Successful individuals employ a variety of time management tactics to manage and assess their time. This article presents just a few of the more popular time management principles to enable you to exploit your own time more successfully.

Appreciate that your time does not last forever

Time is a rare and unique supply, which is set and it runs out at the same speed for each and every one of us. After it is vanished, it has gone…forever! Other major resources such as money & employees could be more easily found – though I realise that it may perhaps not always seem like it!

Every one of us begins the day with 1,440 minutes. It doesn’t have any bearing how much we plead to have more time…this unique supply will never grow…ever.

Time is money

It was Benjamin Franklin who announced “time is money”. Each minute that is wasted has a consequence. How do you rate your time and what value do you place on it? It might be time to immediately opt to work out your own value!

What is the bare minimum you aspire to earn in the next 12 months? How long will you toil this year, after taking off weekends, statutory leave & annual leave?

Let us suppose that you plan to gross $180 grand and you’ll work for 1,856 hours. On dividing $180k by 1,856 you’ll determine your necessary hourly value. In this example, you’ll want $96.98 for every hour.

But will you be 100 percent productive?
If you work for yourself, you will have to alter that amount to allocate time for “down time”, etc. I will assume that you are productive for just sixty percent of the time. Each hour is now valued at $161.64 /hr (180,000 divided by 1,856 x 60%).

Will you be so tolerant now of anybody “stealing” your time?

Assess where you’re squandering your time

So you now know the real importance of your time. Do you know which are the common time wasters?

“Do you have a few seconds?”; “Yes, of course, I can have a quick chat”; “The door’s always open”.

Does this sound all too common?

The 1st trial you have to overcome to deal with your time more efficiently is YOURSELF!

Successful, industrious individuals appreciate how to cope with the torrent of interruptions by employing time management tactics. Make it difficult for individuals to take advantage of your time by appreciating your own time.

Say “no”. Set yourself goals and outcomes to avoid falling off the rails. Take stock and audit your time to spot non beneficial areas. Eliminate processes that do not need doing. Ask “What may happen if this task wasn’t carried out at all?” “Which jobs which I currently do can be undertaken more capably and effectively by somebody else”?

Delegate and learn to contract out. Be firm.

Pareto Law & time management

This is easily my preferred time management tactic. Pareto’s Law (or the 80:20 principles) could be summed up as follows:

• 80% of a process’ outputs are derived from 20% of its inputs.
• 80% of your deliverables stem from 20% of your efforts;
• 80% of a business’ earnings come from 20% of its customers;
• 80% of sales are generated from 20% of a business’ goods or services;
• 80% of the troubles faced by a business are generated from 20% of its sources;
• Plus several more

Do your own 80:20 examination and you will most likely be startled at the outcomes.

The scarcest supply on this planet is TIME. You can choose how you use yours. Life is never always perfect and you might not find it easy to adhere to these values most of the time. Don’t simply give up. Improve your time management skills to enable you to design how you live your life.

And most importantly have some fun!