4 Time Management Techniques

4 time management techniques to boost your time management skills and reduce stress. These time management lessons will give you different time management strategies to take control today.

Do you want to supercharge your time management?

If you feel you have to much to do and not enough time then these 4 time management techniques may be beneficial to you.

My clients have told me that they have helped them to organize and plan their day, stay focused on priorities, and minimize disruptions.

Objectively track and analyze your time

Do you feel busy and overwhelmed? You know something has to change but you just don't know what.

This is a very common time management problem - typical symptoms may include getting through only getting through half a to do list each day, or feeling pressured and stressed by a lack of time.

Often trying to fix a time management problem without objective data can be a little like "pinning the tail on the donkey".... a very hit and miss affair.

One time management technique is to collect objective data on your time usage.

This will help you to identify any time wasters or ways that you can use your time more effectively.

The proverb that "You can't fix an issue until you have identified the problem" is true of time management also.

Download a time management log to collect objective data on your time usage.

Prioritize and do first things first

It is not unusual to feel overwhelmed.

Perhaps you have too much to do and not enough time. Or are there so many things to do that you don't know what to tackle first?

My clients often report that on any one day they may work on a report, visit a client, have meetings, and organize an event.

If things are hectic and your to do list is as long as your arm then take charge.

You can't possibly to everything so you are going to have to organize your time and prioritize your tasks.

Prioritizing your work is one of the most important time management techniques.

There are a number of ways to do this and all involve planning.

So the question is "what type of planning?"

There is project planning and there is long-term planning - such as constructing a goal setting plan.

But probably what will be the most help in the short term is a weekly plan that funnels down into your daily to do list.

I sometimes use this weekly planner or just use a personal organizer, the important thing is to have a snapshot of your week on paper.

Having a weekly plan helps you know where the bottlenecks of activity are, allows you to organize your time and resources.

Importantly by drawing up a weekly plan you also develop a time management schedule which will boost your time management skills.

On Sunday night plan the things that you need to do this week and then funnel this down into a daily prioritized to-do list.

Make sure that you are doing the highest priority tasks on your to-do list.

The importance of delegation

Often my clients tell me that that they have too much to do. When I ask "well why not prioritize" they respond that "everything is important".

When I have delved a bit deeper they often tell me that they have employees that can help out but they are busy but I think they are busy doing the wrong things."

This may be the perfect time to delegate to your employees.

Delegation is one of these time management techniques that is often talked about but rarely used effectively.

Delegation not only frees up your time, but if done well, can be a great training opportunity for your employees!

Since your colleagues are busy doing things that you (the boss) feel are not so important, this may be the time to delegate and empower your employees to take on more responsibility.

Here are some steps to effective delegation.

Getting Things Done Time Management Technique

Do you have so much to do and don't know where to start? Do you feel overwhelmed with everything that you have to do?

Here it is important to apply the Getting Things Done time management technique.

For something like this I find a good thing to do is to get everything down on paper.

Get all the things that are floating around in your head, all the things in your email, and in other places that you need to do – into one list of things to do.

Just getting it all out of your head and onto paper can be a big stress reliever.

This technique is one aspect from Getting Things Done, a comprehensive time management technique. By putting things down on paper you get them out of your head and in doing so, become more energetic.

Set aside a good portion of the day to do this. Once you have your list of things, from doing shopping, to planning your holiday, or painting your house; you can put these into an action list which can be incorporated into your planning.

After doing this your mind will be clear of the clutter that is holding it back.

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