Time Management
For just about anybody, time is our most precious commodity. Our lives are finite and we are all destined to spend a fixed number of days on this Earth. But for self-employed individuals, time is even more critical. Your time is literally your inventory and by investing it wisely you can reap tremendous financial rewards. On the other hand, squander your time and your business will simply cease to exist.
Effective time management is one of the most vital skills that a successful business person must master. Particularly for those entrepreneurs who work out of their homes, sound time management can be a challenge. When working from home, one is faced with a myriad of distractions and potential time wasters. Without a healthy dose of self-discipline and commitment to work, many work from home business people find it difficult to stay focused, productive, and effective.
The first step in effectively utilizing your time therefore is to ensure that you possess time discipline. Understand what tasks entail in order to complete and budget your time accordingly. Most time management experts recommend creating a to-do list that specifies what you intend to get done within a certain amount of time. The pitfall of the standard to do list however is that most people simply add tasks without determining what resources they require.
Creating an effective task list is not just a matter of writing down what needs to be done, but it also includes estimating what is required in terms of time to complete it. Many people who create endless task lists give up because they feel overwhelmed by the contents of their list. So in addition to budgeting the time required to complete each item, you also need to assign a priority.
When budgeting time for a big project it is often useful to break the project into smaller tasks that can be accomplished individually. This not only makes the larger goal easier to achieve, but psychologically it becomes more achievable as well.
Time management is essentially effective planning. Start each day with your task list in hand and determine what items must be accomplished in order of priority. Even if you only get the first five things on the list completed, your day will not have been a total waste. Just a little bit of proactive planning goes a long way towards effective time management. And to really be successful, prioritization is the key, followed by massive action.
Effective time management is one of the most vital skills that a successful business person must master. Particularly for those entrepreneurs who work out of their homes, sound time management can be a challenge. When working from home, one is faced with a myriad of distractions and potential time wasters. Without a healthy dose of self-discipline and commitment to work, many work from home business people find it difficult to stay focused, productive, and effective.
The first step in effectively utilizing your time therefore is to ensure that you possess time discipline. Understand what tasks entail in order to complete and budget your time accordingly. Most time management experts recommend creating a to-do list that specifies what you intend to get done within a certain amount of time. The pitfall of the standard to do list however is that most people simply add tasks without determining what resources they require.
Creating an effective task list is not just a matter of writing down what needs to be done, but it also includes estimating what is required in terms of time to complete it. Many people who create endless task lists give up because they feel overwhelmed by the contents of their list. So in addition to budgeting the time required to complete each item, you also need to assign a priority.
When budgeting time for a big project it is often useful to break the project into smaller tasks that can be accomplished individually. This not only makes the larger goal easier to achieve, but psychologically it becomes more achievable as well.
Time management is essentially effective planning. Start each day with your task list in hand and determine what items must be accomplished in order of priority. Even if you only get the first five things on the list completed, your day will not have been a total waste. Just a little bit of proactive planning goes a long way towards effective time management. And to really be successful, prioritization is the key, followed by massive action.
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