One of the very important time management tasks is filing. Time management is simply the practice of utilizing your time for maximum results. Whether you are striving to better manage your time at work, home, or on the road, your goals are one and the same: To get more done in less time, with total organization, reduced stress, and with all of your daily goals achieved. By implementing time management tasks into your life, you can manage your days for effectively, streamline your meetings, increase the speed of communications, and stay on top of your organizational needs.
Today we are going to cover why “filing” is such an important time management task, which invariably leads to the growth of your time management levels. Filing your paperwork and other clutter becomes even more important as the world grows increasingly more complex. Most people think of filing as simply a place to put your papers. But there is actually an art to it, and one that can make your office a more productive area to work in. There are few essential tools to proper filing which we will mention below, as well as explain how a creating filing system can have a unique way of serving the way you work.
Take a moment and think about how you feel when you think about getting organized for better time management, by filing your area. Do you look upon filing as an uphill battle, something of a drudgery? If you do, you are not alone! Let's be honest. Filing, especially piles and piles of clutter that have not been organized for years, is a rather tedious and mundane task. Does the word “boring” come to mind?
Now let's get your mind on to a more positive affiliation with filing. Yes it is boring and tedious, but what you need to keep your thoughts on are that when you are in control of your office, your desk, your files, and the proper resources assembled, you will be more focused, productive, and efficient at what you do at work.
Why should I file?
As a person who is striving for increased time management skills, you have learned to write down all time management tasks and goals on paper, as well as answering the question of “why” you are doing what you are doing. The same goes with filing. Before you take on this job, you need to ask yourself: “Why file?”
1. Value: The items that you deem necessary to store within your home or office are important enough to be organized in a safe place. This safe place should also be streamlined so that when you need to find a certain document, you can get it within seconds of looking it up.
2. Time Management: There are negative consequences for not filing. For example, what happens to those important tax records that you will need for an audit? How about needing to find all of your business expenses that you need to show proof of? How much time will be wasted trying to find these items when you need them in a short amount of time?
Hopefully this will help you to understand why filing is one of the most important time management tasks.
Showing posts with label Time Management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Time Management. Show all posts
Thursday, 22 September 2011
Monday, 5 September 2011
The 80-20 Rule in Time Management
The 80-20 Rule in Time Management is a very important set of strategies necessary to speed you on your way to the accomplishment of your objectives and goals and hence the realization of your dreams.
There seems to be no limit to the long list of activities on which you can choose to spend your time. Therefore, there will seldom be a day during your life when you feel "caught up."
Think back. Can you ever remember a day when you felt that you had accomplished all the things you needed to do and would like to have done? I certainly cannot remember one. However, what's important is not that everything gets done during a specific day, but that the activities that are most important to the accomplishment of your dreams and goals have been completed on a schedule set by you.
To feel good about how you use time does not require being busy every moment, or constantly playing "catch-up." Positive feelings and the mental rewards associated with real accomplishments are produced through effectiveness, since only effectiveness produces results.
Think of it. If you can double your effectiveness, by definition you can accomplish twice as much in the same amount of time. You will double the speed at which you accomplish your objectives, and you will cut in half the time it takes you to achieve your dreams and goals.
To double your effectiveness, apply the 20/80 rule. Just 20 percent of the activities on which you could choose to spend your time will produce 80 percent of the results you're after. Conversely, spending time and energy on the other 80 percent of your possible activities will produce only 20 percent of the results you're after including only 20 percent of the total sense of satisfaction from accomplishment.
When it comes to achieving your dreams and goals, just 20 percent of your activities will take you along your pathway faster and farther than others. Identify that 20 percent and then spend the majority of your time and mental and physical energy each day on their accomplishment. Focusing first on the commencement and completion of that 20 percent is what transforms energy-wasting efficiency into results-producing effectiveness.
In the purest sense, it would be a waste of your time, talent, and energy to spend time on anything not in the top 20 percent of the activities on your list, at least until that 20 percent has been totally completed. That's the point.
