management practised that cause your time to slip away unutilized rather than helping in saving it. Here is an eye opening article for some of the most common time management mistakes in practise.

Too much of Planning

It is good to make the "to-do" list. Also, it is a good idea to maintain an excel sheet of your work every day but scribbling a notebook with pen with how every hour of your day is spent is definitely not appropriate.

Too much of planning wastes time. You will need to use your sensibility to understand how the planning should be done. You cannot go on making chart about what you are going to do in the after-hours or re-write time and again the things that need to be done during the day. It will leave less time for you to do some actions.

Hence, stick to a basic planning procedure for the day, month, etc and do not over-do it.

Not Considering Logic

There is a joke which is said to distinguish between an intelligent person and a logical person. An intelligent person once asked a question that if one woman takes 9 months to deliver one baby then why cannot 9 women work together and produce a baby in one month. On the other hand, a logical person is well aware that the question is not worth thinking upon let alone asking someone.

Likewise, time management requires application of logic. Take only that much works in your hand that can be delivered in best quality. While making a time table remember that you are but a human and you will need a couple of minutes to relax. You will be drinking water, eating meal and going to washroom. Even if you can control the pin of your wrist watch you cannot control time.

There will be time that you have to wait for the lift, bus, taxi, dentist list, etc. Be a little flexible.

Unnecessary Multitasking

It sounds cool to do more than 2 tasks simultaneously in any given time but what about efficiency? Most of the people think that by multitasking they will manage to produce more work.

The simple example of it can be observed in an office. During lunch time a man do editing of a certain report with the one hand while chewing onto his sandwich (because it is lunch time), is attending a call explaining a certain figure to the person on the other end. In between he is using the other hand to right down what he wants to do on the weekend.

Now, the phone call could have been combined with any of the tasks but why write about the weekend party plan? Most of the psychologists agree that doing one task at a time with full concentration helps in increasing the work quality within a small time frame. Also, multi-tasking should only be performed if necessary.

Lack of Balance in Life

The idiom, "all work no play makes Jack a dull boy" has not been said without any reason. You will need to introduce a balance between your personal and professional life. 24/7 life too may keep you high but not for long. It will leave you exhausted as a person. Hence, divide your day or keep certain days just for work and certain just for fun.

Time management is a trick but you need not to be a magician to perform it. Simply recognize your priorities and make an action plan accordingly.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Common-Time-Management-Mistakes&id=9498562

Why Is Focus a Key to Being Successful?

We no more have the luxury of choosing one thing from a long list of things that need our attention and just concentrate on that while ignoring everything else. In today's time we have to multi-task. Only when we give equal, and sometimes simultaneous attention to things can they be done in time to meet the deadlines.

Multi-tasking can lead to two obvious results- you either make a mess of everything or you don't. It's really that simple. If you have no order, in what could seem like a chaos to others, you can easily get lost. By not having a timetable where you spend some time doing a little bit of everything you might end up doing more than two things at the same time and destroying everything. What is really important, rather a basic necessity in handling all your daily tasks is focus.

Say for example you have to do laundry, cook food, clean your house and attend to an office project. When you allot some time to all your tasks you must refrain from mixing it all up. Even when you're sitting with your project but thinking about what dinner to cook or what gifts to buy for a friend's birthday, you could end up compromising on your work at hand.

In fact, having to focus can mean something as simple as not checking your phone every five minutes when you're studying. If you are a student, these learning years build the foundation of your life. You are still a soft lump of mud and can shape yourself however you like. Focus is one of the most important qualities you must incorporate in life. It is the key to success. You will realise that if you don't get distracted by the television, cell phone, doorbell or any such things, you can finish the task at hand more quickly than you would if you're chatting with your friends.

A big advantage of focusing that you will experience is that it makes your thoughts flow very smoothly. When I am writing this piece right now, this is all I am concentrating on which is allowing me to channel my thoughts in a smooth manner. I have the option of watching a movie while working on this and I can tell myself that the movie is just for some background noise. But in reality half my attention is on the movie and I could end up taking twice as long in writing the same article.

