“Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.” ~ Jim Rohn
We all have the same 24 hours in each day. So, why are some people able to accomplish so much more in the same time frame ?
Are these people special, have some hidden talent or work harder ?
The secret to getting more done without necessarily working harder than others is proper time management. Many successful and skilled people struggle to manage their time and end up less productive than people with excellent time management skills.
Time management allows you to get more done with less effort.
You can also reduce the stress that goes along with having to finish multiple tasks at the same time.
Time management is no easy task. A good time management plan will actually take time to develop and implement. However, be aware that even though you spend much time planning and managing your use of time, it will prove to be an effort that will pay dividends to you…
Because, good time management is the only way to successfully approach any project. This will also allow you to free up time for other leisure activities as you learn to make more productive use of your time.
The following is an article by Ann Rusnak- The Time Diva
Want to gain more control over your time? Try these time management tips.
1. Gain Time by Planning Ahead
Resist the temptation to rush right into doing something. 15 minutes of daily planning can immensely improve your productivity while reducing crisis management and stress.
2. Decide what You Want
Before you can get anything done, you need to know what you want to accomplish. Goals will provide a direction on where to spend your time.
3. Stay Flexible
Even the best laid plans can totally awry if you over plan. Allow breathing room for unexpected interruptions and opportunities
4. Take 5 Minute Power Breaks
Five minute power breaks can invigorate and boost energy levels. Take plenty of during day. You can stretch, daydream, get out of the office, motivate yourself by reading quotes or browse through a catalog. The important thing is to disconnect and unplug for what you where doing.
5. Are You A Perfectionist?
Perfectionism can really drain your time. Adopt the attitude of Done is Good and remember you can always go back and tweak it later.
** Brian Tracy is a leader in the field of human development. He is a millionaire, entrepreneur, businessman, author, and motivational speaker, not to mention time management expert…please watch Brian’s brief video below:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJLoNBes7Ac[/youtube]
This is where planning and goals become invaluable. Planning show you how much available time is in your day, making it easier for you to say NO to unimportant tasks.
7. Know Your Biological Prime Time
Are you morning, a night or late afternoon person? What time of day are you at your best? Knowing when your best time zone occurs, you can plan your higher priority activities during that time.
8. Set Your Priorities
Not all activities and task are equal. Use the 80/20 rule when prioritizing your task. Select the top 20 percent that will bring you the highest reward. Put those activities at the top of your list.
9. Join Procrastination Anonymous
Overwhelm can cause procrastination. When you don’t know where to start, its easy to put off starting at all. Reduce overwhelm by breaking projects down into 15-minute tasks. (Remember Step 1, planning?) Complete those 15 minute tasks and the project will seem much easier.
10. Give Yourself A Reward
Celebrate all your wins even the smallest. Promise yourself a reward for completing a task or project. Most importantly keep that promise.
I hope you got some great value out of this post today! Please leave me a comment down below and let me know what you liked the most.
And don’t forget to share this post with your Twitter and Facebook friends and followers!
I invite you to LIKE my FaceBook Fan Page
To your success,
Marc@mlmsuccessmentoring.com
Network Marketing Coach
Continuous Learning Advocate
Skype: healthysuccess
(973) 879-1627
Click Here To Check Out How To Master Your Time
About Marc Korn
Marc Korn is an advocate of continuous learning. Success online and in the offline world is all about training and learning from the experts.... throughout history the common denominator among successful people has been continuing education.Marc is passionate about Network Marketing and helping others.He has learned that Network Marketing is not about recruit, recruit, recruit or sell, sell, sell...but about people.The most gratifying way to achieve success is to help others become successful first.Marc enjoys introducing people to systems and opportunities that will help them to earn additional income working from home.There is no reason why you need to learn it all by yourself. Join Marc and his Tribe mates to see how they can help you.
Great points Marc! And it is true, time management is a habit when exercised daily only get better! This was right on time. I needed this 🙂
The 2 things that are most important for me is to break down the tasks into 15 minute segments and to give yourself an award.
I once cleaned my garage in 15 minutes segments. It had gotten way out of hand and I had ignored it for years. Then it was probably Brian Tracy that inspired me to tackle it in 15 minute increments. In the beginning, I wouldn’t allow myself any longer than 15 minutes a day. In a week, it looked so much better that I allowed myself a 2nd 15 minute segment.
Right now on my phone, I set the alarm for 40 minutes (I know, I’ve graduated). The alarm is actually a round of applause. I get up stretch, take a 5 minute break, and then reset the alarm. I can get amazing things accomplished with just those 2 methods.
Thanks for giving me a bunch of new ideas to try.
Debbie
very nice. I agree with that time management really reduces stress. If you plan your work and have a routine schedule for every task, everything will be put to an ease.
You definitely have to be flexible. We do not live in a vaccum. There can be interuptions at any time, but the people who are smart find ways to make adjustments. Another great point is that you have to know when you work most efficiently, because at home we are not under a clock like in a computer lab or library with certain hours. Most of the time the best time to work is in the morning since your mind is fresh.
