Category : Time Management Program

One component of time management programs is one’s ability to make a decision. Decision making can be hard because it leads to a series of consequences and after-effects. It can either lead to the good of all or can cause dissatisfaction. However, decision making is an important part of time management skills and we need to work on it if we want to take control of our time and our life.

• In decision making, you need to identify the purpose of your decision. You need to know what problem needs to be solved and why it should be solved.
• You need to gather information and facts regarding the matter at hand. You need to know the factors that are involved in the problem.
• Before giving out any solution, you need to know the standards and criteria that the solution should meet. There may be limitations and rules to be considered before coming up with the solution.
• You can’t come up with just one solution but instead, you need to come up with a list of ideas or possible solutions.
• Weigh each solution to determine its advantages and disadvantages. Once you have carefully gone through the pros and cons of each, determine which solution is best.
• Put your chosen solution in action and execute your plan.
• Evaluate the outcome of the solution and see if it has helped improve productivity and the company in general. You also need to take notes of the things that can be improved or avoided for future reference.

We can’t have all day to make decisions because that’s a complete set back on time management. However, we also can’t risk making the wrong one. The best time management techniques suggest that in decision making, you need to keep your eye on the goal and sometimes, you need to heed your intuition without disregarding the facts.

People have been in a never ending battle of perfecting the right time management skills to achieve more in life. Various tips, tricks and methods have been introduced to society in hopes of being able to master time management. People have been attending time management seminars over and over just to be able to manage their time. But isn’t it funny how doing the simplest things can accomplish something great?

When it comes to time management techniques, one principle that works wonders is writing down important things in your head. You don’t have to remember everything but you should always write them down instead.

Notes always come in handy especially in a fast paced world like the one we are living in nowadays. When you’re in a meeting or are in a conversation with your bosses, do not try to remember everything they have just said all in your head. It’s definitely not helping solve your time management issues. Write them down instead. This way, when you get back to your desk, you won’t forget anything – not even one detail. If you wait until after you have talked, tendency is you forget some things in between. And you never know that that something may just be the most important thing.

When you’re in bed and suddenly thought of a great idea that can help improve your work, write it down. When you do this, you are freeing your mind from thinking about it all the more thus giving you more time to rest.

Writing down things help improve productivity because you won’t have to spend too much time remembering what you were asked to do or forgetting brilliant ideas.

Time management is essential when you want to achieve work life balance. It helps make you effective and get things done in lesser time thus giving you more time for other personal matters. But is it true that emails may be getting in the way of effective time management?

Emails are an essential part of a company’s operations. It’s one of the communication channel used to delegate, inform or simply convey important things across several people in the office or across the world. It’s an effective way of communication but it can also takes up a lot of time if not done the right way. Spending too much time in writing or reading emails is not part of time management skills that lets you get things done in lesser time.

Here are some time management techniques in dealing with emails:


  • Keep your emails brief and write to the point.
  • Check your emails 3 to 4 times a day to avoid distractions.
  • Do not show email notifications in a pop up. This will distract you from the current task you’re working on and does not help improve productivity.
  • Work on each email the moment you first read them. Identify if they should be included in your to-do list, needs a reply, should be delegated or deleted. If they need to be replied to or delegated, do it right away.
  • Write emails that do not require complicated issues. A phone call or meeting is more appropriate for things that need to be discussed thoroughly.
  • Emails are great and they are of big importance too but make sure that they don’t distract you in any way or be the reason why you can’t get things done.

    People from the new generation have a different take on things. With technology rising in all parts of the world, they couldn’t help but adapt. They have different views and opinions in a lot of things. One of these things is work life balance.

    Work life balance is placed with great value and considered to be one essential part of a person’s life. However to the new generation, they have long given up hope of achieving work life balance. To them, it doesn’t exist. But they choose the work that best fits their lifestyle. They don’t settle for anything less anymore. For people who want to travel and have more personal time, they only take part-time jobs. With the right time management skills, this gives them more than enough time to do where they want to go. They also do not invest in material things such as houses or cars because they know they won’t be staying in one place for a long time. For people who are career-oriented and are thirsty for newer and bigger accomplishments, they go for jobs in highly acclaimed companies that provide great benefits to help improve productivity. The people of the newer generation work only for the type of job that they are interested in and the amount that can sustain their way of living.

    Because of this, companies who are looking to hire more employees must think of ways to attract them. The old tricks won’t do anymore. Recruiters must now target the right persons for the jobs. They should give out a little bit more flexibility and more room for time management. Recruiters should always promote communication lines to be open at all times to be able to have a more thorough and reasonable negotiation.

    Sometimes the bigger things can be accomplished by taking small, easy steps. Sometimes, you don’t need a thorough analysis of the entire situation just to figure out what’s wrong. The simple things often save us from bigger catastrophes. It can even help us in our time management skills.

    Instead of going through numerous time management trainings, you only need to make a habit of five simple steps. Once you get used to it, everything else will fall into place.

    1. Get enough sleep. That doesn’t necessarily mean longer hours in deep slumber but rather, the quality of your sleep. You need to be relaxed and not stressed to fully optimize your sleep.

    2. To avoid wasting precious time, always have a to-do list. This tells you exactly what you need to do first thing when you get to the office.

    3. Clean your work stations or areas. A messy desk can never help improve productivity. Clutters and mess everywhere can add to more distractions. Instead of concentrating, you end up distracted, irate and unproductive.

    4. No matter how busy you are, do not forget to take your lunch breaks. We all need a time out from all office works to unwind and clear our mind. It’s also a way to retrieve and refresh our creative juices.

