Time Management and Organization

Time Management and Organization Tips

Time management and organization skills can be applied to every area of life. Using these time management tips to instill organization in your life will help to reduce stress and encourage you with a sense of accomplishment.

Organize

Feeling overwhelmed by too much to do adds stress and fatigue to your life. The first step in time management is to organize—make a list of everything you need to do or want to do. Once you have this comprehensive list, you'll have a clear picture of why you're stressed. But don't let the list stress you out. Instead, write every thing down. You'll want a complete list to help you get started with organization.

Prioritize

Once you've written your list of things to do, go down the list and decide which items have to be accomplished as soon as possible. These are must dos. Mark them with an "A" knowing that your "A List" is the list you'll work from first. This organizational strategy makes it clear what's important and needs to be done first.

After you choose the "A List" items, go through the list and choose items you want to do if you have time. This becomes your "B List".

With you’re "A List" and "B List" in hand, note what's left. Take a really good look at this list. Do you really have to accomplish these tasks? Weed through them and cross off items that are not really necessary.

If they are necessary, but not really important, this will become your "C List".

Setting Deadlines

Organization takes time. Making the list and prioritizing tasks that need to be accomplished is work, but if you want to take control of your daily life it's the first step in making a plan. Once your tasks are organized and prioritized, you'll see what needs to be done first. From there, make a plan of how you will accomplish this task and give yourself a deadline. Deadlines make the target tangible and help identify what is expected.

Breaking Large Projects into Manageable Tasks

Not every thing on your list can be accomplished quickly. For example, if you have a large task on your "A List" like: develop an advertising plan the best way to tackle such a long range project is to break it into manageable goals that work toward your deadline. These goals could include things like:

• Establishing an advertising budget
• Research funding resources
• Determine target audience
• Set advertising policy objectives

Each of these smaller tasks can also be broken into smaller steps that work together to reach the ultimate goal of developing an advertising plan.

Stay Focused

No matter how organized you become, life will throw new responsibilities, emergencies and obstacles in your path. To help stay focused, update your list each week and track your progress. For example, if you are working toward establishing an advertising budget and one of the people you need to talk to is on vacation—that's an obstacle. Find out when they'll be back, write them a business memo outlining what you need along with deadlines and informing them that they can expect a call from you upon their return.

If you're not good at tracking your progress, online services that help you manage workflow are available.

Tracking your progress by writing down what you've accomplished serves to motivate and encourage. When you start to feel like you haven't done enough, your list of things to do and things accomplished will show you that you are making progress.

Time management and organization can be as easy as "A," "B," "C". Write it down and follow through.