Your Simple Introduction To Successful Time Management

Time. Talk about a non-renewable resource! Each and every one of us only has 24 hours in a day. And for most of us - it often doesn't feel like enough. There's always so much to do! We can't change how fast time passes - but we can use successful time management techniques to become more effective and efficient.

The first and most important tip I want to give may surprise you. Get... enough... sleep! You can't work properly if you're tired. You will be too easily distracted and your concentration will be poor. At best, you'll just take longer to complete the task at hand. At worst, you'll do a shoddy job and still take longer than necessary.

Plan to allow whatever time you know you need for a good nights sleep. Prepare for sleep by avoiding exercise, caffeine and food for at least a couple of hours before bed. Any of these will increase your heart rate. You want to be calming down towards the late evening so you can drop off to sleep just as soon as your head hits the pillow.

The second tip is: learn how to prioritize. Of all the things on your "to-do" list, which absolutely must be done at a particular time? Go ahead and fill these in to your planner. Once all the time-specific items are taken care of, look at your to-do list again. What isn't so important? Is there anything that, quite frankly, you really don't need to do at all? If there is, take it off the list! Everything remaining on your list now needs to go into order of importance. Fit the single most important thing into your schedule first. Then, each in turn, the work of lesser importance. Right down to your leisure time - yes, you even include your planned half hour's walk in the sunshine at lunchtime, or the personal phone call to your far away brother on his birthday. Everything you want to do, business or pleasure, gets listed in your planner.

When making plans for your working day, adopt the habit of tackling your least favorite tasks first. Get the awkward stuff over and done with first, so you can be doing things you actually enjoy later in the day, when your energy levels are lower. Your enthusiasm for these things will help you complete them even if you're getting a bit tired at this point.

And if your energy levels do drop during the day - get out into the fresh air for a short, brisk walk. It's far better than a cup of coffee as a mental "restart" button. And using five minutes to re-energise yourself with a walk will pay dividends for the next hour or more.

Be sure to look at those five minutes spent walking as a productive use of your time. A chance to look at things from a different perspective. An opportunity to check the progress of the day. That way, you'll be more likely to spend the next five minutes to some advantage. And all these five minutes add up. Let me share a quote from Orison Swett Marden, in 'Pushing To The Front':

"Many of the greatest men of history earned their fame outside of their regular occupations in odd bits of time which most people squander."

This is the difference between high achievers and those who just "get by". Being conscious of time passing, and using even small moments of opportunity to read or to write some notes.

And so to a final, simple tip - keep a book you're currently reading and a notepad always with you, so that when you find yourself with a few spare minutes, you can always put them to good use.