Time management manager time management. Seven steps to success. Leave a temporary gap between tasks

"What a pity that there are only twenty-four hours in a day!"  - For many, this phrase has become a refrain of everyday life. Surrounded by countless schedulers, timers, gadgets and other devices that save time, we are always on the run, but late everywhere. It seems that life has turned into an endless race: a long and nervous road to the office, work in the emergency mode, postponed for tomorrow personal life. The result is ongoing stress and chronic fatigue.

If this scenario is not for you, then it's time to learn how to manage your time!

Time management  Is a technology organization of time  and increase the efficiency of its use. This is a lifestyle that allows you to comfortably dispose of a valuable temporary resource in the rapid flow of information.

Meaning time managementis to subordinate minutes first, but gradually and whole life to the true goals of man, and also learn to separate life values \u200b\u200bfrom that which does not require attention and does not bring results.

Setting goals according to priorities will help organize not only your time, but your life as a whole. Indeed, at times it is most difficult to take this very first step - to understand your aspirations and formulate life plans. Priority  one or another purpose determines the amount of timethat you can give her. By assessing the significance of cases, you can identify time scavengers - activities that distract you from your goal, have nothing to do with your life plan - and abandon them without regret.

If you have an important business that you nevertheless constantly put off, if you are too lazy to do it - think, maybe this business has nothing to do with your goal and is imposed on you? In this case, sincerely abandon it - save effort and time.

If you clearly see the goal and the benefits of achieving it, it seems closer to you, and it’s easier to plan specific actions. Time managementhelps you stay on track for your goal.

An important tool for time management are various   planners: paper and electronic. They allow you to set and control the timing of step-by-step tasks and, in addition, free from unnecessary information for memorization. Time management will make your computer, phone, alarm clock serve you most effectively.

If in the evening you feel tired and irritated, if after a working day you don’t have enough strength for active rest, for your favorite hobby, for communicating with loved ones - it means that you are not correctly distributing your time and energy. Analyze your life: do you fully relax, do you do enough household chores, do you rationally use working hours. Having realized the mistakes at the disposal of your time, you will learn how to use it more efficiently. Time management will help to balance your time and energy resources in such a way as to avoid excessive fatigue and carry out all the scheduled tasks within the limits of comfort. You will feel that tiredness is treated by minute planning.

Manage your time  - means carefully plan not only work but also rest. Indeed, in addition to plans and production schedules, there are your desires and needs, except for employees - family and friends, in addition to career and profit - love of loved ones and homeliness. The basic principle of equilibrium in time management is:   The amount of time at home and the quality of time at work are important!

Time management courses remain one of the most popular areas of self-development. This is the first step that allows you to free up time to work on yourself. Time management, as a powerful tool to increase the efficiency of life and control the expenditure of time and energy, is extremely in demand by modern society. In addition, positive results are evident from the first days of the application of the methods. With practice, formed individual time management style, allowing to achieve the highest productivity at work and maximum relaxation on vacation.

If you are ready to become the manager of your time - start training immediately!

Lack of time is an important issue that worries many. You always want to do more than you can. People are accustomed to blaming the crazy rhythm of life and excessive workload. Things are constantly accumulating and dealing with them is becoming increasingly difficult. Not everyone knows how to prioritize correctly, all tasks seem important and urgent. Time Management Skills - Literate managing your time  - will solve this problem.

What is time management?

This is a foreign language term, which literally means “time management”. It does not sound right, because its course is not subject to us. And here personal time management, which is given to everyone 24 hours a day, has the right meaning.

The correct distribution of tasks throughout the day increases the efficiency and quality of life. It’s easy to settle relationships over time; most of the tools are known to many. In fact, not everyone uses them. Important elements such as setting goals and priorities, planning personal time, seeking motivation, analyzing time spent are often overlooked.

The development of information technology gives rise to new time thieves: e-mail, social networks, entertainment resources, ICQ, Skype, online games, video services ... How to stop the minutes and hours flowing like sand through your fingers? reveals the reserves of time, entering the battle with its sinks.

A complete rejection of idle pastime will not make you happy. Sometimes you need to indulge in doing nothing, it is useful for mental health. You only need to learn how to manage attachments. Quantity reduction time absorbers  frees you for important work or communication with family. By the way, vacation planning in time management has a special place.

Organization of the working day

The ability to properly organize the working day is important for all employees, especially for managers. A double burden is placed on their shoulders - time management  and setting tasks for subordinates. Ordinary employees must also plan their work properly in order to achieve career success.

Currently, a number of independent time management schools, each of which in its own way interprets the rules of time management. Basically, these norms are universal. Here are some of these rules, adhering to which, you will significantly improve your performance.

Rule 10/90

Labor productivity is increased by 25%, if you adhere to a predefined plan. In the morning you don’t have to puzzle over where to start work. The gradual resolution of issues and the implementation of priority cases will significantly reduce the time spent on them. This is exactly what it says time management rule  called "10/90". Its essence is that it takes 10% of the time to plan a task. Subsequently, this contribution will save 90% of the time for its solution.

• Proper Pre-Planning Prevents Bad Performance

It is necessary to be able to clearly define the most priority tasks based on their importance and urgency. Complex tasks can be divided into small ones by building a decision tree. In this case, the main thing is not to dig into the little things, moving away from the final goal. Excessive number of subtasks can interfere with the solution of the main problem.

Forced effectiveness

• The main thing is to keep up with the main

The law also calls for highlighting the most important in the work “ enforcement effectiveness". You need to clearly imagine that time is never enough, so initially you need to solve the issue that will bring the greatest benefit as a result. Each completed item of the plan is recommended to be crossed out. This will not only relieve the head, but also bring moral satisfaction, which will give a new charge of energy for work.

