You start your day running to your first appointment. When you get there you find that you don't have what you need. It's time for you to slow down, and plan what you're going to do before you take action. It seems counter intuitive, but you'll get more done faster with less stress if you set aside proper planning time. You love action and you would rather be doing than thinking. You're confusing activity with progress.
All that unfocused activity is making you tired and stressed because it isn't helping you to do the things that produce the best results. Start the day by planning your day the day before so get organized. Take 15 minutes before you end your day to plan the first thing you'll do the next day, and what you'll need to do it so you can start your day right and get better results.
Plan how you'll start your day start with the most important thing you could do that day. Schedule your most important appointments, phone calls, and actions for first thing in the morning. Each action you'll be take must have a clear objective. Know exactly the outcome you expect from every appointment. The same holds true for phone calls. As you start your day Know exactly who you will call, have an agenda for the call, and identify what you want to accomplish as a result of that call.
Without clear objectives you waste valuable time and you get poor results. You're running around working harder than you need to and you aren't getting the results you want. If you don't know exactly what you want from your actions you can't expect someone else to know.
You thrive on solving problems and making things happen. When a customer or prospect calls you drop everything and immediately respond, but that isn't a demonstration of good time management skills. It just means that you'd rather be reactive than proactive.
You'll better serve your customers, prospects, and yourself if you develop a planning habit. Your current habit of reacting rather than planning is causing you to receive poorer results than you could be. If you'll plan before you act with a clear understanding of your objectives and be organized in your approach you can enjoy great success and free time.
No doubt, there is probably room for improvement when it comes to how you manage your time and how you spend your days. We all waste time here and there doing things that aren't really that important to us or that we're not really that good at.
However, these can be easy to identify, and so can the things that you do well. Most likely, there are certain activities at work and at home that you do particularly well and that you are good at. Tasks that, once they are complete, leave you with that feeling of time well spent.
When you can identify these tasks and activities you will have taken a major step towards effective time management. If you know what you already do well you can begin to fill your days with these things. If you do so you will find that you will become more productive and that you will enjoy how you spend your time more.
For example, at work you may find yourself doing many tasks in the average day. If you look at these closely the chances are that you will find that there are some of these tasks that you don't enjoy, you simply aren't good at, or both.
On the other hand, there are other tasks that will be suited to your skills and that you can do quickly and well. You need to do more of the latter, and find ways to eliminate the things you are not good at from your day.
Whether you are self-employed or in a 9-5 job, it shouldn't be long before you reap the benefits.
But remember this isn't just something you need to incorporate into your working life. Also try to concentrate on the things you do best when it comes to your leisure and family time.
Both Cheryl A. Clausen & Wendy Hearn are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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