Time management skills are a must-have no matter who you are or what you want to be unless you plan on going nowhere in life.
Suppose you lack simple time management skills as a prospective business titan, a brilliant prospective scientist, or simply a successful housewife. In that case, you can be sure that you will go nowhere in life.
"The most important coin in your life is time. You and only you will decide how that coin will be spent"... Carl Sandburg is a famous American poet.
This blog will attempt to teach basic time management techniques.
What is the significance of time management?
Stephen, you speak of time management as if it were the essential aspect of your life. What is the significance of time management? (I assume you enquired of me.)
Because we don't have a lot of time in our lives, time management is critical. Let's do the calculations together. Assuming you spend 70 years on Earth, that equates to 613,200 hours.
As if that isn't enough, include in the time you'll spend sleeping, resting, eating, taking a bath, and doing other necessary things. How much time do you have left?
Let me consult my calculator.
306,600 hours, then.
When you consider that you probably spent your first 10-15 years of life subconsciously, as well as the fact that your productivity may begin to decline after the age of 50, you will quickly agree with me that the entire period of a lifetime is relatively short.
Because time is life, controlling your time is controlling your life.
Show me a man who is squandering his time, and I will show you a man who is incapable of accomplishing anything meaningful with his life.
I'll give you nine pointers on how to manage your time successfully down below.
1. Determine your life's vision.
Imagine that you are 70 today, and a journalist will interview you about the tale of your life. How would that look, or what do you want to say in your life that you have accomplished? Visionary people often have a keen interest in life.
They frequently find it challenging to squander time since they want to accomplish something meaningful with their life. In a nutshell, what do you want to accomplish with your life?
When I witness Africans spending hours watching football and many more hours watching movies, music, and meaningless television shows, I know they have no vision.
2. Identify what is most important to you.
If you have a clear vision of what you want to achieve with your life, you will quickly realize that some (many) things are not for you.
I was with a buddy a few months back when he pointed to a photo on his laptop and remarked, "Here is Messi, the world's second greatest footballer." I said, "Do you mean this is Messi?" I was pointing to an image.
About course, I had heard of Messi before, but not very well. I understand what is essential to me. I'm sorry, but it's not soccer or a movie.
I do watch them, but just about once every three months. I'm simply using that as an example. Several activities in the world are not suitable for you. They are not for you since they add nothing beneficial to your life's objective. Then they are squandering your life (time).
To correctly manage your time, you must first identify and eliminate unimportant tasks to your life goal.
For example, unless you are a footballer or are involved in any football-related company (no gambling, please), I don't see why you believe you should spend 8 hours a week watching football and another 8 hours debating about it.
If you want to spend some time watching football for amusement, go ahead and do so.
3. Establish objectives for what you wish to accomplish.
I learned how to make objectives when I was approximately 15 years old. My first objective was to be the best student in my class (S.S one).
After a year, I was in charge of the commercial class in ALL of the key disciplines.
Since that day, I've never been the same, and here's why... You must concentrate on what you must accomplish in a single day, month, or year to meet your goal.
That doesn't guarantee you'll do everything (and sometimes you'll do even more), but it does mean you'll win the war of this distracted society we live in.
It is what I mean, to be precise.
You'll be able to say no to a lot of things. I've been saying no to television, sports, movies, and pointless partying for nearly 13 years. I didn't simply say no to them; I find myself unable to squander time since I continuously chase goals.
I have more to say about establishing goals, so here's a goal-setting lesson.
4. Create a simple daily to-do list.
Consider the 3-5 most crucial things you must perform for the day when you awaken in the morning. You may jot them down on a scrap of paper. Maintain your concentration on these minor tasks, whether they pertain to your business, career, or life. This to-do list will help you focus and do more in a single day than most people do in a week.
5. Determine your optimum time of day and complete your most important tasks within that time.
We're all having a good time. For me, it's generally in the morning or after a siesta in the evening.
What is your favorite task?
