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THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS TIME MANAGEMENT

Cody,

After you get away from the armed gang in your nightmare, you also need to lose the concept of time management and all the timeless expressions that lead us to believe we can fit time into our schedules: Time is on my side, I have all the time in the world, I’ll make more time, blah, blah, blah.  The reality is that time is a democratic and finite resource that moves along at the same pace for everyone. So, tossing time management and replacing it with self-management, or fitting our activities into time's fixed schedule, may be the only way to really beat the clocks that are chasing you.

Are there specific skills missing from your skill set, or particular objectives that you often have trouble meeting?  Some people are always late to appointments or fly right past due dates, while others can’t seem to remember what they need to do and when they need to do it.  Knowing your very own time traps should help you to find customized ways out of them.  Whatever your needs, there are a gazillion self-management strategies to help you more calmly reach goals on time.  Here are just a few time-honored tips that focus on planning and to-do lists, good starting points for would be self-managers:

Just To-Do It

Keep a list of the things you want to accomplish during a given day or week to keep you organized. These 'road maps' to your goals should be easily accessible and altered since we sometimes need to take alternate routes to reach our final destinations. Some successful self-managers make their to-do lists at the start of the week or day while others chart their plans of action before they go to sleep in order to sleep more peacefully. Computers, cell phones, music players and the like are full of calendar and to-do list programs that can make list-making efficient and even fun.

Place Your Order

Once you've made your list and checked it twice, put the items on it in some logical order. It may make more sense to read the assigned chapter BEFORE going to your study group just as it might help to do your laundry AFTER the mud wrestling finals on Friday. Organizing and prioritizing your activities up front can reduce the amount of time spent sitting there wondering, "Now, what did I need to get done today?"-a question that usually gets harder to answer when stressed, tired, and without a to-do list.

Overestimate

Estimate how much time it will take you to accomplish each item on your list-even if just partial completion of some of them is your goal. Since it often takes us longer than originally planned to complete something, add 15%-20% to your first guess. If you think that 20-minutes is all you'll need to mail that package at the post office, add a few minutes to allow for running into friends along the way, or if you find a long line of fellow package-senders once you get there.
 
Know Yourself

Are you alert in the a.m., or do you come to life a little later in the day-say 10 p.m., or so? Knowing when you're better able to mentally and physically deal with what's on your to-do list can boost the odds that you'll get things done more efficiently. If you can barely lift your toothbrush at 8 a.m., then going to the gym at that hour may prove unproductive--unless you rely on working out to wake you up. Similarly, taking a 3 p.m. physics class may work better if you're an 'afternoon person.'

I’m out of time… I mean, I’m done for now.

Les
3/07