When you're feeling ill doctors ask you to focus on getting better? Why do you think they do that? It is because when you focus on positivity and getting healthy again your body channels all its energy, nutrients and vitamins in fighting the illness and you can recover in no time.

We have seen so many benefits of focusing but we haven't explored the ways in which we can actually learn how to focus. Here are some quick and easy ways in which you can improve your power of focus-

• Concentrate on one thing at a time.

• Always know your priorities.

• Pick 2-3 important tasks every day.

• Stay away from distractors when you are working.

• Take breaks regularly to relax your mind and don't forget to give yourself some rewards

• Connect with people who fill your life with positivity, meaning and passion.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-Is-Focus-a-Key-to-Being-Successful?&id=9433813

5 Most Common Distractions Many People Are Challenged With Every Single Day

We live in a world where almost everyone is in a rush - whether it's getting to a meeting venue on time, submitting work notes on schedule, beating traffic so as not be late to work or school - these are just some of the common scenarios that mirror how hectic our schedule have become. With so many things to do in 24 - hours, we seldom get the chance of getting everything done. When did things get so complicated???

Sometimes you have to sit back and ask yourself honestly: When was the last time you felt good because you were able to clear out your to do list? Can't remember? That's not surprising at all.

Now, if we've been spending hours rushing to get from one meeting to another or working from one project to the next, why is it that we never ever get to finish something up? This is because there are so many distractions in our world now and we are constantly multi tasking. Ultra productive people know that in order to accomplish a massive amount and, importantly, to feel great about their accomplishment & balanced, you have to be single minded in your approach. Eliminate distractions so we can focus on completing the things which really matter.

Here are what I know to be some of the most common distractions many people are challenged with every single day.

#1 Unnecessary Meetings

You know there is a problem in our working culture when there are books out now called 'Death By Meeting'. This is a book by Patrick Lencioni and it is awesome. Have you ever wondered how much time you have wasted being in meetings where your attendance seemed pointless or a waste of time? Where it just seems to be a meeting for the sake of a meeting which goes on for ages made up of mostly dribble and then at the end no real actionable items coming out of it?

Shoot me now. Here are some tips to make meetings effective:

Make sure there is a point and a clear desired outcome that must be reached before you go into the meeting

Try having stand up meetings

Set a time limit, where as soon as that time is up, everyone gets up and leaves - there is nothing like a bit of pressure to get a result

Ask: do I really need to be involved in this meeting?

Ask for the agenda prior to the meeting and that the pre-read materials be sent to you

#2 Email

We are in a culture now where people expect instant responses. Someone sends an email and if you don't respond within 10 minutes they are wondering if you are OK? This is a productivity killer. How many times a day do you check your email, honestly? 10 times a day, 20? Is it open all the time, just desperately waiting for that next earth shattering email to arrive? Seriously, most emails are a waste of time and don't get me started on the need for people to cc the entire world in on emails.

Top tips:

Set specific times each day where it is only then that you check email. For me it is 11am in the morning and 3pm in the afternoon and I check it for about 30 minutes at a time.

Condition others not to expect instantaneous responses from you (unless this is your job of course). If you don't condition others, they will expect you to live by their conditions

Set up rules and filters

Get someone else to check them for you. I have a virtual assistant who manages my email for me and sorts them into one of four boxes: Action, review, Archive, delete. I have given her a clear set of rules to follow and it clears the clutter. (Stay tuned for a later blog on how to do this effectively)

Finally, turn off that bloody pop up you've got mail or the 'ding' or the little envelope. As soon as it is there, you know you can't help but check it. Curiosity will get the better of you

#3 Social Media Sites

Can't resist looking at your phone or logging in to your pc to check your Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube? Social media is fun but it can be a huge time-waster especially when you begin to lose track of how much time you spend updating people with your status posts, reading your timeline or tweeting people back.

You can help minimize the time you spend with social media by designating a set amount of time each day for online social sites.