Solving unpleasant and global problems

• Eat a frog and cut an elephant

Do not put off unpleasant things until later. This is one of the main mistakes that lead to emotional stress. Eat the frog  means at the beginning of the day without any thought to close an unpleasant question, after which the load will drop off your shoulders and a good mood will appear. A new surge of energy will increase efficiency, and the remaining business will not require excessive effort.

If it’s such a big deal that you can’t take it at all, then you need to “cut the elephant into steaks” - break up the big deal into interconnected cases of “digestible” size. In the scientific world, this approach is called decomposition.

Today, many companies began to introduce time management technology. The basic rules for organizing time help employees to manage them more rationally and correctly. At the moment, the methods and principles of time management are covered in some detail by leading Russian and foreign authors. Vivid examples and many useful tips can be found by anyone who is interested in time management in more depth.

Competent organization of rest

Managing working time, we must not forget about recreation organization. Continuous work is capable of exhausting even the most hardy employee. In order not to feel tired and driven, you need to skillfully plan short and periodic vacations. Only rhythm and maximum disconnection from work will allow you not to lose the taste for it. In addition, a good distraction will allow you to relax more effectively.

The rhythm of breaks and switching attention

As a snapshot of working time shows, for most employees, breaks for rest add up spontaneously. They can easily be distracted by a cell phone call, an article on the Internet, or a personal question from a colleague. A coffee break, a smoke break, or chatting with loved ones is also irregular. Time management calls for holiday planning  in compliance with certain periods of time, because even school lessons are held in a similar vein. For one hour of work, you need to allocate 5-10 minutes of a break.

Switching attention improves performance. Monotonous and monotonous activities must be contrasted with active exercises, a walk or a business trip. If you have been sitting at the computer for a long time, it's time to do something with your hands. Even talking on the phone can get you out of fatigue.

Have a great rest - detailed plan

The competent organization of rest implies not only the management of working hours and breaks. It is necessary to carefully plan all your free time, since we spend it much less on vacation than on work. Labor forms professional experience, and rest forms moral attitudes and perceptions of life.

In order to enjoy life, you need to be able to have a good rest. This is a real problem for many people. After a vacation, someone feels even more broken. therefore tight time management  Sometimes it is the best assistant in the competent organization and planning of vacations. A to-do list should be compiled every day so that you do not waste valuable time. But this does not mean at all that on vacation you need to be loaded with endless housework or in the country. Whenever possible, try to plan weekly evenings, weekends and vacations so as not to regret the time lost.

Young mom time management

With the advent of a newborn in the family, the habitual life of the spouses changes. New worries require additional time. When caring for a child, you need to find time to visit medical facilities, daily walks, development and games. Having children adds a new category to time management skill.

Female time management

Time management for women and mothers this is an independent discipline, because on the fragile shoulders there are always many specific responsibilities for housework and childcare. Torn between household chores, the young mother does not have time to redo everything. There is practically no time and effort left over. For desperate women, time management is a lifeline that brings moral relief and the release of temporary reserves.

Competent household chores  and taking care of the baby will allow the young mother to ensure that order reigns in the house, dinner is cooked on the stove, and the child grows up, feeling the attention and care of a precious person. At the same time, it is important that mom remains a well-groomed and beloved woman. To do this, you need to develop a flexible daily routine, according to the change in the sleep and wakefulness of the baby.

Time management for young mothers includes many standard time management techniques, since caring for children in their workload is comparable to work activities. The right combination of rules and techniques will make a woman friends over time, bringing new colors and pleasure to life.

A game of family with children - rest for mom

A young mother needs to be able to accept the help of her parents. The first assistant in household chores should be the husband. Children like to spend time with dad, grandparents, do not limit them in this. Any care from relatives is an additional time reserve. You need to thank relatives for your interest and help, but do not forget to praise yourself. This should be an important rule that will bring personal satisfaction and self-esteem. After all, there is nothing more honorable than the upbringing and becoming of a child on its feet.

Features of time management for children

Children's time is mainly managed by parents. It is adults who install mode for the child, take time for games, determine tasks around the house, write them in circles, monitor the implementation of school tasks.

For a child to grow up organized, parents need to make an effort, including in working on themselves. Often, grandparents, and parents themselves, “disability” their child, denying children independence.

• more freedom - more responsibility

Gradually expand the boundaries of freedom for the child and at the same time limit your fathers and mothers to excessive care of grandchildren. With the expansion of freedom, personal responsibility must also be increased. Any person, even a small one, must learn how to organize their time independently.

Time management for children  this is NOT an increase in the number of cases  per unit of time! The main goal - free up the time of the childby teaching him to quickly cope with his duties.

Game approach

Children learn new information much faster when it is served in play form. With this approach, it is never boring, and the guys willingly perform the proposed tasks. For example, as a toy, a timer can be selected with which the child learns to carry out instructions, not exceeding the set time. With the help of pictures or drawings, you can talk about the daily routine and try to make a visual list of daily activities.

Adults, before starting to educate children, should look at themselves from the side and give themselves an objective assessment. Training will only be effective on personal examplewhen parents themselves are able to competently organize their time, make clear plans and adhere to the established daily routine. In this case, the children will reach for their parents and will imitate them with pleasure.

Compliance with the sequence

Children quickly get used to a certain regimen, the observance of which acts as a kind of guarantee of safety for them. Violation of the way can cause feelings of excitement and anxiety. That's why adherence to sequence  Certain actions are so important for children. Parents should strictly monitor this, while not evading the implementation of the indicated plans.

