Time Management

• If you don't develop the skills required to control the events in your life, your life will end up controlling you.
• Effective time management takes effort and requires application of techniques such as planning and prioritisation.
• Ensure that you are clear as to the definition of your job. A shared understanding should be held between you and your boss about what your job entails, what you are expected to achieve and how your job relates to other jobs within the company. This will allow you to better prioritise and will help you to politely decline work if it is not genuinely within your remit.
• To achieve improved time management, you need to manage your work, your thinking, your relationships, your communications and your work environment.
• Break down key areas of your job purpose into targets and objectives that need to be carried out to meet those key areas.
• Prioritise your work, list tasks in order of priority and determine how much time needs to be allocated to each job.
• Priorities need to be converted into actions and planning should identify what needs to be done, when it needs to be done and who needs to do it. Remember plans can and will change so don't cram every minute of the day with tasks.
• Be realistic in what you can actually achieve.
• You can take control of your time by using time logs, assertion techniques, delegation and methods to deal with interruptions.