How to effectively manage your time

A few friends and colleagues have already called my attention. They kept on asking if I don’t have anything new on this blog, a subtle way of telling me that they are sick and tired of my usual posts. I can’t blame them. In fact, I admit that I have been neglecting this blog for some time.

If you have seen nothing more than a MYX countdown on this blog, it only means that I don’t have the time or the inspiration to write anything new. Mind you, I just found out that about half of this blog’s traffic is coming from those who are searching for the latest songs and music videos on MYX from search engines.

I know that it’s not good enough as I should be giving my readers what they deserve, that is, quality content. But sometimes, time is not making that possible. You see, I have a day job and I’m maintaining 2 blogs. Actually, you can make that 3 as I just bought a new domain for another blog, a call center blog.

I’m not making excuses, I’m stating facts. I confess that I need to learn more about time-management. All of us have only 24-hours a day but there are gifted people among us who can accomplish more than most of us can do for that same limited amount of time. I envy those people. But why do you think some people can accomplish more tasks that may take a week for some people like me to accomplish? Is it just their higher level of energy? Or some people are more motivated than others?

The most logical reason is some people are able to manage their time more effectively than some of us. It is not really that some people work harder, they are just working smarter.

To tell you the truth, I have read a lot of books about time management before and most of these books are giving different versions of these tips to effectively manage our time and accomplish more. Here are a few tips:

1. Set the time limits for your activities. If you want to accomplish more in a lesser amount of time then you need to be conscious of the time you spent on every activity. You have to allot a reasonable amount of time to accomplish a task. Once you are conscious of the time, you’ll be able to do things in the quickest possible time without compromising the quality of your job. But stick to your timetable. You’ll get used to it.

2. Learn to delegate some of your tasks. The problem with some of us is we love ourselves dearly, we really don’t think that other people’s job can match our efforts. We don’t want to entrust some task to other people for fear that they will not measure up to our standards. Understandably, no one else but you can do the job the way you want it done or how you want it done. But the truth is, you can save more time and energy and you can focus more on important things if you will let other people do the job. Who knows, the job may actually get done better.

3. Set goals and list your priorities. This is necessary so you will have a clear idea on what needs to be done urgently and those that can be done at a later time. By listing your priorities, you must decide on what jobs are most important and needs immediate attention. You must also put the date on when you expect to accomplish your goal.

4. Deal with interactions and learn to say “NO.” One of the major reasons why you are not being productive is because you’re letting small things get in the way while you’re doing your job. Every time someone asks you to do something for them, you feel obligated even if you don’t have time for it. Learn to say NO to less important things so you can focus your time and energy on more important jobs.

These are just some tips that you can take to effectively manage your time. I’ve been struggling to follow these steps for a couple of days now. They said that if you follow these steps for at least thirty days, it would eventually become habitual. I admit that it is difficult at first but over time it would become quite natural. To motivate me, I’m just thinking of the things that I will be able to achieve in less time. Ultimately, it all boils down to self-discipline. If you want to have more time to do what you want to do then learn to value your time. Indeed, every second count.

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