Planning accustomed

An important stage in the process of teaching children time management is to teach them how to plan their time. For kids, you need to pronounce the procedure out loud, note what is done and what needs to be done next. School children should be able to independently compile to-do lists and plan your personal time.

Reward system

Teaching children time management, adults must develop incentive system. It is desirable that it was visual and understandable even to kids. You can be rewarded with stickers or marks for completed tasks. Using the funded system, you can determine a more significant reward. Parents must definitely remember to praise their children for their successes and achievements, albeit small ones. This will be a good incentive for development, which over time will develop into real skills.

Time Management and Life Management

As we noted at the beginning of the article, the term “time management” in the strict sense is not entirely correct. Time flows regardless of whether we want to manage it or not. We can only effectively cope with our affairs, which in the end gives savings time of our life. There is a less common but more appropriate term - life management, or managing your life. Therefore, we called the article “ Time Management - Manage Your Life Time».

Whatever we call this useful skill, it is vital for every person. Whoever calls planning a boring affair overlooks the other side. Is it really more interesting to live without a goal, to go with the flow in an unknown direction, drowning every day in the chaos of insoluble affairs? Is it worth it to spend precious time on ineffective work, depriving loved ones of their attention?

They used to say that time is money. Now they increasingly say that time is more expensive than money! You can earn more money in the information age at any time, and lost time is lost forever, this is an irreplaceable resource.

Various gadgets and mobile smartphones dictate the rhythm of our lives. And this very rhythm is getting faster. Any person can be warned of being late for 5 minutes, and in order to resolve any issue, it is not necessary to meet in person or even call. A couple of posts in the Wats app - and that's it. The volume of tasks is growing. A person becomes more mobile and productive. Everyone wants to be in time for the day not only to work, but also to spend a pleasant time for themselves. And for the effective distribution of own time, there is such a term as time management.

What is time management?

Time management is the correct distribution of time for its more efficient and productive use.

Previously, time management was used only for people employed in the business sphere and was a concept related only to entrepreneurship. Now, a representative of any profession and every busy person can plan their day competently and most productively. Time management covers all spheres of life, whether it be going to the cinema or a morning meeting.

Time management has long been a scientific concept, and, therefore, it is necessary to approach it scientifically. There are certain methods for solving the tasks. Thanks to the competent planning of the day (week, month), you can free up some of the time and manage a much larger volume of important tasks. And the most important thing is to get the desired result.

The oldest method proposed by the Italian writer and scientist Alberti in the 15th century looked something like this:

• From the beginning of the day make a to-do list;
• Cases should be arranged in order of decreasing importance.

Of course, not everyone needs time management. If you do not know what to do with yourself and where to put the time today, then you do not need to plan time and set priorities. For everyone else, you are the head of a large holding, the head of a department or an artist, all the following information will be extremely useful.

There are the main components of time management:

• Clear accounting of allotted time;
• Self-optimization of resources;
• Designing a certain period of time (day, week, month);
• Streamlining motivation.

People who correctly organize their day are happier, healthier and more successful. The concept of "personal effectiveness" for them is not just words, but an end in itself.

Methods for solving the tasks

Recently, a fairly large number of books, articles and works have been written on the topic of time management. At the end of this article there is a list of references, books of which describe several techniques and their implementation.

Gleb Arkhangelsk

Gleb Arkhangelsky - is a business coach, time management expert and director of the Organization of Time. Developed his own time coordination technique.

Trainings of Gleb Arkhangelsky are a huge success. At his seminars, he explains that time is a unique resource that cannot be replenished. Money can always be earned, but time will not be returned. According to the methodology of Gleb Alekseevich, it is important to allocate this resource to perform not the most pleasant tasks, and then move on to the rest. Such cases are often shifted "for later." Conventionally, such not big problems are called “frogs”. But, after repeatedly transferring the solution to such a “frog”, the task turns into an “elephant”, occupying an ever larger space in a person’s life. To solve the problem of the size of the "elephant" requires more time and effort. And to eliminate it, Gleb of Arkhangelsk proposes to divide the elephant into "steaks" and solve the problem gradually. In other words, divide the big problem into smaller ones and understand it in stages.

Gleb Alekseevich's seminars teach to relate to his time holistically and objectively. Planning for a certain period of time includes not only work tasks, but also private ones, the expenditure of forces for which must also be taken into account and taken into account with their importance.

Also in planning the day, rest is important. Depending on the type of tasks, a corresponding break is proposed. For representatives of “sedentary” professions, for example, programmers, active leisure is necessary, for people associated with sports professions, such as a football player, “sedentary” rest is necessary.

It is impossible not to mention that the best rest is still a dream. And to sleep during the day is a physical necessity for maximum performance. For more effective falling asleep, one and the same certain ritual should be done every day.

  There are 3 fundamental factors in determining the importance of a given task:, and. For the purpose, everything is usually simple - everyone knows what they want. To achieve it, certain actions are planned. And for the implementation you need motivation - this is where certain problems can arise. To create it, an understanding of the mode and abilities of a person is necessary. And then the conditions are created for the task.

Pareto principle

The Pareto principle also has other names: the Pareto law or the 20/80 principle. It was named in honor of the Italian engineer, economist and sociologist Wilfredo Pareto. The term was proposed by Joseph Juran 18 years after the death of Pareto himself.

In a simplified form, the principle is as follows: 20% of efforts give 80% of the result, while the remaining 80% of efforts gives only 20% of the result. This principle can be applied in all areas of life. Each successful person, not always consciously, to one degree or another, applied this principle in practice. Although to apply the law 20/80 to its full extent is unrealistic, the figures themselves are conditional and may fluctuate in practice. Although the general rule will be retained.

