Time Management in Three Steps

Time management is a very important topic. There are a lot – I mean a lot – of books devoted to time management. Of course time management is important: after all, time is one of the resources which are not renewable and which availability cannot be increased. All of us have the same amount of time which is only 24 hours a day. Nobody can get more than that, no matter how rich he or she is.

streamingSo the problem is how to maximize this limited resource. Those who can maximize their time resouce will also be successful in their life.

While there are many time management techniques out there, I think the whole idea of time management can be compressed into only three steps:

  1. Have a vision
  2. Based on the vision, set priorities
  3. Based on the priorities, throw away all activities which do not fit

Get the idea ? Here are the details:

  1. Have a vision
    First of all, you must have vision. What is the purpose of your life ? What is the main goal of your life as a whole ? You should be able to answer these questions if you want to have effective time management. Why ? Because the effectiveness of your time is calculated based on your vision.
    We can take analogy from sport. In basketball, the effectiveness of the time is measured by how many points a team scores and how many points it can prevent the opponent to score. This is because the vision or the goal in basketball is winning the game by scoring more points than your opponent. The vision is clear so we know how to measure time effectiveness is basketball. The same thing applies to life. How can you measure your effectiveness if you do not know the purpose of your life in the first place ?
  2. Based on the vision, set priorities
    Priorities flow naturally from your vision. Again in basketball, since the goal is to win the game by scoring more than the opponent, then the priorites are: a. Score as much as possible, and b. Prevent the opponent from scoring.
    If you know your vision, you can easily set your priorities. It’s because you already have a clear standard of measurement. You will prioritize activities which lead to your vision. The better an activity takes you to your vision, the higher the priority you give to it.
  3. Based on the priorities, throw away all activities which do not fit
    Here is the last step. Simply throw away all activities which do not fit your priorities, and you are left with only those activities which lead you to your vision. Very simple, isn’t it ? This step prevents you from being distracted by activities which may sound interesting, but actually doesn’t help you achieve your life purpose.

By using these three steps, you can be sure that you spend your time on useful things. Or in other words, you will have an effective time management. Of course, there are more details on how to implement these steps, but the idea is clear: just do the things that lead to your vision.

5 Comments

  1. Personal Growth Carnival November 7th

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  2. […] Donald Latumahina presents Time Management in Three Steps posted at Life Optimizer. […]

  3. Some very good tips, thanks for the post.

  4. […] Keep that in mind as you look at these three very powerful time management tips. […]

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