Lawrence Bergfeld
Hi Marc,
Great Reminder, and good Post! True, ….Time Management is Key to Success and Outcome!
“TIME” – PLANNING AHEAD – ORGANIZED ( Staying Focused on your Goals/Result/Outcome ) – Taking Power Breaks – Will Reduce Stress.
I do belief the strength I have with TIME Management is, because I PLAN ahead, See the whole Picture, and take action. Power Breaks is Key to your endurance and Stress Release.
Had a successful experience with moving my Mom from a large Home into a Independent Living facility. The distance between my home and her was 150 miles each time, so planning my trips meant saving time and expensive gas mileage. Had to pack ALL, load in truck, transport, unpack, and take boxes back. Planning was crucial for my time. The best reward was my Own Bed again after 5 days.
Thank you for sharing these great tips Marc,
Irene
Hello Marc…
You share some valuable tips here. Time Management is what we all need in this industry. I am working on putting that into place as I continue working. Sometimes it can be overwhelming and you do not know where to start. By putting it into smaller chunks this help to alleviate this problem.
Thank you for sharing this.
Barbara
Hi Barbara,
Thanks so much for dropping by and leaving your comment…it is greatly appreciated.
Developing and refining your Time management skills is essential if we are going to achieve the success that we deserve.
Getting started is often the most difficult task of all, but once you train yourself to write everything down and set priorities and be disciplined and focused, you will be surprised at the results.
Definitely, cutting up the tasks into more manageable parts is a great way to eliminate the overwhelm and accomplish the smaller task and give you the confidence to attack the rest of your tasks.
To your continued success,
Marc
Hey Marc,
Oh I love time management tips! You’ve got a great list here and I pinpointed my #1 weak spot right away – I’ve suffered from perfectionism as long as I can remember. Ha! Which is NOT to say I achieve perfection – just that I spend far too much time plugging away trying to get there. That said, building a blog has really helped me improve because there is just so darn much to do everyday there really is no hope of making progress if I allow myself to get stuck on one thing. I do the best I can, and then try to do even better next time out. Thanks for the inspiration!
Hi Marty,
Thanks so much for dropping by and leaving your comment…it is greatly appreciated.
I can relate, since that had been an issue for me as well. Sadly, it can be such a drain on your time that you will look back at the end of the day and ask yourself “what did I accomplish today” and not be happy about the answer.
The hours just fly by and we must be disciplined and develop the proper mindset. I’m happy to say that I have conquered that obstacle and use my time much more wisely now.
To your continued inspiration,
Marc
Mark,
Glad to see your ideas on time management. This is so important for people to understand. Time is the most valuable thing that anyone has. How we manage it is crucial to our success. Once a minute is lost, it can never be retrieved, but what is done in that minute can last forever. If people would treat each minute like it was a treasure, what they could accomplish would stagger the imagination. Great article!
Hi Ben,
Thanks so much for dropping by and leaving your comment…it is greatly appreciated.
Time is a precious commodity…as Jim Rohn states:
“Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.”
So, we all have to learn to use our time wisely and be disciplined in our approach.
To your massive success,
Marc
Great list Marc
Years ago I learned from James Ray about making the list of the top items I need to accomplish in a day and to start with the hardest or most complicated. This worked really well for me and I managed to finally obtain my diploma in Adult Education!
Then I discovered that my best time of the day is the morning so by doing those tasks first I was also taking advantage of my personal best time! It was a double whammy of Good! 🙂
Hi Carla,
Thanks so much for dropping by and leaving your comment…it is greatly appreciated.
In one of Brian Tracy’s most popular books, ‘Eat That Frog”, he points out how important it is to start with the hardest or most complicated task (the ugliest frog). This is one of the best ways to avoid procrastination and feel a sense of achievement and to motivate yourself to complete the rest of your list.
I hope you will visit again soon,
Marc
Marc,
amazing find and share. This is so important to develop time management and keep to it. So many obligations and without getting them in order. One will never have time to accomplish action needed to grow their business and support their team.
You must continue to adjust daily activities to give yourself time to have for enjoyment and not only focus on business. This is a wonderful find.
I thank you Marc for your ability to have the vision in supplying your readers and I with usable content that will only help us develop into better leaders in our industry.
Love all your support and wisdom, Marc. Looking forward in growing with you.
Hi Marc,
Awesome time management information and video that you’ve shared! Some people enjoy frog’s legs, but I don’t think that has anything to do with productivity! LOL
The best advice is selecting the most important (ugly or not) task and staying with it until it’s done; I have to agree that trying to get the little tasks out of the way first is a total time monger. And I don’t believe there’s any flexibility with this rule (for me anyway)… I have to stay persistently focused. Whenever I focus my attention on the little things, really I’m just avoiding the most important, biggest thing that needs to be done.