  There are many confirmations of the Pareto law in various fields. Starting with the economy and ending with the habits of any person. The importance of this principle breaks down the stereotypes that the more you work, the better the result and the higher your reward. From which it follows that to achieve the maximum result, you need to concentrate on the most important tasks.

In time management, the law 20/80 is applied as follows: 20% of your time brings the highest quality results, and the remaining 80% is distracting from achieving the goal or is spent inefficiently. This means that you need to understand which actions have the greatest effect and what you need to pay close attention to.

When you start using the Pareto law, there is a psychological barrier. You should start working with the principle with trifles, eventually switching to more important and larger plans.

Eisenhower matrix

The Eisenhower matrix, in another way the principle of priorities, is named after the 34th president of the United States. For a long service, Dwight Eisenhower had to solve many problems, problems and deeds in a day, and he came up with his own scheme for solving problems. His decision principle is still considered one of the most effective short-term planning methods.

How does the Eisenhower Matrix work? The 34th US President came up with 4 points:

• Important and urgent;
• Non-urgent and important;
• Urgent and unimportant;
• Unlimited and unimportant.

  In the first square, we introduce urgent and urgent matters. Often these things were important and not urgent before, but laziness, lack of time and the approaching deadline moved these tasks to the first list. Such things need to be done first.

In the second square, important and urgent matters are introduced. Such tasks are important to recognize immediately. The correct and timely execution of such matters brings good results and affects the whole quality of life. It is important to devote a certain amount of time to this section every day and not do everything at the last moment. Eisenhower considered this list the most important and productive.

Urgent, but not important matters are sent to the third square. No matter how I would like to do such a task right now, the main thing is to understand that it does not carry any result and only interferes with the work. It is very important to distinguish important problems from not very important ones, otherwise the day will be busy, but it will not bring any benefit. Sometimes it’s worth asking a question, “What will happen if I don’t do this?” And it will immediately become clear how necessary the task is.

The fourth square includes the so-called "time eaters." This is watching TV shows, meaningless correspondence, games on the computer, etc. You can refuse such cases, but the productivity of the day will not change. Such classes really can not be called even a complete rest, since they do not carry any benefit in themselves. You do not breathe fresh air, do not learn anything new, do not play sports, do not sleep. Over such matters should establish a clear control.

If the day goes by without hurry and everything conceived is not put off the buck, then you are doing everything right. Calmness is a qualitative indicator of how you manage your most valuable resource - time.

Time Management Books

There is a huge list of literature on the management of the distribution of their time. Only Gleb Arkhangelsky has more than 10 works. The most famous of them are: Formula of time, Work 2: 0, Time management on Outlook.

According to Pareto’s law, there is an excellent book by Richard Coach “The 20 by 80 Principle”. It reveals the skills to increase the effectiveness of their actions at the lowest cost.

Also, according to the square of the distribution of the importance of cases, there is a book “Highly Effective Time Management on the Eisenhower Matrix,” by Anatoly Genius.

Interesting sources for studying time management include The Art of Keeping Up, Alan Lackeyn and This This Strange Life, Granina Daniil, and Brian Tracy's excellent book, Get Out of Your Comfort Zone. 21 ways to increase personal effectiveness ”should be addressed first. Such work can change a lot in a person’s life, and for the better.

Hello, friends! In touch Dmitry Shaposhnikov.

In my observation, a modern successful person inevitably encounters the concept of "time management." Everyone, to one degree or another, felt a lack of time, pressure on deadlines, and experienced stress from a forced rush.

After reading the article, you will learn the most important thing about time management, get acquainted with the basic concepts of successful time management. All this is accompanied by my examples and comments. I hope that studying this topic will be useful, interesting and exciting for you!

Let's start, friends!

1. What is time management - definition and history of occurrence

Direct translation of the term " Time management"From English -" time management". It is clear that in the literal sense it is impossible to manage time: the real function of time management is to use the time of your life with maximum efficiency.

The most accurate definition of time management is as follows:

Time management  - This is the accounting, distribution and operational planning of own time resources.

Another variant of the definition.

Time management  - This is a scientific approach to organizing time and increasing the effect of its use.

The motto of a professional time manager:

Work less, keep up more!

People who know how to efficiently manage their own reserves of time, live a richer and fuller life, do their job with minimal time.

By managing our time, we have more living space: it becomes more real the opportunity to do what we really like.

Considering in what kind of emergency all modern people live, the issue of managing the resources of time is becoming more and more relevant, if not vital. The developed skill of time management significantly increases personal effectiveness. I understood this already about 12 years ago.

Time management allows you to streamline work and personal time during the day (week, month) in order to manage to do all the important and necessary things, without being distracted by secondary or extraneous issues and problems.

Effective planning allows you to free up enormous resources of time for a full and fulfilling life. According to professionals, the size of such resources is calculated over the years and decades.

History of Time Management

A scientific approach to organizing time is not a new problem. The history of time management is rooted in the distant past.

Even 2000 years ago, in ancient Rome, the famous thinker Seneca suggested dividing all time into wasted usefully, that is, good, bad and useless.

Seneca also began to keep a constant record of time in writing. The thinker said that living a certain period of time, it is necessary to evaluate it in terms of occupancy.

In the subsequent history of time management, these ideas formed the basis of such a concept as “personal effectiveness”.

Alberti, a writer and Italian scientist who lived in the 15th century, said that those who know how to manage time to good use will always be successful.

For this, he suggested using two rules:

1. Make a to-do list every day in the morning.
2. Arrange things in decreasing order of importance.

For many centuries, all these principles existed only in a theoretical form, and only from the 80s of the last century this topic began to move from theory to practice.

