Success:Time Management Tips

Make a To Do List
Making a to-do list is not only the first step of time management, it is in itself a stress help tool. When we are stressed, we worry about 'all the things we need to do’ and feel like we have to keep them all in our head to ensure we do not forget them. This distracts us from the task at hand. When we make a to-do list, we free ourselves from the demands of trying to remember everything we need to do. At the same time, once the tasks are on paper, they don't seem to be overpowering, and there is a feeling of being in control.


Make Choices:
On any given day, there might be a hundred things we want to do, but it would never be possible to do all of them. The key to sound time management is to know your priorities. We feel powerless and stressed because we spend most of our time doing urgent but relatively unimportant tasks or doing things on other people's request while what is most important to us remains undone.
So decide on your priorities and cross of (or delete) the others from your to-do list. Get rid of the fear of other people's reactions, (the fear meditation can be very effective in this regard), and learn to speak 'no'. You will find there is much less stress in your life, and the people you say 'no' to are also accepting your refusal with ease.

Schedule Your Work:
Assign a time for each work on your list and do it then. You are free to make your schedule any way you want, but once you make it try to stick to it as much as possible. Make your schedule realistic, and incorporate extra time for minor disturbances and exigencies. Keep the times when you are most creative and undisturbed for creative work. Once you master enough self control to do things according to a schedule, you will be free of the worry of 'when will get everything done', because you know when everything will get finished.

Learn to Manage Distractions:
A major part of time management is to learn how to minimize and manage distractions.In a study of 1000 workers, Basex, an information technology research firm in New York City, found that interruptions caused by emails, cell phones, black berries and others now consume an average of 2.1 hours a day, or 28% of the workday. Constant interruptions not only waste time, they also make us feel stressed and inadequate and decrease the quality of our work. In a South Asian culture, interruptions caused by an surprising visitor is a big time waster.
To get relief, learn to manage these distractions.
Put your phone on silent when you are doing creative work. Make your own calls when you are in the car or at some other time when it won't interfere with your work. Answer emails only at a specific time. When someone visits you, instead of asking ' How are you?', ask 'What can I do for you?'

Delegate:
Learning to hand over is a skill that can help you deal with workload pressures.
The key to learning to hand over is to accept the fact that the delegated work won't be done exactly the way you would have done it. Once you can accept that, you can move on to find out which tasks can be delegated and to whom