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Learn to manage your time effectively How often have you said or heard someone say, “But I haven’t got the time!“? The fact is, however, that you do have the time. You have as much time as you or anyone else will ever have. You have your whole life. To manage your time is to manage your life. Time management really boils down to deciding what you really want to do. then doing it in the most effective way possible. You must decide for yourself that you control your time. You do this by deciding what your priorities are. If you let others decide for you. you will end up having time demands placed on you that are impossible to meet. In one 24-hour day you cannot work for eight hours, put in three hours of housework, take four hours to go to a meeting, spend three hours with your children, take two hours to work on your favorite hobby, help a friend with a problem, . .plus eat and sleep a reasonable number of hours. You may decide for example to give your hobby a rest on the days you‘re working at the job and cut the meeting time down by an hour or two. Whatever the case, you must decide what is most important. Whatever is most important is where you put your time. Have you ever felt that you got all the little. unimportant things done but didn’t get around to the impor- tant things? This is because you didn‘t set your priorities, or if you did, you didn’t do the important things first! Always be asking yourself: “Why am I doing this?" and “What should I be doing now?" The answer better have something to do with accomplishing your highest priority. Once you know what your priori- ties are you can plan your time bet- ter. Schedule your time in large 6 chunks in order to get those impor- tant things done.1fwriting a letter is your high priority for Tuesday evening. don’t leave it until after you have done all the other little chores. Plan to spend from 7 to 8 on the letter and then do what you like afterwards. Don't schedule every minute. This won‘t work any more than a budget that doesn’t give you room to buy an extra stick of gum. Be flexible and leave room for unexpected events. Remember also to plan to do difficult tasks when you work best. To work effectively, make sure you are doing the right job. Stop doing those things which serve no purpose, Ask yourself. “What would happen if I didn’t do this at all?" This will help you determine whether you are being truly effective or merely efficient. Once you have concluded that you are doing the right job, it is time to ask if you are doing it in the best way possible. Here you might be asking yourself. “ls there a better way to do this?" You can find answers to this question by reading books, asking other people who do the same thing, and asking people who don‘t do this particular thing. Sometimes a stranger to a task can give you a fresh look at it. You alternately may decide to do the job more quickly and not demand such a high standard from yourself. Not all tasks require the same effort. Put your effort where it counts and don’t waste effort where there is little to be gained. Striving for absolute perfection in everything may mean never approaching perfection in anything. If something you do reâ€" quires a top quality job, he prepared to invest some money as well as time. You might want to hire some help or buy some materials that will lend that professional look to what you ,i ,. Speaking of investment. you m make investments in time or mt .t-y which end up saving you time. A .w sewing machine or a power tool- 4, money in the first place but ma} n- dividends in time required for se is or fixing things around the h. tr, You can also invest time to saver Take for example the time you l't.’ taking to read this article. Hopci r. it will pay off in the way you ma --u your time and your life. You will .u time too if you take time to plan If day or plan your week. Man:- time does take time but the pay !\. worth it â€" you will end up it g that you do have time! One of the best ways to Sfl‘rt‘ i; is to learn to do more than one g at a time. The key word is “w!- You can be practicing a speech you are driving. You can be m . dinner while the clothes are wa : or drying. You can read while yr e waiting for a doctor’s appoint} Just make sure you don’t try re ; the newspaper while driving! Saving time also means in; A one effort count more than on! i you are going shopping, try to b much at one time as is possible l.’ time taken to get to the store I: \1 as well be used for everything yor .ri foresee needing. Otherwise, yet H be wasting time as you go to the w again tomorrow and then agait r next day. When you are makin: it trip to the store you might also 6' ii errand in that direction or see a fi rd Who lives in the area. Both actii '~ cut down on additional trave is time. In writing this article I at making the effort count twice â€" it provide you with some thou - provoking ideas and also to get it n straight in my mind for a course l in on You may say at this point, ' ”