Time management is necessary not only for executives and owners of our own business: each of us must be able to manage our own assets in order to enjoy the life process in its entirety.

Of course, not everyone needs time management. If a person has nothing to do in his life, and his main task is to “kill time”, then time management for such a person is irrelevant and unnecessary discipline.

In other words, you should first decide whether you really have enough time and where you would like to spend your free minutes, hours and days when they appear.

Time management consists of several components:

• strict time tracking;
• optimization of temporary resources;
• scheduling a day (week, month, or another period of time);
• organization of motivation.

Time management is important not only for work: people who have mastered the art of time management are more cheerful, healthy and successful in their professional and personal lives.

Effective time management allows you to comprehend all your actions and decisions in terms of their appropriateness for their own development and improvement.

2. Myths about time management - 3 main misconceptions

There are a number of social stereotypes and misconceptions regarding time management.

Some believe that time management is needed exclusively for work, that in Russia this discipline is ineffective due to the peculiarities of the national mentality, that life strictly according to the plan turns a person into a robot and deprives him of free will.

All these myths are not consistent: below I will try to completely debunk them.

Myth 1. Nobody can control time.

The statement is true in form, but erroneous in content. Time management is really impossible   (unless, of course, you are not the inventor of a time machine). No one is able to slow down his objective course, speed up or stop even for a moment.

But a person can do the following : manage yourself, your decisions and actions over time, and also engage in determining priorities. This is what the practice of time management discusses - about managing your own life.

A reasonable and pragmatic approach to your actions is time management: you will be surprised how many minutes and hours are released as soon as you begin to act more deliberately and consciously.

Remember that all successful people, regardless of their type of activity, plan their affairs and act with maximum productivity. At the same time, they work about the same as ordinary people, but always have time to do more.

Their secret is that in a unit of time they manage to do more things, which ultimately affects their life results.

Myth 2. Time management will make me work more and more intensively.

Work hard and get tired, neglecting rest - a direct path to overwork and depression. It is necessary to constantly strive to reduce the volume of work while increasing productivity. How to do it? In short, act strictly according to plan and be able to separate the minor from the main.

Effectively using time management methods does not mean doing more or increasing productivity due to the speed of work.

It is about improving personal performance by eliminating unnecessary tasks and eliminating the so-called "time eaters" or "chronophages."

The category of chronophages includes hundreds of meaningless and small things that we do during the day, without even thinking about their feasibility: frequent checking of mail, communication and viewing news on social networks, conversations with colleagues that are not meaningful.

A person’s commitment to things abstracted from the main task is partly due to procrastination - the desire to postpone important and necessary events “until better times”.

However, if you discard reflection and recognize for yourself the importance and importance of current tasks, you will not be distracted by extraneous matters, you will have neither the strength nor the desire.

Myth 3. Using time management will turn me into a robot that will do everything on schedule, will deprive me of freedom and choice

People are afraid to turn into robots, but in reality they are already them, as well as slaves of their own psycho-emotional habits and patterns of behavior.

Time management does not limit our freedom, but rather creates it.

Time management is necessary not only for office employees, managers and managers: to manage the main life resource - own time - is necessary for everyone who takes themselves seriously and seriously.

A practical criterion for the need to implement the principles of time management in life is the presence 4 or more cases  in the plan for the current day (not only professional, but also personal files are taken into account). This is necessary for businessmen, and free artists, and housewives.

Example

If you need to complete a work project, talk to your superiors about this, go to a phone repair shop after work, and finally pick up your baby from kindergarten, then reasonable time planning is your urgent need.

Planning and distribution of resources helps to quickly achieve important goals and free up time for rest, restoration of strength, communication with friends and relatives. Time control allows you to achieve results faster and at lower cost.

As for scheduled life, the rational organization of work and rest has not yet harmed anyone. And for spontaneity and creativity (if any) in any work there is always a place.

3. How to manage time - 7 main principles of time management

Now, let's get down to practice and find out how to manage time correctly, where to start monitoring and planning our actions, what difficulties usually arise along this path and how to overcome them. Below I described the basic principles and rules.

Principle 1. Plan your actions

Planning for the next day (or the next week) is of practical importance in any work. It doesn’t matter whether you are sitting in the office, standing at the assembly line, working as a courier in your spare time from school - a clear plan of action will always bring real benefits in the form of improving performance (personal and professional).

Even if your actions are strictly regulated by the job description, you always need to have a pre-arranged plan - this will help to cope with the work more efficiently and quickly.

Remember that all successful people plan their lives.

Remember some of the most important axioms of time management:

1. Fix goals in writing.  If your goal is not indicated on paper (or in the electronic diary), then it does not exist.
2. Plan your day.  A pre-compiled list of tasks and actions increases the productivity of any type of activity by 25%.
3. Crush big tasks.  Volumetric tasks should always be divided into several small sub-tasks - do not clutch at a large-scale project without having thought through a sequence of actions in advance.

Planning needs to be your second nature: make it a rule to draw up a plan of action for tomorrow before going to bed. In the morning at work, you will already know exactly where to start, how to continue and how to finish.

Always leave a certain reserve of time for force majeure - unforeseen circumstances.

Remember that those few minutes that you will spend on a plan will more than pay off in the future: you will evaluate the results of competent planning in the first week of implementation.

Principle 2. Formulate the desired result into specific goals and objectives

Strategic and effective planning is impossible without competent goal-setting. In simpler terms, you should be able to clearly articulate the main goal and be able to break it down into more specific and local tasks.

In management theory, this skill is referred to as "Decomposition of goals". The main way to translate this concept into practice is the transition from the general to the particular.

