Achieving Time Management Success With Goals

You may already have excellent time management skills. Or so you think. You do not miss deadlines, you never seem to be really pushed to finish things, you don't feel that your workload is getting on top of you. Good! Even if you're not this way inclined (and let's face it, few of us are 100% of the time), there can be something lacking from your time management techniques - and that is the setting and achieving of goals.

Take the 50-something executive who is CEO of a large corporation. Happy home life, happy work life, very good at time management. Yet he could still feel like an underachiever - because success needs to be measured by goals, both personal and professional, in order to produce a happier person.

The key to setting goals is simplicity and starting slowly. If you set your bar too high, or overwhelm yourself with the sheer number of targets you want to achieve, this will only end up in stress and unhappiness. Be realistic. For example, if you know your time management skills are not all that good, then start small - set yourself a couple of goals that you would like to achieve the next day. Best to set them in the evening rather than the morning you get into work, where you'll quickly be expected to focus on the tasks thrown at you during the working day.

A good example would be to clean one's email inbox up - clutter usually means we waste time later on searching for "that message the boss sent me last week" or a contact's email address you didn't bother to save, but you know you have an email from them 'somewhere'. This kills two birds with one stone - you save yourself time in the long run, and you feel a sense of achievement when you complete this relatively easy task - you have set a goal and reached it.

Once you start to set yourself more goals to achieve on a daily basis, start to categorise them by order of priority and importance (the email one above, for example, would fare far lower than getting the company's accounts in on time). In fact - there is another example. If you leave things like accounting admin until the last minute, set yourself a goal this year that says you will submit them a week early. You'll still feel the sense of achievement, and release yourself from the stress of the deadline looming.

Remember that achieving goals is meant to give yourself a sense of well-being. It should not feel like you've just run an obstacle course (if you do, you may be giving yourself too much to do). If you can't think of any immediate goals, have a chat with your boss or manager. "Performance Management" is their job - they will identify goals and training needs with you, and will be impressed at your enthusiasm to develop yourself as an employee.

Remember to reward yourself when you attain your goals, no matter how small. If you did complete those accounts a week early, why not reward yourself that evening with a visit to a Spa, Gym or - all right then - bakery to treat yourself? This will keep your motivation levels up, and inspire you to go on to set bigger and better goals. In the end, everyone you work with will benefit - but none more than you.