Time management, the ability to work productively in the alloted time we have been given. But how many times a day do we waste time on things that do not matter? We are busy doing nothing, watching the clock before we can go home and - do what exactly? Every day we have been given just 24 hours that we can use, it's up to us how we use that time. Yet we waste it.

Time management is not just about how to cram more into a single day, rather deciding what does not need to be done so you can focus on what does.

1. Block out major projects on your calendar:
And when the appointments appear, stop what you are doing and work on them for the designated time. Once you have gotten stuck into the project you will find natural momentum taking you forward.

But if you are experiencing a feeling of being overwhelmed, breaking it down into half hour slots on your calendar allows you to work on the project for a designated time. You can do anything for half an hour that would drive you potty if you had to do for an entire day. But half an hour – even you can handle that.

2. Handling correspondence - Including the Internet and E-mail:
Have a set time to handle correspondence. Do you remember life before the Internet and e-mail? Well believe it or not, people wrote letters which had to be delivered to their destination. Given the destination that could take a few minutes or a few months. Today we are prodded every few seconds to read the new message as it pops onto our computer screens. Which if you think about it is the equivalent of having to get up from your desk, walk to the mail box and get out the piece of paper that someone has stuffed in their. An over –exaggeration? Personally I don’t think so, given that either way your concentration is ruined. But at least with the “old-fashioned” method at least you got some exercise as a result.

 The Internet and the Email have made us lazy. We think we are being productive, yet the constant interruptions chip into our working day. What happens if you know something is going to arrive – it’s something important to you, so every few minutes your eye strays down to the bottom right hand corner near the time – searching for that little envelope. I’ve turned mine off. And if you really want to get more out of every day, turn off the email and the Internet too. You can handle the spam in one go, and save yourself countless hours out of a working week.

3. Telephone techniques:
Do you spend a lot of time on the telephone? Then try and make a series of phone calls inside one block of time. Good times of the day to do this are first thing in the morning, and around lunch time. Some people also advocate late afternoon, but this can sometimes backfire as we can conveniently forget to make the calls, telling ourselves that we can do them tomorrow instead – when we have more time. It can also back fire if the person you are trying to call has decided to head home early. But you can always leave a message.
 
 Do you delay making phone calls that you know won’t go at all well. For example, trying to persuade a utility company they have made a mistake, and that you aren’t going to pay the money up front so they can “credit” the next two dozen or so bills. Or those sales calls you need to make. What happens is that you find all sorts of excuses not to pick up that telephone and make the call. You may even find yourself getting stuck into one of those major projects you’ve been putting off for a while, just so you can conveniently forget about it. And we all know you can’t possibly call between 12 and 2 because its lunchtime and they’re not likely to be at their desk. Or you do call between 12 and 2 and hope they are at lunch so you can pretend you are solving the problem.
 
So what can you do when you are faced with that kind of “problem”?
 
The first is this – you have to determine what it is you really don’t like about the person/company that you need to speak to. If you have had bad dealings with them in the past, then chances are good you are going to feel apprehensive about speaking to them again. One of the things that I have noticed (and this goes for all conversations that you need to have, not just the ones on the telephone) is that if you are polite to the person on the other end, if you say to the person (especially if the person isn’t responsible for the problem) “look I know this isn’t your fault, but I was wondering if you can help me with a problem I’ve been having” – the person on the other end, having been screamed at all day by other irate customers will do more for you than if you had gone in all guns blazing.
 
Once you know why you don’t want to talk to them, pick up the phone and call them anyway. You’re going to have to do it at some point, so why waste time worrying over a conversation you haven’t had yet. Chances are good that it won’t be as bad as you had anticipated. And even if it is, at least it’s over and done with.

4. Stop the chat – get more done:
Do you spend a fair bit of time every day talking to your colleagues? (By that I mean chatting about who’s doing what with whom). Do you spend a lot of time listening to other people talking about their love lives, what their partner/children have done? Do these same people enjoy the drama and the attention? Do you enjoy living vicariously through other people’s lives? Some people do, and will hang on to every word offering useful/useless advice as they go. A word – stop it. Actually that’s two words – but you get my point. If you knew how much time you spent on idle chatter you’d probably be horrified. And if you want to test this theory, download the time log from this site, and fill it in for a week or so. And as long as you are honest, you will begin to see patterns of wasted time, productive time, and time when you were simply busy doing nothing in particular. It is an absolute eye-opener, if you are willing to see.

5. The day before a holiday:
It is interesting that if you walk and talk with purpose; people rarely get in your way. Have you ever noticed how much you get done the day or two before you go on holiday, you clear up a whole slew of decisions, and projects that have been littering your desk trying to make it look like you are being busy, when in reality all you are is messy? Well it’s true and it works. So if you want to get more out of every day, pretend you are having a day or two off next week – and watch yourself crank up the pace.

6. How much could you honestly charge for your time?
Imagine billing your clients by the hour. Now I know that some people do actually bill their clients by the hour. But in all honesty can you put your hand on your heart and say with conviction that what you are charging is an honest account of the work that you’ve done. And more importantly to you – if you were being paid by the hour, can you prove that what you say you did, you actually did do?

7. Do the bad/disliked tasks first:
If you regularly put off the worst tasks because they’re the equivalent of cleaning the loo, then you should do these ones first otherwise you will find yourself dragging your heals, hoping to get through to the end of the day without having to actually deal with the problem.  But it’s interesting, now you have to lie as to why you didn’t return the calls yesterday, which doesn’t sound very good does it? So do these tasks first. Clear them up, get rid of them and then move on to the more enjoyable tasks. You get the bad things out of the way faster if you have something you really want to do, lined up for afterwards.

8. Do your best work at your best time:
We all have a good time to work and a bad time to work. So it would make sense to do the best work during the period of time where you work the best. And save the bad time(s) during a working day/week for those things you don’t have to think about.

9. Handling Paperwork:
If you keep picking up a piece of paper and don’t know what to do with it. You need to make a decision. The Do it, Delegate it or Dump it regime still holds true today as when it was first coined. Like all things, if you can’t answer the question on your own, then ask someone to assist you. Even managers have PA’s.

10. Decide what you don't need to do:
And don't do it. We have many things we can do, should do and are expected to do each day. However, to do more each day, you need to decide what it is that doesn't need to be done. And then make sure you don't do it.

 MMW1