There seems to be no limit to the long list of activities on which you can choose to spend your time. Therefore, there will seldom be a day during your life when you feel "caught up."
Think back. Can you ever remember a day when you felt that you had accomplished all the things you needed to do and would like to have done? I certainly cannot remember one. However, what's important is not that everything gets done during a specific day, but that the activities that are most important to the accomplishment of your dreams and goals have been completed on a schedule set by you.
To feel good about how you use time does not require being busy every moment, or constantly playing "catch-up." Positive feelings and the mental rewards associated with real accomplishments are produced through effectiveness, since only effectiveness produces results.
Think of it. If you can double your effectiveness, by definition you can accomplish twice as much in the same amount of time. You will double the speed at which you accomplish your objectives, and you will cut in half the time it takes you to achieve your dreams and goals.
To double your effectiveness, apply the 20/80 rule. Just 20 percent of the activities on which you could choose to spend your time will produce 80 percent of the results you're after. Conversely, spending time and energy on the other 80 percent of your possible activities will produce only 20 percent of the results you're after including only 20 percent of the total sense of satisfaction from accomplishment.
When it comes to achieving your dreams and goals, just 20 percent of your activities will take you along your pathway faster and farther than others. Identify that 20 percent and then spend the majority of your time and mental and physical energy each day on their accomplishment. Focusing first on the commencement and completion of that 20 percent is what transforms energy-wasting efficiency into results-producing effectiveness.
In the purest sense, it would be a waste of your time, talent, and energy to spend time on anything not in the top 20 percent of the activities on your list, at least until that 20 percent has been totally completed. That's the point.
Saturday, 5 January 2008
Get in to the Habit of Planning Your Day
Do you hinder time management skills by avoiding setting daily goals on paper? Do you easily find excuses why planning your day each morning will not help your day be more effective? Many people feel that by listing all of the things that they have to do, or wish to do each day, will only make them feel “tied down” and “overwhelmed”.
Nobody enjoys the thought of facing an overwhelming list of tasks to do. However, the solution is not to avoid planning, but rather to make your plans meaningful and effective. This way your plans will give you more freedom instead of making you feel like a slave to your list.
Here are a few tips to help you plan your day:
1. Avoid using small pads and make your list on a bigger sheet. With plenty of room there will be no reason to leave anything off of your list.
2. Write everything down. Even if it seems so small and unrelated. If it must be done, then get it on your list!
3. Cross off completed tasks each time they are finished.
4. Prioritize your list from the most important to least important.
5. Schedule the most important items to be done first thing in the morning each day.
6. Understand that this list is not something that has to be done in one day. Your list may be something that can cover the entire week or even the entire month.
Be flexible with your plan and do not feel that you absolutely must spend every morning planning your day and visualizing success. Start out with two days per week, then move up. View your daily plan as the ticket to your success. It is not a foe, but rather a friend. Know that planning is a tool that keeps you in control, and control equal freedom!
Nobody enjoys the thought of facing an overwhelming list of tasks to do. However, the solution is not to avoid planning, but rather to make your plans meaningful and effective. This way your plans will give you more freedom instead of making you feel like a slave to your list.
Here are a few tips to help you plan your day:
1. Avoid using small pads and make your list on a bigger sheet. With plenty of room there will be no reason to leave anything off of your list.
2. Write everything down. Even if it seems so small and unrelated. If it must be done, then get it on your list!
3. Cross off completed tasks each time they are finished.
4. Prioritize your list from the most important to least important.
5. Schedule the most important items to be done first thing in the morning each day.
6. Understand that this list is not something that has to be done in one day. Your list may be something that can cover the entire week or even the entire month.
Be flexible with your plan and do not feel that you absolutely must spend every morning planning your day and visualizing success. Start out with two days per week, then move up. View your daily plan as the ticket to your success. It is not a foe, but rather a friend. Know that planning is a tool that keeps you in control, and control equal freedom!
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