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Time Management ChartA time management chart gives you a helicopter view of how you currently spend your time, and more importantly how you would like to spend your time! Time is the most important resource that you have. How do you really want to spend your time? Think about your personal goals those valuable pursuits that are important for you and your family. Make an estimate of how much time it will take. One idea is to think of the different areas of your life and the future areas of your life in terms of a 24 hour day. How much of that day do you want to spend on the different areas of your life. Once you have an idea of what you would like to do, now it is time to see what you actually do. For this I downloaded a time management log to record the activities that I did over the day. You can also use time keeping software for this activity. I find it very useful to do this over the week - as it gives me a better idea of how I spend my time. Once I have an objective account of how I spend my time, I then drew up a time management chart of my day. It looked a little like this chart - which reflected a tally of my weekly activities.
This helicopter view of my time allowed me to see how much time I was spending on the different areas of my life, such as family time and work time. Comparing this to my ideal use of time allowed me to set time management goals that I could work towards. For example, the excuse of not doing exercise because I didn't have time did not really make sense when I spent 2 hours a day on social media. Also, I was surprised at the 70 hours of work a week (10 hours a day) of which two hours was commuting time - which meant that everything else got squeezed in. By comparing your ideal use of time to the actual time management chart can highlight those areas of your life that you would like to change. When thinking about change ask yourself: Can I be more creative about how I use time? What can I do if I have to commute to work? Is there a way that I can cook more efficiently? Can I use my family time more effectively? These time management tips may give you some more ideas on how to use your time more effectively and reduce your stress. In asking these questions a number of things are important. Knowing what your overall goals are - so what are your most valuable pursuits. If you don't have a clear vision of what you would like, then it is difficult to make a decision about how to spend your time. I really like the weekly compass in Franklin Covey Planners to focus my attention on what is most important in my life. Also, once you have an idea of what is important, having a time management system that can systematically improve your use of time is important. By testing your ideal time management chart against reality can give you ideas about how to free up more time for you and your family.
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