There is a professional tool (or principle) for the formulation and formulation of local tasks in time management and goal setting.

It is called sMART principle .

According to this principle, the goal should be:

• specific  (Specific);
• measurable  (Measurable);
• achievable  for a certain period (Attainable);
• relevant  or true - it is necessary to understand in advance whether this task will really help in achieving the goal (Relevant);
• time limited (Time-bound).

The main criterion for the usefulness and effectiveness of a local problem is its concreteness. Starting moving towards a large goal with completing sequential tasks, you significantly reduce the time it takes to complete a job.

Consistency and focus on specific points is the key to future success.

Even the greatest creators did not create their works at once as a whole - at first they made a plan, and then carried out it point by point. One of the secrets of successful time management is the ability to focus on current tasks without losing the general direction.

Principle 3. Fix your action plan

The need to fix the action plan has already been mentioned above. Here we’ll look at how this is best done. There are several working and effective tools to make your plans and tasks more visual and specific.

One such method is called. I will explain how it looks in practice.

Example

Let's say your goal is to build a house. To begin with, the task should be divided into several stages: to clear the site, dig and lay the foundation, conduct overhead work, finish the premises, conduct communications and do landscaping.

In the Grant diagram, all the tasks of the current large-scale project are indicated along with the timing of their implementation, duration in time and priority of implementation.

Similar tasks can be grouped into one point, and more voluminous cases should be divided into several consecutive tasks.

Clearly drawing up a plan saves not only your time, but also allows other employees involved in the project to quickly understand the situation and get involved in the work from the right stage.

Principle 4. Prioritize

Timely and clearly define the main goal - this is necessary and correct. But the main task is to move towards this goal, consistently completing current tasks of varying degrees of difficulty.

For prioritization in daily planning, a simple method called "Method ABVGD".

Method ABVGD (ABCD)

“A” is the most important matter of the day, “B” is less important, “C” is a task of medium importance, etc.

The first thing on the list should be done first. Usually this task is the most time-consuming and difficult. Sometimes a person is afraid or lazy to start the day with the main task, but the secret is that the effectiveness of your current activity depends on its implementation.

A specialist in practical time management advises resolving this issue strictly and unambiguously. His method is called: "eat a frog for breakfast." “Frog” is the most difficult and unpleasant business of the current day. You constantly transfer it to the "afternoon", in the evening, or even tomorrow.

But the bottom line is that this creates a constant emotional stress that prevents you from productively performing all other things. Tracy says that starting the day should be from the most difficult, then all other things will be done almost by themselves.

The logical continuation of the Brown Tracy method here is the Pareto law or principle.

Pareto Law

20% of our efforts bring us 80% of the results, and the remaining 80% of our efforts bring only 20% of the results.

Thus, our task is to identify these 20% of our most effective actions and concentrate on them.

Another tool for effective prioritization is called The Eisenhower Matrix. Politician and military leader, President of the United States Duat Eisenhower was a practical man and very successful.

He came up with dividing all current affairs into 4 categories:

• urgent and important;
• important but not urgent;
• urgent, but not very important;
• unimportant and non-urgent.

First category : urgent and important - these are the primary tasks that must be fulfilled today and now: putting them off will necessarily create unnecessary difficulties in the future. You should not charge them to subordinates - you need to do this yourself and immediately.

In another way, this sector of the matrix is \u200b\u200bcalled "Fire Sector",  to be in which for a long time is fraught with adverse consequences, primarily for their own health.

My secret to time management is to be in the sector « Important - Not urgent » .

This is the most efficient sector of the matrix. Here you are calm, here you plan, think, act competently and carefully, here you are doing something really important.

Do not let important matters flow into the urgent sector!

Affairs from 4th category   (non-urgent and unimportant) can be safely deleted from the daily list.

You can make approximately such a table daily, based on the Eisenhower Matrix.

Do not be lazy, and implement this simple table in your day planning system.

Principle 5. Focus on the essentials.

I have already said how important it is to achieve goals, in this paragraph I will talk about how to do this as efficiently as possible.

The ability to focus on the main thing, without being distracted by outsiders, is the most important practical skill, mastering which you will solve the most priority tasks of productive time management.

Time is a non-renewable resource, and the most valuable of all existing. We can spend 10,000 rubles and earn them again, but we are not able to return the second we have lived back.

We are also not able to extend the day to 25 hours, but we can free up our own space for those activities that are really important to us.

To ensure that secondary matters do not affect your personal performance, you need to master specific time management techniques.

One of the most effective techniques for freeing time is delegation. To be more precise, delegation is a component of classical management.

Delegation  - This is a way to delegate part of our affairs to other people.

The most basic examples: you can not wash your car yourself, but give it to a car wash, or else: a leaked faucet in the bathroom can be repaired on your own or a professional plumber can be called.

Remember

Any tasks that are more expedient (from the point of view of finances and time costs) to provide to others should be given to others.

The higher the cost of your personal time, the more secondary and not very important tasks you can delegate.

Less important things can be done in “non-resource time”.

It is about that part of the day when you are no longer at the peak of your mental and physical strengths, for example, at the end of the day when you are tired.

Also, for example, while in transport or in line, you can combine waiting with training - listen to audio books on professional skills or the development of one of the skills of personal effectiveness.

Another important skill for real time savings: ability to say no.

Do not think that everyone should refuse indiscriminately.

The ability to say “no” refers primarily to those people and activities that deprive you of your energy and time resources without giving anything in return.

Say “no” to a chatty neighbor or employee, reading the tabloid press, surfing the Internet on social networks and entertainment resources, watching TV.

