How to Manage Time? Your Ultimate Time Management Guide

Inpsite of all its advancement and perks, modern times are creating severe time management problems for everyone in almost every field of life. We are practically becoming slave of our time. The time management dilemma wasting our lives ruthlessly. Inspite of working more hours and having all facilities in life; we find ourselves nowhere at the end.

But we can take ownership of our precious time only by prioritizing our routine. This will free up time to focus on things that bring meaning to our lives.

Who is it For?

• Creative struggling to pursue their dreams
• Businessman starting new ventures
• Employees trapped in unfulfilling & tiring jobs
• Parents who want more quality time with their kids
• Students working hard to build foundation for their successful careers

You are not busy- You are living in illusion

The pressures of modern living make many of us feel time poor and pathetic time manager. We are busier than ever working long hours, staying connected on social media and even searching for recreational material from hundred of entertainment sites.

We hardly ever manage to squeeze in time for our physical and mental health. We are forgetting when we have decent conversation with our elders or spouse, when we played with our kids and when we travelled for recreational purpose. By the end of the day, we feel worn out, disconnected and unfulfilled with no hope of pursing anything we were truly passionated once.

But luckily this is how you can manage your time best by just organizing your life a bit. First at least in start keep track of your time by making time log. Draw up grids with seven columns for the days and cell for each zone of the day. This 2 week practice will give you an accurate picture of what you are doing with your time.

Focus on your core competencies

The most successful businesses are those who focus on areas where they outperform the competition. It is the same with successful individuals. if you invest in the right skill; in which you are really good at and you feel great doing it, you will end up living your best life.

Successful people intentionally foster their strengths. They invest as much time as possible in using them while deprioritizing activities that don’t align with those skills. For a skill to be your core competency, it must be; meaningful to you, flexible enough to be applied on many areas of your life and must be something you do batter than others. You don’t need to be a genius or super smart to live a fulfilling life.

Take a break, list or sort your potentials and strengths in which you can outshine anybody. Then give those potentials a deliberate run to see magic in your life.

Choose a right job

Your job, business or whatever your doing should be a source of intense joy for you. It will be one that makes use of your skills, potentials, core strengths and creativity. The happier you are the more productive you will be.

You can find right job by checking followings; whether this job eco your childhood passion? Check flow which is the state of being so absorbed in an activity that all other concerns fall away. A job that built on your core foundation and incorporated nostalgic passion & flow; will transform your work life from a means of making money into an experience you love.

Any work that is not advancing you towards the professional life you want, should not be counted as work. It is time wasted!

Use work calendar

Learn how to structure your schedule to maximize your progress. Identify what you want to achieve in your career. Once you are clear on that, you will be in great position to evaluate your priorities.

Schedule your activities and commit doing them no matter what. The key skill for commitment, is to dumping activities that fall outside of your core competencies. Remember you don’t have to do everything just because you are capable. Admire and admit others by shifting work onto them; if they are better at doing something than you are.

Combine strategy with story

If you are looking for your own career success, think about the metrices that will impress your industry’s gatekeepers. Those gatekeepers may be your bosses, your teachers or your customers. Find your sector or your job benchmark and try to achieve those set standards which then, will brand your reputation. This reputation will create more opportunities for you.

Set and promote a compelling story. A story that include your work efficiencies, your working abilities, your hard work and anything special and notable about you and your work.

Give time to your children

Seek out shared passions between you and your child by asking them to tell their favorites. Such favorites can be their favorite amusement park, their favorite game, their favorite meal, their favorite aunt or their favorite teacher etc. Say if you both love going to park; then schedule regular trips to the nearest park. Win family time by creating a mini night shift.

Older children are more likely to participate if you are doing something that you both enjoy. This will establish that you sincerely want to spend time with them.

Outsource work

Trace & track activities eating up your core time that you can invest otherwise on your core competencies. Like if you hate physical shopping and avoid such rush places for day to day groceries, then buy online and invest such time saving on your core strengths and their upgradation.

Plan leisure time

Leisure time is way more than mere TV or season watching activity. Choose something more social, more energetic, more healthy, more creative. This purpose less screen time actually the silent killer of your fun time.

Author Notes & Credits:

This article is inspired from the book 168 hours by Laura Vanderkam; including authors own commentary, modifications and additions to bring simplicity and brevity in article.