15 SECRETS Successful People Know About TIME MANAGEMENT

Tip #1 What is Your Most Valuable Asset?   What is your most valuable asset?  Is it money?  Your Family?  No, it is not either of these things.  Your most valuable asset is your "time." Time is one thing that you cannot get more. You only have 1,440 minutes available to use each day.  That is it.  You cannot increase the time you have available, so you need to make the most out of it each day. Why use minutes?  Because one minute is enough time to complete a task, like respond to an email, complete 30 push-ups, or water a plant.   Once you appreciate how valuable your time is, then you can prioritize it to make those most from each day.  You need to determine and prioritize the "Most Important Task" or MIT for short that needs to get done.  Now this task needs to be one that will significantly impact your life or work.   Prioritization of your Time is a critical step and is essential to your success.   For instance, you are a senior executive that needs to develop a new application.  You may determine that your "Most Important Task" is to hire a programmer to write the app. This single task will have the most significant impact on your work goal.   Tip #2.  Use a Calendar Instead of a To-do List   Do me a favor and pull out your to-do list?  How long is it?  How many items on your to-do list have been there for weeks or, even worse, months?  Does looking at your to-do list just stress you out?    Instead of using a to-do list, pull out your calendar instead.  This technique will help with your stress levels.  Researchers have determined that 41% of what is on your to-do will never get accomplished. Why is this?  Most of the items on the list do not contain the length of time needed to complete the task.  Time frames are critical as tasks without time frames tend to be ignored and are likely not to be met.   Tip #3.  Consider Using Time blocks   You may want to consider using time blocks or time boxing.  What are time blocks or time boxing? Time blocks or timeboxing is a time management strategy where you schedule a time to complete your goals.  You do this by using your calendar to block out the time needed to work on a task or sub-tasks.  What happens when you need to schedule a job, and they're just is not room on the calendar?  You simply reschedule the task by rearranging your schedule to fit in the new tasking. An example would be that you work out every day at noon but cannot do that due to catching an airplane at noon.  You could move the workout to earlier in the day to ensure that it got completed.   Many people, including myself, will reserve blocks of times for tasks.  You work diligently for 25 minutes and take a short 5-minute break, then repeat this cycle.  Reserving blocks of time helps me make the most out of my day.   Tip #4.  Overcome Procrastination   We all have experienced the following.  We have an important deadline due, and we scroll Facebook, looking at posts, text a friend, or just sit down and catch up on our favorite TV series instead of completing that vital task.  I will be honest with you and tell you I did this same thing two weeks ago.  I could not get motivated to edit the video that was due to be released on Wednesday. Anyone can overcome procrastination with the right motivation. Have faith and imagine your future self.  After all, you don't procrastinate because you are lazy.  You just are not sufficiently motivated.  When confronted in the future with procrastination, consider asking yourself one of the following two questions. What pleasure will I get from doing this thing? And What pain will I feel if I don't do it?  For instance, you want to work out each day but cannot seem to get motivated.  Imagine yourself in the future if you do not get on that treadmill.  You are sluggish ad have an enormous beer belly.  Will that image of yourself, motivated you to complete your exercise?    Tip #5. There is always more to do; You cannot do everything, and that is fine.   You may find it more valuable to prioritize and schedule the tasks you want to do than cross off as many completed functions as possible.  President George W. Bush knew that there would always be more to do, so instead of trying to do everything, he made it his priority to read tons of books since he found it therapeutic and educational.  As a result, he read over 95 titles during his presidency.   Tip #6 Write Down Your Ideas   Wouldn't it be ideal if every time you had a great thought or idea that you were able to remember it?  As I am getting older, I have noticed that my memory does not remember things, and it used to. Wouldn't it be ideal to be able just to stop and jot down that idea? That is why you should always carry around a notebook and pen with you.  That way, you can capture your ideas for later.    Tip 7. Do NOT Check Your Inbox too often.   Writing down your thoughts is crucial – as is maintaining control over your schedule, which is where the seventh secret comes into play. It says that you should avoid checking your email too often.  Why?  Because then you are letting others dictate how you spend your time.,   Continually checking your emails is unproductive.  Why?  Because the anticipation felt when checking your inbox is comparable to pulling the handle of a slot machine.  Often, I have checked my messages, and there's nothing new, but sometimes there is a new message.  