In 15-20 minutes, you can update your status or send a few tweets and once the time is over, log-out so you don't get distracted by social media notifications and start working.

It will take a lot of self-control to accomplish this, you know it will, but you will thank yourself for practicing restraint especially after you plough through one project to another.

#4 Office Chit-Chat and Random Distractions

Ever noticed how a 5 minute small-talk with a co-worker can stretch into 30 minutes, even a full hour? There is nothing wrong with socializing but when it begins to eat up your time and affect your productivity, then you have to do something about it. Minimize office chit-chat by communicating to colleagues your need for focus time. Hang a sign/symbol on your doorknob or outside your cubicle to discourage people from chatting with you and to send a signal that this isn't a good time to interrupt your work and learn this phrase:

"Bill, I would love to talk to you, but I have an urgent deadline right now, can we chat later?"

People will tend to leave you alone when you say you have something urgent to complete with a deadline. We are conditioned to respond to urgency in this day and age.

#5 Multi Tasking

I should really have this at the top. How big is your to-do list? Massive I bet, if you are like most people. Now I actually don't like to do-lists, they are ineffective and can be very overwhelming, there are much better systems based on outcomes, values and priorities, but this is for another time. Still, even this is better than nothing for most people who just let all of the things they have to get done rattle around endlessly in their heads and live in this constant state of reaction and drama.

I am only going to give you one tip here. There are many more I can add but I reckon that this is so vital that if you did it, it could completely change your life. It is one question:

"What is the one thing I could do right now, that if I did it and made major progress would do more to advance me in my life and career than anything else? "

Now, do that one thing.

Then, you guessed it, ask the same question again, and do that one thing.

Then ask again 

You get the point right????

If you let them, these distractions will suck away a major portion of your life and can hold you back from reaching your potential in work and in life.

Here are the 3 real themes to practice in your life:

Focus on simplicity and taking strategic action on one thing at a time.

Set up your environment around you and systems to eliminate distractions and ensure you stay on track.

Remember, that you are not playing life like most people are, you are extraordinary and are not going to follow like a sheep what everyone else does. So condition the people around you to your way of working. If you don't, they will expect you to conform to their way and society's norms which are totally ineffective.

One of the greatest things I learned when I first started out on my growth journey at a young age was to become ultra productive and it is a skill set and habit which has taken me a long, long way and allowed me to outperform the majority of others around me. Any successful person loves time management. Do yourself a favour and become a time master.

http://ezinearticles.com/?5-Most-Common-Distractions-Many-People-Are-Challenged-With-Every-Single-Day&id=8961581

Busy People - Multiple Professions and Multi-Tasking

Introduction

Many people, like me, must have noticed that people seem to be very busy indeed nowadays. They seem to; be a lot busier than even, say, 20 years ago. So much so that many that I know, for instance, don't even have any time to talk to me or anyone else! When I reflect upon this, my thoughts ponder on the fact that I, and everybody I know, do a huge variety of different things, and often I think that it's as though they have a number of occupations (though normally only being paid for one, of course) - a multitude of professions!

One Person - Many Professions

On a day to day basis we all do a number of different things, like cook, clean, look after our children, drive our car etc etc. And when looked at in a different way one can say that one person by him or herself has many professions, they are a cook, cleaner. child-minder, driver etc etc. All this on top of their normal paid profession, and so it's small wonder they're all so busy for one thing!

We are taught, conventionally and traditionally, that we benefit from doing all these tasks ourselves as much as possible, mainly because we can save some money that way. An obvious example might be that most of us are not rich enough to employ a chauffeur to drive our car.

But, in reality, I personally think that we'd all be better off if we let people who do these tasks as a profession, take care of such jobs more often.

Let the Professionals do more of our Tasks

For example, if married couples with small children were to use the services of child-minders more often, then they would have some 'quality' time to spend with each other. Similarly, if they were to order food from outside more often, then this could save a significant amount of time on cooking - quality time they could spend on their children, perhaps.

