Twenty-four hours, 1440 minutes or 86,400 seconds per day. Regardless of how you think of it, every day has the same amount of time. But, somehow, it feels like the time in a day decreases the more tasks and responsibilities we face in our lives.
February is National Time Management Month. However, as one source cited—the term “time management” is a misnomer—you cannot manage time. You can manage the events in your life in relation to time and how you use that time depends on self-analysis, planning, evaluation and self-control. Time is both valuable and limited, much like money, and should be protected, used wisely and budgeted.
Here are some strategies to use in your personal and/or work lives:
- Create a Tickler File where you have 43 folders in a box/file drawer. Label 12 folders “January” through “December” and the rest “1” through “31”. Place the labeled 1-31 folders behind the month you are going to begin this new process. To begin, place bills, invoices, written out tasks, etc that need to be done by particular days in the subset daily folders for the current month. If the due date is more the 31 days out, place it in the corresponding monthly folder. Every day you should establish a time to pull the corresponding folder for that day and complete what is in the folder. If you have unfinished tasks, place them in the folder for the next day. Move the empty numbered folder to the next month and start all over again the next day, cycling through the days until the month ends and everything starts over again with folder 1 of the next month.
- If the number of tasks in your Tickler folder for the day are overwhelming or you know they are all not going to receive your attention, take 5-10 minutes to make a list of the top five that you must get done and focus on those.
- Stay on task until the task is complete. It is inevitable that you will get interruptions and will need to redirect your efforts. Place your interrupted task back in the folder and return to it when possible. Also, if you think of other tasks in the middle of completing another, jot the new task down on paper and place it in your folder and continue with the current task you were working on.
- Consider using a digital calendar to keep track of appointments and recurring tasks/events/appointments. Use your smart phone or other technology to your advantage—set timers as reminders to start or remind you of a task.
- Most importantly, make or schedule time for you and your family to receive the care and attention needed to stay healthy by establishing regular sleep routines, eating nutritionally balanced meals and snacks, drinking plenty of water and leaving time for things you enjoy.
For additional information or questions, contact Janell at the Chouteau County Extension Office at 622-3036 or janellb@montana.edu.
Montana State University, US Department of Agriculture and Montana Counties Cooperating. MSU Extension is an equal opportunity/affirmative action provider of educational outreach.
