7 Tips To help you be successful with managing your time

Posted on January 20, 2016 by George Tabb, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.

First of all, if you are reading this article then my guess is you probably already understand how to maximize and prioritize your time, and be successful managing your time. I learned that time management is almost impossible because you can’t manage time. However, you can prioritize it. I know it seems like I’m splitting hairs, but it just a philosophy that drives one’s behavior. Every day we are equally given 1,440 minutes to use as we wish. We can get things done, hope to get things done, or intended to get things done.

Do the most difficult thing on your list first? I learned that one of my best weapons in my time prioritization arsenal is to attack the difficult things first. I found that my day flowed easier if I tackled the most difficult things on my things to do list at the beginning of my day, as soon as I could. I found that my day flowed smoother. I also found that it was a great victory that helped me springboard into my day. I always feel if I did the difficult things first the rest of my day flowed easier, and I always seem to be that much more productive with the rest of my day. One of the things I learned about time prioritization was that it takes a strong fist to swim against the water current but any dead fish can float with the current. So choose “easy” and put the difficulty at the top of your agenda.

Find the 5 things that make all the difference in your results. My mentor use to tell me that it was about a handful of things on your daily things to do list that made all the difference. It was always my goals to try and figure out what those things were. For 12 years I lead an international sales organization that required me to make sales calls, make sales, recruit sales associates, and host sales meetings. Often there were other things that would distract me from doing these things. I know it seem pretty simple enough, right. But your would be amazed how many days that went by and I was unable to do any of these things because I was busy being busy. To be successful, you have to be focused on the activities that is going to get the most result for your time. Usually, the five things that make all the difference is where you are going to get the most results for your efforts. So stay focused on the activity that going to give you the most results for your time especially during your prime time. I identify your prime time as the most optimal time when you can get the most done at the best time. For example, if you had to call on car dealerships when do you think the best optimal time to call the when you would be able to talk to a decision makers? Well, also when would be the best time for you? Line those two elements together and see what you come up with. That would be your primetime, your money time, your action time. This is the time when you could get more done than any other time.

Know what is the value for the dollar amount of your time per hour? How valuable is your time? What can you delegate? One thing I realize about being a business owner is I wanted to do everything right, and often times that meant that I had to do it. I later realized that there is only 24 hours in a day and my time was limited. Have you ever found yourself investing time in something where there wasn’t a reward equal to the time invested. One of the ways I like to prioritize my time it Is to figure out what I need to do and what I can get others to do. One of the things that I had to remember was he doing things myself was great, by getting things done to other people was even greater. Simply because I can leverage my efforts.

Make an accomplishment list of things to do first. Learned to put the smallest things on my list, Because when I cross them off they gave me a sense of accomplishment. I also learned that success breeds more success. So the more I cross things off of my list the more I wanted to cross things off my list, and the more I was able to get accomplished.

Don’t start your day until it’s finished. This was an all powerful point that at first it took me some time to figure out. But all my mentor use to say about this was 5 minutes of planning saves you 30 minutes of execution. He would encourage me to plan my day to the point where I knew what I was doing, and when I was doing it. What I realize was that if I plan my dad I felt less anxious about getting it started. Often times my anxiety was coming from my ambivalence about how my dad was going to go, but if I put the time in the planning of my day it decreased my fear of failure. I was able to be more relaxed about my day. I found that I was more prepared for the unexpected things that sometimes seem to plague your day when you are planning to do something else. Mother Teresa said, “Just when I thought I had life by the handle, the handle broke.”

Don’t attempt to do anything big just do next; This is the my last point for this article, and I know this article is not all inclusive of different ideas on how to prioritize your time, I just wanted to get your taste buds wet. I don’t do big, but I do next. I have found throughout my business career, that most whenever I try to see the big picture and achieve the big picture, I become overwhelmed and do nothing. For example this article, if I would have said I was going to write a book which I have done on several occasions it was able to get started only to flatten out in a week. So what works for me is to play mental games with myself about what my intentions are. For example, I might have 10 notes to write, I am a licensed therapist as well as a life coach. So part of my practice as being a therapist requires me to make documentation of my sessions with my clients, and I might be dreading doing ten notes, but if I say to myself I am only have one note to do then I can relax. Well, inevitably what will happen is I will complete the one note and really feel like doing one more note. Next thing you know is I have done all 10 notes. However, if I say to myself you have got 10 notes to do I will drag it out and procrastinate and procrastinate until I feel this pressure and frustrations from inactivity and my lack of activity toward that goal.

Measure your work on what you did, and not what your intentions were. One of the biggest lessons I learned was being busy. This was a lesson I learned when I was heading up a large marketing team and I was responsibility for my personal sales and a team of sales people. I also was a father of two children under six years old. In my company, we had a monthly quota that seems to stretch us every month. For me, it got confusing how to discriminate from activity and productivity. There were times at the end of the day I would exclaim to my wife, “Wow what a busy day today.” Then my wife would ask me what did you get done and I would have difficulty identifying what I got done. So my productivity in my mind was based upon our about the work that I’ve done that day, versus what I actually got done. Sometimes the mind exaggerates and tricks you. So I learned to measure my day buy specific things that I have achieved bad day, that are measurable and quantifiable. For example, I made 15 calls today, two sales, and I added five new prospects to my prospect list. Those things are measurable and quantifiable.