Remember that even a small unplanned break, when someone or something distracted you from the case, can cause frustration.

Principle 6. Analyze your experience and create your own time management rules.

Periodically, you should look back and draw pragmatic conclusions from your experience in time management. Examine your mistakes and be sure to take steps to correct them.

Be sure to analyze situations in which you especially intensively lost personal resources.

You should always remain aware and watch from the side what exactly happens to your life - in what direction and at what speed it moves.

If you feel that you have lost control and delved too much into solving a problem without thinking about the time spent, then it's time to stop, take a break and try to optimize your own actions.

In the end, create your own rules for managing time, your chips. Your whole life, your activity is unique.

Principle 7. Plan your vacation

In the pursuit of success and personal performance, never neglect the rest, I will say more - plan a vacation, as well as your business tasks! For time management, a complete rest is an essential element of success.

An example from the life of Radislav Gandapas

The well-known Russian business coach and speaker Radislav Gandapas, as he told at one of his trainings, plans days to visit the golf club in his work schedule. This is an important hobby in his life.

These days he highlights in red as events of the highest degree of importance that are not transferable.

Otherwise, says Radislav, he does not manage to play golf in principle, since there are always more important things to do.

Staying at the peak of your psychophysiological capabilities is possible only with the help of regular recovery of strength.

You can’t save on sleep, your own days off and communication with loved ones - these are the same important factors for effective time management as planning and goal setting.

4. Review of popular books and trainings on time management and improving personal effectiveness

There is plenty of useful literature on time management. Separate publications are devoted to time management for women (young mothers, housewives), students, schoolchildren, and leaders.

Seminars, conferences, master classes and time management trainings are held.

In my opinion, the most informative and accessible books on this topic are the works of Gleb Arkhangelsky, Evgeny Popov and Brian Tracy.

Evgeny Popov  - Author of the course “Master of the time”, creator of video lessons on this topic, successful business practices on the Internet. It has a personal network resource on which everyone can purchase the author’s intellectual products.

If you want to quickly master the basics of practical time management, be sure to study the course of Evgeny Popov "".

Gleb Arkhangelsk  - Leading Russian specialist in time management. Head of own corporate projects on the implementation of time management in the practice of the largest domestic companies - RAO UES, Wimm-Bill-Dann and others. Best-selling creator: Time Management and Time Drive.

Brian Tracy  - A leading global expert on personal effectiveness, management consultant, writer, speaker.

Other books on this subject: “Tomato Time Management” (Stafan Netberg), “Tight Time Management” (Dan Kennedy), “Maximum Concentration” (Lucy Paladino).

5. Conclusion

To summarize, friends! I personally try to use the following elements of time management:

• day planning
• prioritization (ABCGD);
• work with a list of tasks.

In practice, I was convinced that time planning simplifies life and helps to do more.

The main thing is that it becomes your habit. A habit is formed 20-30 days. You will need to hold out quite a bit so that you are used to doing the right thing, and then a system of habits and time management will work for you.

In the context of the rapid development of society and the daily receipt of a large amount of information, a person needs more and more time to use the provided resources in full. Accelerating the pace of life leads to the fact that people must either sacrifice something for the benefit of their main goals, or build activity in the most rational and efficient way, reducing time costs. In this, time management can help them as a kind of direction or time management technology, allowing you to use this valuable resource in the right direction.

The randomness in the construction of activities, the mess in the schedule of operations and the lack of a well-thought-out plan of measures lead to the fact that a person does not have time to complete all the necessary things. As a result of this there is tension, nervousness, a waste of time and energy, which negatively affects the results of human life.

Time management is aimed at streamlining your actions and operations, as well as constructing a schedule for their implementation to achieve your goals as fully as possible and with minimal time.

History of Time Management

In ancient times, people tried to build a regime of their activities in such a way that in a short time to take the necessary measures and at the same time achieve maximum effect. However, time management was not given due attention, since this was not particularly necessary.

Interesting fact:The Roman philosopher Seneca first thought that the rational use of time can increase human productivity. The concept of time management in the historical sense initially belonged to the philosophical movement, and then it became a separate area for study, which has not only a theoretical basis, but also a practical knowledge base.

With the development of scientific and technological progress and the acceleration of the pace of life in society, a new direction of thought appears - time management - as the science of time management. The formation of this concept dates back to the second half of the 20th century. (70-80 gg.), When scientists of the world community and our compatriots began to seriously engage in this issue.

In the 21st century, the theory and practice of time management is widely used by different categories and groups of people. These include employees of enterprises, freelancers, housewives, and people engaged in free creativity, that is, almost everyone should study in detail the rules and methods of time management to increase productivity at work and at home.

The purpose and objectives of time management

The main goal of time management, based on the essence of this concept, is to manage time and achieve the most positive result. In accordance with the goal, time management solves the following tasks:

1. arrangement of operations and actions in order of priority for the person;
2. ranking goals by importance;
3. distribution of duties and responsibilities between members of a group or collective;
4. plotting operations as the most effective way of planning time (see?);
5. building the most rational model of behavior when using a temporary resource;
6. increase in labor productivity, and, as a consequence, its efficiency and effectiveness;
7. search for hidden reserves of time that can be used more efficiently.

These tasks are enlarged areas of activity, and therefore each block can be divided into many smaller subtasks. What exactly they will be - each person decides individually. The main thing is that they all must obey the main goal.

Thanks to the solution of these problems, each person can learn to competently manage their time, using it as efficiently as possible. Such an activity allows one to learn self-control and analysis, independent study of various methods and practices, organization of personal time for work and rest.

