I found these old notes from a Time Management session I went to when I was in college. They seemed worth re-posting. I wish I could remember who the lady was that shared these tips with us. They’re all pretty straight-forward, and we’ve all heard them before. But it’s nice to have these to remind ourselves. Here are the notes:
- When given instructions, listen well and carefully the first time. It’s easy to not listen when you know the deadline is far off in the future. But when that deadline gets closer, are you going to remember every detail? You don’t want to have to find all that information again.
- Learn to say no. Obviously, you can’t say no to a teacher when given an assignment. But otherwise, if someone asks you to do something, it’s okay to say no.
- Focus on one thing at a time. Multitasking isn’t always your friend; it leads to distractions and you don’t work as efficiently. By focusing and getting things done, you accomplish more.
- Organize your life. Spending 30 minutes looking for something is a wasted use of time. Get rid of everything you don’t need, want, or like, and then group common things together. Also, this saves you money, so you don’t have to “rebuy” things you can’t find.
- Do away with unnecessary correspondence. Cut back on checking your e-mail, messaging on your phone, or IM’ing.
- Set goals. Break big goals up into smaller goals, and knock them out one at a time.
- Use a calendar. Make sure it’s a portable calendar, and take it everywhere with you. Use a pencil.
- Make a to-do list. Every little thing you have to do, write it down. You will forget, otherwise. Find days to add those to-do items on your calendar, and do them.
- Have a plan and follow it each day. It takes 21 consecutive days to change a habit.
- Try advancing your skills in the following:
- Computer skills. The time it took for you to troubleshoot something could be saved by just taking a class here or there.
- Speed reading. This can cut 2 hours of reading into 1 hour. That’s an extra hour to do something else!
- Knowledge. The more you learn, the more efficient you become.
I hope these notes help you in your projects!
