How-to Manange Your Time

Is school and work becoming overwhelming to the point where you have no time for yourself, family or getting things done? Well it may be that you need work on your time management skills. Managing time wisely takes beating procrastination, prioritizing, making a to do list, planning and setting goals. It may be tempting for you do something more pleasurable than focusing on what needs to be done; this is the sign of procrastination.

According to the Web site, Mind Tools, “ Procrastinators feel overwhelmed by a task and may not know where to begin…they may feel that they're doing the right thing by reacting fast. Or they may not even think about their approach and simply be driven by the person whose demands are loudest. Either way, by doing this, they have little or no time left for the important tasks, despite the unpleasant outcomes this may bring about.” Prioritizing your tasks can help beat procrastination.

Knowing your important tasks and prioritizing them by the time constraints and level of significance can better your awareness of what should be done first. In the Web site, Study Guides and Strategies, it recommended to list your goals or objectives and ranging them in the order of importance from highest to lowest. You know what tasks you have and how much time you think the will take you to do, prioritize to have an ordered tasks list and to know exactly what to do first. Prioritizing is similar to a to-do list because you are listing what needs to be done.

To-do list are prioritized lists of all duties that need to be accomplished, like prioritizing, a to-do list should have the most important task at the top of the list. In Mind Tools, it stated, “…by keeping a to-do list, you make sure that you capture all of the tasks you have to complete in one place. This is essential if you're not going to forget things. And by prioritizing work, you plan the order in which you'll do things, so you can tell what needs your immediate attention, and what you can quietly forget about until much, much later.” A to-do list is a reminder of what needs to be done and it is a part of planning. Planning can be seen as a to-do list but planning is usually mapped out for daily, weekly and monthly duties or engagements.

Planning your day, week or month is significant for not forgetting what is coming up or needs to be done by a certain time. Alex Shalman, from practical personal development said, “No matter how much you accomplish, there will always be this feeling of having forgotten to do something else, possible something very important. Make it your habit: write your plans down!”

To make carry your plans out effectively, you must set realistic goals. Setting goals can motivate you and give you achievement with more focus. In Mind tools, goal setting is a powerful process for thinking about your ideal future, and for motivating yourself to turn this vision of the future into reality. By knowing precisely what you want to achieve, you know where you have to concentrate your efforts. You'll also quickly spot the distractions that would otherwise lure you from your course.

If you are having trouble managing your time, set your goals to manage your time more wisely and plan, create a to-do list, prioritize and beat procrastination. From Darthmouth’s academic skills center is says, “managing your time allows you to gain time, motivate and initiates, reduces avoidance, promotes review, eliminates cramming and reduces anxiety.”