Like any other field of knowledge, time management is based on certain principles developed by specialists and taken as the basis for use. It is necessary to highlight the following principles of time management:

1. Planning

Effective time management is possible only if it is clearly divided into certain periods to perform any action. At the same time, for convenience, you can use various planning methods - write in a notebook or organizer, in special applications on your phone or computer. Visual planning allows you to give a visual assessment of the schedule, which helps to analyze it in more detail for effectiveness.

Important:Although some people make up a daily plan, they don’t write it down, but keep all the points in their head. This method of planning is ineffective, because, ultimately, you can miss some points or confuse the points of the plan in places, which may result in irrational use of a temporary resource.

1. Determining the difficulty of completing tasks

When drawing up a plan, it is necessary to focus on the fact that some tasks and operations are more complex, requiring maximum concentration of attention or a large amount of time. They should be performed first of all and preferably in the morning, because during this period a person has more strength, he is concentrated and his productivity is much higher.

After performing complex tasks, you can already engage in simpler operations that can be performed in a semi-automatic familiar mode. If you build the schedule in the opposite form, that is, first do easy things, and then complicated, then with a high degree of probability a person will not be able to do the hard work, because he simply will not have the strength;

1. Separation of complex processes into simple ones

If during planning especially complex points appear that require a large amount of resources, it is best to divide them into smaller ones. In this case, the seemingly insoluble goal will be achieved when the set of simple subgoals is achieved;

1. Search for hidden reserves of time

Often, people do not notice that certain periods of time could be used more productively, but instead they spend them on useless things. The scourge of modern society is social networks and the Internet, in which there is so much information (useful and not very) that sometimes a person does not notice how he can spend several hours in a row at a computer or phone.

This time could well be used with greater efficiency. You must determine for yourself those operations that are ineffective and unnecessary, and begin to reduce the time spent on them. Instead, you can come up with activities that would really give some kind of positive result.

In addition, you can effectively combine two classes, if they do not interfere with each other. For example, if a person is waiting for his turn, he can simultaneously read a cognitive scientific article on his profession or begin to make a plan the next day;

1. Motivation

A motivated person carries out activities with much greater productivity. Intrinsic motivation is a certain lever or catalyst, due to which a higher degree of perseverance, concentration, focus on obtaining the final result is manifested (see).

Motivation can be expressed in a specific form, and most often it is a financial result, that is, receiving money for the work done. To motivate yourself, you can figure out what benefits the money will be spent on.

In addition, motivation can be purely emotional, when a person receives psychological or physical satisfaction from the result of his activity (see).

Effective time management involves following certain rules of behavior, which are as follows:

• use various means and methods of planning your time;
• keep your workplace clean so you don’t waste time looking for documents;
• do not study information that is not needed when performing a specific task;
• do not waste time useless browsing social networks;
• do not do several things at once, concentrate on one;
• learn to refuse people if they ask to do the work you do not need (see);
• determine the periods in which you have the highest mental and physical activity - do the difficult work at this time;
• take time to relax and learn to relax completely, not in fits and starts.

The rules of time management are aimed at determining in general terms the tactics of organizing a work process. Their application is necessary in order to effectively increase human productivity and formulate a line of his behavior in the implementation of the work process.

Time Management Methods

Time management is a guide to action aimed at managing time, and it contains specific methods for implementing this event. Among them, the most commonly used methods are:

• The method of creating a work schedule based on biorhythms is “owl” or “lark”. He suggests that each person belongs to one of two types of biorhythms, the activity of which is manifested at different times of the day. It is necessary to formulate a plan and a work schedule in such a way that the most complex and time-consuming tasks are performed during a period of increased activity of the body.

Interesting fact:Leonardo da Vinci did not use the traditional practice of sleep and wakefulness. Instead, he worked four hours in a row, followed by 15 minutes of sleep. During sleep, the body gained strength and brain activity intensified.

• First step method  based on the fact that starting a difficult business is always difficult, but for this you just need to take the first step. Further advancement will be easier, since it is always difficult for a person to begin. For the first step to be successful, you should create a specific template, according to which it will be possible to carry out similar operations;
• Restriction methodhelping to make decisions in case of uncertainty. If a person does not know what decision to make in a specific situation, he sets himself a certain restriction - for example, in 10 minutes to choose from two options or, if a decision is not made, do just that;
• Integrated Recording Method  suggests that all entries must be made in one notebook or organizer, and not on a lot of scattered pieces of paper. So it will always be easier to find the information you need, and it will never be lost, being bonded with all the necessary information;
• Graphic Recording Method  assumes that sometimes information is easier and more convenient to display using a chart or graph. So it will be more understandable and easier to remember, and much less time will be spent on fixing.

Disadvantages of time management

Time management planning always gives tangible results, but at the same time it has a number of disadvantages. These should include such moments as:

1. Arising force majeure circumstances may disrupt the schedule. But, if the tasks are planned, they need to be solved anyway, and then a new search for free time begins. Violation of the schedule can lead to nervousness and irritability, and, as a result, a deterioration in the well-being of a person;
2. The release of free time involves using it to perform new tasks, in connection with which a person consciously overloads himself with work. In a situation of increased volume of operations and increased productivity, there may be an increase in fatigue, which can turn into a chronic degree;
3. A clear schedule is good, but you might get the feeling that Groundhog Day is coming up every day. A person needs to do many different things every day, after which everything will start all over again.

TOP 5 books on time management

1. Work less, do more - C. Gleason
2. Extreme time management - N. Mrochkovsky, A. Tolkachev
3. The Art of Keeping Up - A. Lackain
4. Time drive. How to manage to live and work - G. Arkhangelsky
5. Hard time management. Take control of your life - Dan S. Kennedy