You Against the Clock

Time. No matter how much of it you think you have, it always seems to be running out. That big science project that you had weeks to work on? It’s due tomorrow morning. The soccer game you still haven’t found your uniform for? It starts in five minutes! If the days seem too short to do everything you have to, or if you’re constantly rushing to get things done at the last minute, you need some solutions for managing your time.

Time management means that you:
•Consider everything you have to do and want to do.
•Understand how much time each activity takes in a day.
•Make a plan that helps you get through the day, week or month without running around like a total wacko.

If you can do all this, chances are you’ll tame the time tiger, reduce your stress levels and lead a happier life.

Have To and Want To
A good way to get started is to categorize everything you intend on doing as either a “have to” or “want to.”

A “have to” is what you need to get done, whether you like it or not. These activities include family responsibilities, household chores, school assignments and tasks related to your daily needs, such as eating, bathing, dressing and sleeping.

A “want to” is what makes your life enjoyable and fun, but which could, if push comes to shove, be put off until another day. These activities typically involve things like sports, games, hobbies, TV, music, hangout time with friends or just chill time by yourself.

Time Budgets
After you’ve figured out everything you have to do versus want to do, it’s time to budget your time. This means figuring what things you “spend” your time on, and how much time you spend doing different things. You only have 24 hours in a day— spend those hours wisely. Start by:

•Figuring out how much time each activity or assignment takes.
•Working out a plan that lets you spend the right amount of minutes or hours on each task or activity.Making a budget is as simple as considering all the hours in a day, and determining about how many hours (what portion of the day) it takes to do each activity you plan on doing. First off, it’s smart to subtract the hours you’ll spend asleep (let’s say eight hours), and the hours you spend in school (let’s say seven hours). Therefore, in a typical weekday, you’ve got nine hours left to spend.

The next step is to list everything you need and want to do. Estimate the time each thing will take, and then add up the hours to see if you have enough time in the day to do your chores and activities. You might need 15 minutes to walk the dog, 45 minutes to eat dinner with your family, two hours to finish your homework. Remember to be honest with yourself about how much time each task takes. If studying for a chemistry quiz takes a half hour, don’t tell yourself that you can study in ten minutes.

What happens if you add everything up, and the hours needed surpass all of the hours in one day? Well, then it’s time to sort out your priorities.

Priorities
If your time budget tells you that you don’t have enough time to do everything on your list, you must prioritize your activities. This means putting them in order, starting with the most important or most urgent, and ending with the least important or least urgent. With each activity, ask yourself:

•Is it important? Do I absolutely need to do this?
•Is it urgent? Does it have to be done right away?If something is both important and urgent, it should be a top priority. Things that are important, but not urgent, should

Source article written by, Bill Spring