Can you really manage time

Time management is difficult for many people. That’s because you can’t really “manage” time. It is a unique resource. You can’t increase time, stop time, or store it for future use.

At some time in their lives, just about everyone has trouble keeping pace. For some people, time crunches are only an occasional problem. They may be due to a temporary work overload, untimely equipment failure, some short-lived personal situation, or a miscommunication about times and priorities.

We live in a world of distractions and responses, and often to our own detriment. In order to live productively, we’ve got to learn to eliminate the gossip, procrastination, and mindless clicking, while focusing on the things that are most important.

There’s no one time management system, set of tools or strategies that will work for everyone. Time management is a personal matter. Each of us have different personalities, different expectations and different interpretations of success.

Some simple principles will help you improve your time management and identify wasted time, eliminate it, and get more done every day.

1. You can’t “manage” time. The only thing you can manage is the way you, personally, use time.

2. The success (or failure) of any time management strategies you try will be determined by your personal motivation to succeed. The more you understand why using your time efficiently is important to you, your family and your future, the better you’ll become at doing it.

3. You will never be able to do everything that everyone you interact with wants you to do. Real people who successfully manage their use of time do so by prioritizing their activities and giving the highest priority to activities that are most important to achieving their own business and personal goals.

4. Keep a time log for a week or more, analyze your time log to identify time-wasting activities and activities that will not help you achieve your long-term and short-term goals and create a plan to eliminate time-wasting from your day. Once you determine what time of day you are most productive, take the time to do the most important tasks.

The more time you take to sit down, think and plan, the better you will be organized in all areas of your life. Mastery of your time organization will also increase your self-esteem and improve your sense of personal power.