    5. You need to spend quality time on all aspects of our lives. Our lives are composed of seven vital areas which are: family, health, spiritual, intellectual, financial, social and professional. Each one of these areas requires our attention in order to achieve a proper work life balance. They are all connected and inter-related which is why it is essential that we take good care of them.

    By following the above-mentioned steps, achieving time management doesn’t seem so difficult anymore.

    I’ve been in the freelance business for quite some time now and I love it. I love the freedom, the flexibility and the chance to be in control. I can also maintain a family work life balance in doing so.

    In the years that I’ve worked as a freelance artist, I’ve learned a couple of things that help me get through. These time management tips may be helpful to all you freelancers out there. It helped me improve productivity and made it easier in achieving work life balance.

    I don’t normally work more than 80 hours a week. I only do extra work if there’s a critical problem. Other than that, I always keep 80 hours or even less than that. Besides, if you strain yourself too much and force your brain to think, you’ll still end up with sloppy ideas due to stress. So might as well call it a day and start fresh tomorrow.

    I have kids and I love playing with them. However, we put them to bed early because they need all the sleep they can get. So how can you spend more time with them even if you’ve got unfinished work to do? One of my time management techniques is simple. I stop working at 5 in the afternoon and spend the remaining hours playing with them till its bedtime. When they’re in bed, I go back to working and finish whatever needs to be finished. It works, I tell you.

    Do not miss dinner. Always eat dinner with your family. Bond with your kids, talk to your wife and enjoy the food.

    Once in a while, I always leave the house to free my mind. It’s always nice to smell a little bit of fresh air and take in the beautiful sights around me.

    There are pressures – they are inevitable. But it’s all about how you handle your time and tasks that make you different from all the rest. Yes, time management is the key.

    There are so many things that hinder us from achieving work life balance. There are so many factors that sometimes make it impossible. However, companies must understand that it is important for employees to meet their personal obligations so they can improve productivity at work. If an employee has no problems at home, it follows that he/she will have no problems in the office resulting to a better performance. For this to be possible, here are some of the needs of employees that must be met so they can continue to give excellent service.

    Flexibility – This is probably the most important thing for employees nowadays. They want to know that they have some type of control in how they do things. They want to be creative in doing their tasks. They want to be given the freedom on how to go about things. It’s all in personal time management.

    Workload stress and productivity – Employers must value their employees and they must not put too much pressure especially if those are unnecessary pressure. Employees don’t want to work in an environment that focuses on stress instead of productivity. Employers must encourage time management for them to finish all tasks in their normal work schedules. This will also help them maintain work life balance.

    Health care - Companies must value their employee’s health and well being. If an employee is healthy and well, he/she will be able to do more at work. Employees want to work in an environment that can offer them health benefits.

    These are only some of the issues that companies are dealing with to be able to bring in employees of the new generation.

    If you compare the employees now and then, you’ll see a difference that’s so huge and a gap that’s quite vast. What employees are looking for in companies before are not necessarily what employees of today’s generation are looking for now. Work life balance is much easier attained by employees of the new generation.

    Employees of the new generation have high expectations for growth even if it’s only an entry-level job. They don’t apply for just any job, it has to be one that they love doing to the extent that they’d go for months without a job rather than work for something they don’t really have any interest in.

    Employees of the new generation are looking for companies who can offer them better ways in achieving work life balance. They don’t want to spend too much time in the office. As much as possible, they want to do it outside the office. They want to work and deliver results no matter where they are, it’s really all in personal time management. Companies who offer flexibility in work schedules usually get the attention of these employees.

    The reasons why employees before stuck with their jobs are for financial security and other benefits that comes with the job. But employees of the new generation don’t give this much weight. Often times, they work where their friends are. They feel motivated to work in an environment where they are comfortable with the people and are generally happy with the people around them. They believe it helps improve productivity.

    There are new breeds of workers who value their lives and still possess time management skills to get the work done. Companies are trying all sorts of strategies to reel them in.

    We used to live in a world where work starts at exactly 8 or 9 A.M and ends at 4 P.M. or 5 P.M. The schedule was fixed and we couldn’t do anything but to adjust and adapt. With the internet on a rise, new opportunities and new doors have opened. Things that were standard and unchanging before were now flexible. There’s more room for understanding and better opportunities in achieving work life balance.

    There are different ways to attain work life balance:

    Flexible rules – Some companies offer flexibility in terms of work schedule. If you have important events or appointments that you need to attend, you can get off work early and then come back to make up for it or make up for it on other days. For some who are really good at time management, you can render 9 hours of work from Mondays to Thursdays and have Fridays off.

    Sabbaticals – some companies also offer a long vacation after you’ve completed a certain number of years. They give you three weeks or a month tops to enjoy yourself and your life.

    Special arrangements – There are also some companies who adjust to their employee’s needs but only those that are reasonable and justifiable. For example you’ve worked in a certain place for a number of years or you’ve been travelling back and forth for work and you suddenly want to have a more stable life. It all depends on what you can work out with your employer. The important thing is you have a good relationship with your employer and that they know and have seen that you possess time management skills so what you’re asking for wouldn’t be a problem.

    Part-time Work – The most famous arrangement of all is the part-time work. Companies often retain their employees by offering them this arrangement. It’s more convenient and will improve productivity for them rather than hiring another one and do training all over again. Employees can now work from the comforts of their home for a specified number of hours every week.

    With the evolution in the professional world, there are a lot of arrangements you can make to succeed in your work while maintaining work and life balance.