by Murray Lunn

Created on: August 11, 2010

It never seems like we have enough time in life, despite hours upon hours available to us each day. Where does all the time go? Better yet, how can we use our time better and what are some of the ways to do so? Continue reading to find out.



++ Identify your time wasters ++

Time wasting activities such as constantly checking email, dragging on conversations or getting wrapped up in online games cut hours out of our daily lives. We all know they waste our time but there's little we can do about them as we always have the sense to stay busy.

The first step toward better time management is to identify the activities which are sucking away at your valuable time. Once you create a list of these time wasters, begin the process of weening off each of these activities and replace them with those that are productive.



++ Set goals often ++

A goal can help us strive toward excellence but one fatal flaw when developing goals is to make it utterly unobtainable and a compete waste of time as we become distracted and unfocused.

The correct way to set a goal is to go outside your comfort zone but break down the entirety into manageable chunks which you can reward yourself after each milestone.



++ Start a to-do list ++

With dozens of activities, work and goals on our minds each day, it can be easy to be caught up in the minutia and end up wasting hours of our day.

To help you stay focused, write down all of your daily activities and set the most important as your first task of the day. If you can at least get your main task done, you'll feel much better about not wasting time and dive right into the others.



++ Don't worry about your accounts ++

Thanks in many ways to social media, many people have multiple accounts littered across the net. Each additional account becomes another chore to check on a regular basis. Additionally, with email, banking and many other accounts, these "few seconds" checking each will quickly add up to hours.

To manage your time better, try to create a set schedule where you only check your profiles and accounts at certain times of the day and afterward, leave them alone.



++ Set the phone to vibrate ++

Whenever you're working passionately, nothing interrupts you more than a phone constantly going off with calls and messages. These beeps and ring tones can destroy your concentration and often lead to you checking to see what the call or message was about.

Next time you sit down to do work, turn off your phone or at least set it to vibrate. With the phone out of your way, you'll be able to manage your time to get more done.



++ Batch your work ++

There are many activities which we do each day that could easily be fit together: answering emails, returning phone calls, writing articles. Because most of these tasks of responding and working often come at different intervals, we always break up our time.

Instead of immediately responding to an alert, batch your work together so you only spend a certain allotted time to finish each of these tasks - once the time is done, don't check it until the next day.



++ Learn to say "no" ++

We all have a lot of work to do but it always seems like we take on additional projects even when we're overloaded. It could be as a favor or to stay busy but the more projects you take upon yourself the more likely you'll eventually burn out.

Start learning to say "no" when additional work arrives. Tell others that you're already busy and would like to but simply don't have the time. Learning to say no will help you keep focus and allow you to manage your time.

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