How to Do More in Shorter Time: The Golden Rules of Time Management

According to self-development guru Stephen Covey’s book, “First things first”, there are 4 stages of time-management:

1st generation: Reacting
Includes traditional time-management activities like making phone calls, taking notes and checklists, emails and relying on memory to do things that come up during the day.

2nd generation: Planning
Planning starts to play a greater role where people use calendars and appointment books, prepare schedules to help accomplish certain time-bound goals. Goals are attached to plans with details on estimated time needed to complete the task.

3rd generation: Prioritizing 
Tasks are prioritized using timetables and schedules and this can span across weeks, months or even a year. The idea is to prioritize the most important things first through setting goals to maximize efficiency. 

4th generation:  Self-management 

Here, you prioritize tasks based on importance, and not urgency. This ensures only the most important things are worked on. As you can see, while you can do things faster, it doesn’t mean you’re working on the most critical tasks first. It boils down to self-management and effectively managing the people and relationships around you while being flexible to move priorities up or down as needed.

At any time of your life you have only 100% of resources: money, health, energy, and most importantly - time. Time is our only resource we get for free that when capitalized effectively helps to give us more wealth, health and happiness. To manage your time wisely and get most of your every hour follow these 3 golden nuggets of time-management wisdom:

1. Set priorities

There’s so many things we want to do every day. How do we find time to do everything? Well, you don’t have to. Learn to prioritize instead and concentrate only on the things in your area of interest or those that are most important to you to achieve the results you want. Try this little handy tip: 
Create a table and write down your tasks under each of 4 categories, (see an example below). Think about the “most important” tasks: paper due tomorrow (urgent), your fitness plan or that photoshop skills you always wanted to learn (not urgent). Focus only on these tasks that will bring you closer to achieving your goal. Get rid of unwanted time-wasters like watching TV or just lazing around the maximize what you can achieve each day!

2. Set goals, plan it and stick to it

To get things done you have to know what you want. This requires you to be absolutely clear and focused when creating your goals so that your actions are only directed to achieving your desired goals. Remember, your goals exist only if they’re written on the paper. It’s best that you put this paper where you can see it everyday. 

One great way to accomplish doing big tasks is by breaking it up to smaller tasks. This helps you to stay focused, organized and most importantly motivated to carry on without getting frustrated. Another great tip to start your day right is to work on your most unpleasant task first thing in the morning. Completing your least favorite task first creates a sense of accomplishment and positive energy. Plus, the other tasks you take on will seem easier and more enjoyable once you get the most unpleasant task out of the way.  

3. Cut-off time-wasters 

(Source: blog.mediasilo.com)

 

In this day and age, we’re constantly bombarded with what we’d like to call time-wasters. This can come from notifications you get from Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or even being in chat groups in Whatsapp, Line or Viber. To be most effective, turn off any distractions like your cell phone, TV or radio and focus on doing and completing your tasks. Another very valuable tip to maximize efficiency and output? Learn to say “No” - to hang out, to laze around, to watch TV, to check out YouTube - and be disciplined to finish your tasks first before enjoying your free time.