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Monday, March 23, 2009

Time Management Series Post (5) How to schedule your time

It is important to understand the reason for scheduling your time in a written form. A schedule is a written commitment to accomplish your tasks in a specific time frame. It also gives you a chance to visualize your days. If your schedule becomes overbooked, you might want to revisit your priorities. You should keep only top priority tasks and activities on the schedule.
Using different tools to schedule your time allow you to see if you can afford to handle any unplanned activities or requests.
Scheduling tools also provide you with a list of reasons why you are not available.
Some of the most common scheduling tools are:
  • Wall calendars, daily and weekly planning guides
  • Agendas
  • to-do lists
  • Scheduling software

Tasks, the backbone of your goals

Breaking your goals into manageable tasks is the first step in time management. List of the key task required to achieve each of your goals and put them in sequential order.

Once you have done that, estimate how much time each task will require. If you have completed a similar task before, you can often use that as a basis for a time estimate. Establish deadlines for the completion of the tasks.

Remember to identify the tasks that add more value to the accomplishment of your goals, those tasks should get more attention than the other ones.

Next: Creating a schedule

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