Managing Time is a Big Undertaking

Douglas Adams famously once said -"I love deadlines - I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by"

Managing Time is a very big undertaking! - on one level it's a bit like trying to learn how to command ocean waves or trying to master switching the sun on and off!

Yet there are a plethora of time management courses out there offering to make you better and more efficient human beings.

Time management is as much a philosophy as a learned skill. Most ‘courses’ focus on concepts we all already know but fail to implement on a daily basis.

In essence time management is about the art of avoiding distraction, the ability to prioritise, the importance of planning and goal setting, managing deadlines and the art of saying NO.

Above all else time management is about the need to do what’s important NOT what’s urgent.

For time management to be really effective as a learned discipline - delegates need to accept, identify and personalise their own time management issues in order to create a unique tactical plan for themselves that will be different to those of their colleagues.

Some simple time management techniques that we find particularly effective and that we include on our Time Challenge - time management courses are:

- Switch off your emails for two hours every day
- Write your to do list every morning - then rank tasks from 10-1( ie from "absolutely must do now" to "would be nice to get to
this as and when)"
- Spend at least half an hour a day not at your desk
- Have formal "me time" breaks at least twice a day and for at least 15 minutes each. You have permission to relax
- Have a weekly meeting with team colleagues - see who's got bandwidth to help if you are snowed under
- Log everything you do for a week and put the time used against each entry - then review it. Be warned it's frightening!
- Stay relaxed.
- If tasks are very big - break them down into 'bite-sized' blocks
- Plan each day - the day before
- Be realistic
- Buy a watch!