Do them within this time. If you read all of the tutorials on this website, you will see that they were all created when my brain was mine. Yes, there are instances when your brain is no longer yours due to stress and daily problems.
When I get up in the morning, I frequently notice several Africans playing games, watching movies, or conversing on social networking sites. These folks will never make it in life.
As a company owner (or whatever you are), your best task (whatever you perceive it to be) must be completed at your best time of day.
You will perform admirably and be more productive in this manner. What else may time management be defined?
6. Master the art of delegation.
No matter who you are, I assume you have someone to whom you can delegate certain chores (if you don't, learn what I'm about to share here), outsource specific, less critical duties to someone below your position.
Doing all you need to do will reduce your productivity. One of the most effective solutions to this problem is to distribute authority.
Moses was serving as a judge for the children of Israel, and he felt he was doing the right thing until his father-in-law came to see him and witnessed how he was committing suicide.
He gave him essential advice: "Appoint judges who are honest enough to handle minor concerns and allow only major concerns to be brought to you."
Learn how to persuade others to do what you want them to do—delegate authority to others.
7. Don't waste your time learning things you don't need to know.
Learning is a vital aspect of your job as a businessman (or as anybody going anywhere in life), but there are some things you don't have to learn since they aren't in your area of strength.
For example, if your company wishes to have an online presence, you'll need an active website. Should you now go ahead and study everything there is to know about web programming, HTML, and all the other code and technicalities involved in maintaining a website?
You might not have to do it since it would be a waste of time (particularly if you lack the power to learn rapidly in that position).
You may need to learn the essentials to keep your site working, which is why you would hire a professional to put up your website.
I enjoy learning new things, but I have made it my responsibility to determine the specific things I need to learn. If you can get something done for #10,000 and it takes you 10 hours to learn how to do it, I believe it is preferable to get a professional to do it for you (unless you do not have the necessary funds).
8. Avoid becoming a technology junkie.
Technology is one of the fascinating aspects of the twenty-first century. Cable television broadcasts events from the United States, Iran, and Japan. It is fascinating.
You may use Blackberry and WhatsApp for immediate messaging and conversation. It is pretty exciting.
Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ all allow you to connect with people all around the world. Our grandfathers had no idea something like this existed.
There are other additional technologies in use, and more are on the way. Everyone seems to think that technology development is a fantastic thing, but I have some reservations about its use. They squander much too much of our time.
"Stephen, are you on Watsapps?" some of my pals may inquire. Alternatively, "what is your BBM pin?" I'll tell them I'm not anywhere else but on Facebook.
My buddies persuaded me to join Facebook a few years ago. I subsequently fell in love with it since I use it as a business tool (I run adverts on Facebook and connect with some valuable people for my business on Facebook). I have a smartphone with BBM, Watapps, and everything else, but I've never used them.
Why is this so?
I'm terrified of squandering time.
To correctly manage your time, you must stop some of your technological marriages.
Some of my African peers are active on Twitter, Facebook, BBM, Watapps, and 2go, all while leading a single life.
Cable television and other technologies are intriguing, but they are killing us. They are suffocating our productivity by robbing us of our time. Don't be a technology junkie, and you'll have more time to devote to your life's mission.
Finally, keep in mind that 24 hours is not the same as 24 hours.
I was speaking with a holder buddy a few days ago. I was curious about how quickly a year passes, so I told him, "Sir, I don't believe what we call a year should be considered a year." It's far too brief."
The entire period we call 24 hours is adequately referred to as 24 minutes.
Time flies by far too quickly.
If you forget all I've told you so far, make sure you don't forget this... 24 hours equals 24 minutes.
When I was in secondary school, I scribbled boldly on my classroom wall, "another day has gone!"
When I came to school and read it, I reminded that days go by too quickly and that I must be extremely quick in the manner I follow my desire.
You are not going to spend a lot of time on Earth. You only have around 200,000 hours to complete all of your tasks.
If you want to be successful in your business or career, you must pay special attention to the nine-time management suggestions I've provided with you.