Share your Time Management Ideas

[Dugsmom]

Hello Ladies! I am TERRIBLE when it comes to managing my time. I used to use a timer to help keep me on track but that's not working anymore. It buzzes and I keep doing what I'm doing..before I know it, it's time to clean the house, get dinner ready, etc.

I need help! My whole day is wasted on...not really sure what. haha

I work less than part time at a gym so I spend time working on choreography. Sometimes I'll spend 30 minutes on it other times 3 hours! Just depends on how much I need to go over and sometimes I have trouble with it so I work on it until I get it right. This can take up my whole day (whole day meaning my time before family gets home. Once they are home, it's mostly family time).

I just started volunteers for an online group of people who help locate lost dogs or help people who found dogs locate the owners. I'm working on matching pictures we have to dogs at shelters, pound, craigslist, etc. I can easily spend my entire work day looking at dog pictures. Why? Because I get so focused on it and forget the time. Even forgetting to eat sometimes.

I am also a volunteer for a charity that helps children. I have almost no time to focus on that because I am so busy with the other 2 things.

I will be a foster mom to a furbaby so there goes what little time I have left.

I am able to block time in for cleaning, washing, basically getting housework done. My son is 16 so I don't have a baby to take care of.

I have a blog that I have been making money off of BUT I haven't updated in almost a year so I'm not making as much anymore. I want to get back to it but spend all my time on my other stuff.

Whew...sorry for the life story. Just wanted to show you the mess I make of my day. Any ideas on how to be productive and get stuff done would be greatly appreciated!

[Mikayla]

Sounds like you've got lots going on! Here are my best tips:

#1 – Set Weekly Goals
Every Sunday, I create a list of goals I want to accomplish that week. Then I break those goals down into smaller, daily tasks that need to get done in order to accomplish my goals. My smaller weekly goals are usually parts of my larger monthly goals.

#2 – Use a checklist for your daily tasks
As I mentioned above, after you set your weekly goals, break down your goals into smaller daily tasks and then use a checklist each day to ensure everything gets done. There is something very satisfying about checking items off a checklist to signify their completion. I use Toodledo to manage my daily To-Do list. It allows me to organize tasks into folders so I have my business and personal items separated. It also allows you to set due dates for each task and assign a priority to each one, so you can focus on the ones that need to get done first. My favorite feature is the ability to setup repeating tasks because I have several items that I do every single day. Toodledo keeps track of them for me now! It's an awesome tool and it's free.

#3 – Set Reminders for Your Meetings & Important Obligations
I use Google Calendar to keep track of all of my appointments, meetings, and my kids’ schedules too. I also use it to keep track of weekly conference calls and webinars. For each appointment, I set a reminder for each one to email me a day before and text me 5-10 minutes before the appointment time (30 minutes or an hour if I have to drive somewhere). This helps to accomplish two things: 1) I have peace of mind knowing that I won’t forget anything important, and 2) I get to “mind dump” these things so that my subconscious no longer feels responsible to remind not to forget them. My mind is clearer during my productive hours and I’m able to focus on the tasks at hand.

I hope these tips help you!

[ellisthomas86]

For a proper time management the tool that we have been using in our company is the cloud based time tracking software from Replicon which manage the time and keep track of it making all the employees stat organized and streamlined in terms of the work.