How about if people decided to 'get rid' of their cars and use cab services more often, as well as other forms of public transport. As a result there'd be quite a few advantages such the stress of driving alleviated, the cost of keeping a car eliminated, less congestion on roads and less pollution just to mention a few. There might well be some disadvantages though, like a slump in car manufacturing and the inevitable lay-offs of car workers, but I believe these will be insignificant as compared to the advantages.

More Jobs Created

If we used these types of services more often eg. take-aways, cabs, cleaners etc, then there would be advantages all-round. An obvious one is that we would relieve the stress and save the time of doing it ourselves, ie there'd be less tension and bother, plus more free time for us all. Another is that more jobs would be created in the service sector - more cab drivers, more workers in the take-away food industry etc etc.

I think if more people were to adopt this philosophy of everyday living then society would generally become more stress-free and relaxed, and we would be closer to a utopian life!

http://ezinearticles.com/?Busy-People---Multiple-Professions-and-Multi-Tasking&id=9364254

Have Trouble Concentrating? Try These Suggestions.

                  

We all know the feeling of being overwhelmed, of being beset by distractions.

Too many things clamour for your attention. People are trying to reach you, by phone, email, text, Twitter, or old-fashioned yelling up the stairs. Colleagues interrupt. You need to update, check in, post, or ping. Ads jump at you from the most unlikely places. Devices buzz, ring, chirp, and vibrate.

There are steps you might consider to quiet the buzz in your brain – even if you don’t want to take up meditation.

In addition to feeling calmer and more focused, you’ll probably be more efficient, too. Turns out that people aren’t very good at thinking about two things at once. One study showed that when people were interrupted to respond to email or IM, it took about 15 minutes for them to resume a serious mental task.

So consider taking steps like these, at least occasionally. They may not all work for you, but you may find a few that will help you focus.

1. If you keep the TV, radio, or music turned on in the background – while you’re getting dressed, say – turn it off. Some people love background noise, but I find it very draining.

2. I have a sticky note in my bedroom that reads, “Quiet mind.”Whenever I see it, I drop my shoulders, relax my jaw, and try to smooth out my thoughts. It actually works.

3. Organize space so it’s attractive, well organized, and well lit. One of my most important Secrets of Adulthood: Outer order contributes to inner calm.

4. Cut down on the multi-tasking. Don’t talk on the phone while you’re doing dishes, don’t check your email while you listen to a conference call, don’t sort the mail while your child explains the school project that’s due next week.

5. Turn your cell phone ringer off. Hearing your cell phone ring – or even imagining that you’re hearing it ring – is a big source of jumpiness.

6. Take a break from doing errands. Keep a list, but don’t try to cram them in throughout your day.

7. Use the internet only to look up specific pieces of information; no jumping from link to link, no browsing.

8. Turn off your email for some parts of the day.

9. Stop counting. In her book The Creative Habit, Twyla Tharp mentioned an interesting approach: occasionally, for a week, she’d “stop counting.” She avoided looking at clocks, contracts, bank statements, bathroom scales, or anything to do with numbers, in order to let the other part of her brain take over.

10. Exercise. If I don’t exercise regularly, I’m too jumpy and restless to sit still and concentrate. I keep popping up and down. It’s true that taking regular breaks is good for focus — but within limits! (Here are some tips for getting regular exercise.)

11. Flee temptation. I find it hard to work in my home office, because my family, the phone, my email, and the internet constantly beguile me away from my work. So when I have serious writing to do, I go to a library near my apartment which has a study room with a strict rule of silence.

It’s important to have space in which to think. Yesterday, I overheard someone complain, “My phone was dead, so I was so bored during my cab ride home. I just had to sit there.”

There are few things that I love more than looking out the window of a car, train, or bus. One day, when I was gazing out of a bus window, I was struck by a thought: “What do I want out of life?” “Well,” I thought, “I want to be happy.” It occurred to me that I never thought about whether I was happy or not, or how I could be happier, or even what it meant to be happy.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/237645