I Owe, I Owe, So It's Off To Work I Go... Time Management Tips For The Workaholic

In everyday life and your professional career, effective time management is one of the most valuable tools that you can use. The proper use of time can help us to achieve all of our goals at a steady pace and complete tasks without stress or pressure.

With poor time management, the phrase "all work and no play" will sum up your life. However, with some careful fore planning, we can reduce the time that we spend working by making positive steps to lighten the load and increase productivity. If you implement the points in this article, you will find yourself spending less time in the office and more time with those that matter.

Make a 'to-do' list your silent partner
As you make preparations for the start of each new day, allow yourself an extra twenty minutes or so to run through the things which you need to achieve during your working hours. Imagine how you would like the day to go and list your tasks in a hierarchy which allows one task to flow into the next. Place the most important tasks at the top of your list so as when the day starts to wind down, you can too. As the pressure decreases, you can go home feeling calm and contented. You could even go one step further and make a 'to do' list for all of the things that you need to do around the house. Planning days/times to fix the kitchen shelves and mow the lawn can all be scheduled into days which fall comfortably into your life so as an orderly balance of work and home gives you enough time to stop and smell the roses.

A task divided is a task solved
If you have a large presentation looming, break down all of the bits which have to be dealt with into order of importance. Plan to do one or two of the tasks per day and start reducing the size of your list as the completion date approaches. By dissecting a task into manageable chunks, you allow the mind to stay focused on the project but can also function efficiently with your other duties. When the mind dips in and out of a task, it does not tire and is more likely to help you when you are working on something completely different. Don't be surprised to receive bursts of inspiration and Eureka moments when you least expect them. Your mind will be working silently away in the background to make completing that presentation even easier and make it look as though you sweated and toiled for days on a document which is impressive, to say the least!

After the list comes the schedule
Okay, so you have your list of 'to dos' in order of importance, now you need to set a time span for each task. You only have a set number of hours in the day so be reasonable with your calculations and be prepared to carry over less important tasks to the following day. Remember, waves of tiredness never really go away and cause you to make mistakes; they can even make a simple chore ten times longer. So cut yourself some slack and allocate yourself some 'wind down' time. As you look back on your day, praise yourself for the things that you achieved and look forward to facing the ones that you didn't the next day. Ensure that you have at least six hours sleep and look forward to the following day, renewed, relaxed and energized.

Replace rigidity with flexibility.
Don't beat yourself up for not completing a time deadline. Instead, adjust the timeline so as you can still achieve the required results. Remember, negativity breeds negativity so it is better to adjust a timeline and complete the task rather than focus on failure and not complete it at all.

Don't carry the weight of the world on your shoulders
It is so easy to take on more work than you can handle in a bid to impress the boss but you cannot conquer the world single-handedly and will probably end up with a lot of half finished projects and a lot of colleagues hounding you for work which they need to complete within a time frame. If you have bitten off more than you can chew, don't be afraid to ask for help and learn from your mistakes. If you want to impress your superiors, you need to be able to shine - to be able to shine, you have to learn to be assertive and say the word "no". If taking on an extra project will cause you more disruption than is necessary, politely decline.

Make every second count
There is nothing more tiring than a long commute to work by train or bus. Not only is it boring but it envelops feelings of sleep. This sluggishness is often hard to shake off especially if we go from a warm bed to a warm train and then a warm office. Your alertness will be at an all time low and you will achieve half the things you intended to do purely by functioning in a sleep-like trance throughout the day. Make it a habit to use travel times to your advantage. You could plan your schedule for the day, study for a course or work on a project or anything which will keep the mind stimulated and achieve positive results. When you add up the minutes, even ten minutes of travel time per day will add up to nearly an hour per week which will allow you time to think, study, work and get more things done than you ever thought possible.

Time management... where there is a time and a place for everything.