Discipline and Time Management are intimately connected and I love the concept of doubling my productivity for the rest of my career simply by choosing the order of most important tasks over the piddly, little things. I haven’t purchased Eat That Frog yet, it’s on my list today! I love the humor – if you have to eat two, eat the ugliest frog first! Thanks for the great information as always! Loren
Some great tips Marc
You are absolutely right, I have procrastinated in the past when I became overwhelmed with options.
The secret is to stay focused.
Peter
Hi Marc,
While none of this is new to me, I feel that I gained a wealth of information by visiting your site today. I should start everyday, in fact, listening to Brian Tracy’s advice here.
I already follow a lot of what he says, but I am a perfectionist, and I lean toward getting rid of clutter first before I “eat my frog!” And, in addition, I seem to want to check out every alternative resource before I choose one so that I settle on one that will not be counter-productive later on if I should get going down the wrong bunny trail 😉
Anyway, thanks for this mini course that is extremely important.
Linda
Good tips here Marc. And for No. 11 – Avoid Multitasking. We love to think that we are the best multi-taskers but we know really that we are not focusing on any of the tasks we are performing at the same time. Best bet, finish one so that you can give each your undivided attention to complete and move on to the next one.
Thanks for the post Marc.
jeff
Good time management tips!
The idea on tip #9 “Overwhelm can cause procrastination. When you don’t know where to start, its easy to put off starting at all.” , is what I am always feeling when I am faced to so many tasks. Thanks for your lists, now I can use this to control my time.
These are all great points! I am not sure which is the most important as the list is an excellent one! Giving myself a reward is one of my favorite!! However I do try to avoid too much of that!! ~~ or rather I have to come up with other rewards besides that chocolate I love!! I am copying this list so I can refer back to it.
Procrastination is definitely one of my stumbling blocks for better time management. I can often find lots of things to procrastinate with. But when I am truly motivated to tackle a task or even a list of tasks I seem to not only be able to organize that list but also to pick out the one to three items on the list that are a priority and then make a viable plan to accomplish them.
I certainly agree that creating a plan and then putting that plan into action is the best way to practice and achieve better time management. Rich Shefren and/or Yanik Silver have both said that it is necessary to take breaks and the breaks they advocate for are breaks that get you up out of your chair and moving. I like to build these sorts of exercise breaks into my time management plan.
I loved Brian Tracy’s video. Thanks for including it in this post
I am one of the busiest person roaming here on earth. I am really wanting to get my time to a halt. Haven’t got a vacation since I started work. Reading this post makes me think of applying the said time I had here and taking it to a point where I enjoy a part and work on the other.
Hope to have more insightful tips here.
🙂
Hi Marc….great post thank you and a great reminder about how to manage time more effectively. Procrastination and perfectionism are most definitely my biggest enemies. I will try breaking my time into 15 minute slots and see if that helps. Another great help I find is accountability…..having someone you are accountable to definitely focuses the mind and helps you get things done.
Louise
That perfectionism one has been a problem for me in the past. I am much better now but I have had trouble spending way too much time on things like blog posts, adjusting and rethinking my words. That can really be a time waster.
Great breakdown, Marc!
Perfectionism is the one that gets me the most. I genuinely don’t think it is good enough… i.e. does not measure up even to mediocre standards… until I’ve spent far more time than it is worth. And the trouble is, I don’t even know I’m doing it till I’m well into it. But I’m learning. 🙂
Procrastination is the other one. And the two do tie together! It’s easy to get overwhelmed when everything has to be “perfect.”
Thanks for another practical and helpful post, Marc!
Willena Flewelling
Hi Marc, I’ve been on a campaign to save time lately! One of the worst things I do, is to try and “fix” everything, even if I don’t know much about it. These are things (software or hardware) on the computer. I decided today, if I can’t fix something in 15 minutes, I find someone who specializes in that particular thing.
Great idea to use an alarm Debbie! bye for now, Julieanne
Marc,
Good advice on time management is always helpful. Thank you.
I love the idea of simply planning a little bit and then reminding yourself that it’s okay to say no. No is that power word we sometimes forget. Thank you for this post I appreciate the assistance. I wish you the best of success in the coming 168 hours as we each enjoy this coming week. Thank you Jim
One of my favorite things that I did this year was to put on my BB every night at 9 PM, “What are my top 2 goals for tomorrow?” I type it into my BB. Sometimes it is two, sometimes more. The fact is that I get more done because of this small exercise.
I agree with Melodie Kantner too. I am perfectionist and I want to everything perfectly. I really thought that perfectionism is just normal or have so many advantage in terms of time management. We should really have to be satisfied if we can’t get it perfectly.
Hello Marc
Hyrum W. Smith founderof the Franklin Quest Company taught that you could not manage time just events. When I read your post and watched your video it seems that Brian Tracy is saying the same thing. Set priorities and follow them and you will have control of your events. The tips that you share are excellent event management tips.
Thanks
Perry A Davis Jr
Music City
Pingback: What Is The Key To Ending Procrastination? | Success One Day At A Time
Pingback: E-bike
Pingback: 3 Tips For Managing Interruptions | John's Internet Marketing Blog