The unpredictability is addictive and causes me to check my inbox more often.  Checking my inbox more often causes me to lose my focus and not complete that one primary task.   A great way to stop yourself from checking your email is by unsubscribing from newsletters using a program like www.unroll.me. Another strategy you can use is called the 321-Zero system.  You limit yourself to three email checks per day while trying to get your inbox zero in 21 minutes.   Tip 8. Avoiding Meetings   If you have an office job, you know how boring meetings can be.  But that is not the only problem with meetings.  Managers tend to schedule meetings when an email could have covered what he or she wanted to discuss. Only schedule meetings when necessary.  Most people believe that weekly status meetings are a waste of time for two reasons:   A 2015 survey found that 35 percent of respondents considered weekly status meetings to be a waste of time for these two primary reasons:   Meeting participants tend to waste lots of time on minor issues. Extroverts using dominate the meetings, making others less like to participate.   As a result, participants may not share valuable information during these meetings.  If you absolutely must have a meeting, then consider a stand-up meeting instead of a sit-down meeting.  Stand-up meetings might seem odd, but making participants stand tends to result in better collaboration, less attachment to ideas, higher engagement levels, and more effective problem-solving.   Lastly, consider scheduling meetings based on increments of five or ten minutes.  Limiting your meeting timeframes will stop others from wasting your time.   Tip 9.  Learn to Say NO   Learn to say no.  Saying no to someone is a challenging technique to learn, but you will thank me later.  After all, every time you say yes to something, you must say no to something else. Learning to no will cause you to be happier and have more energy once you learn this technique.   Tip 10.  Pareto Principle or 80/20 Rule   So far, you have learned that it is necessary to limit the time to the tasks that will significantly impact achieving your goals.    In the 1890s, the Italian philosopher and economist Vilfredo Pareto found that 20% of the pea plants in his garden produced 80% of his healthy pea pods.  He created this 80/20 rule into a general principle that now bears his name.  This versatile rule can apply to many areas.   For instance, by applying the 80/20 rule to your employees, you might decide to fire most of your salespeople since they are your lowest performers.  From there, you could focus your energy on the remaining 20%, when you already generate 80% of your sales, by giving them rewards and greater levels of support.  The result will lead to an overall improvement in sales.     You could apply the 80/20 rule in your personal life by analyzing the tasks you do every week and identifying which of them has the most significant impact.   Tip 11.  Leveraging your skills and delegating work.   You can also accomplish more by critically assessing your outstanding tasks.  By slowing down and training yourself and your employees to ask a few questions, you can identify critical tasks that freed up an extra eight hours per week.  How do you do this?  You simply ask yourself, "How important is this task to the company?"   Tip12.  Delegate the Tasks If Possible.   When reviewing the tasks, always ask yourself, "Is there anyone else who can complete it?" And finally, "How could this task be accomplished if I had half as much time?" You might find that some of the tasks that your employees are doing are unnecessary and result in eliminating the task.  Another advantage is discovering that you have the wrong person completing the task.  It might be better to have the job sent to someone else who is better suited for the task.   Tip 13.  Group Your Work into Recurring Themes.   Do you ever have difficulty focusing on work?  You are not alone; most people do.  You may want to consider having them for each day.  For instance, on Mondays, you focus on Management; Wednesdays, you are dedicated to marking; and on Sundays, you can reflect, provide feedback and strategize for the next week.     Tip 14.   Tackling Small Tasks.     You can also boost your efficiency by tackling small tasks.   How?  By immediately tackling small tasks that take fewer than five. Minutes to complete and avoid returning to the same job over and over. Or if you receive an email, instead of remembering to reach back out, he scheduled to book an appointment time to call the person instead.   Tip 15.   Establish a morning routine.   Dedicating the first hour of each day to a morning routine will enhance your health and your mind.    There is nothing like getting up in the morning and working out, then whipping together a high-protein breakfast to get your day off to a great start.   Many successful entrepreneurs start their day by meditating or exercising to set the mood for the day, to keep their minds positive.  They will not watch the news or listen to anything negative to keep their minds focused on being positive.   Summary   If you are struggling with time management, now is the time to adopt a few of these time management tips.  Give it a try for a month and watch your productivity skyrocket.   If you enjoyed this article, please click here.