ALT-5 Time Management Strategies
The purpose of this article is to present to you some time management strategies that will help you better utilize the time you have available. We all agree that everyone on the planet gets a daily allotment of 24 hours every day. And I think we all agree that everyone use their 24 hours everyday the way they see fit. I also think that we all believe that some use time very well while others squander the time they have been allotted.
Well, the strategy I am about to share with you does not teach you to manage your time. Surprised? I am surprised too. All I had been taught in the past was setting goals, using calendars, day planners, and other fancy methodology to manage my time usually still finding myself facing the same delimma-too much work with too little time to get it done.
Then I discovered by accident that I could get more done if instead of controlling my time I controlled the time periods of the day that I did certain aspects of my job. First, I studied my body natural cycle of functioning and discovered that I was the most alert in the early hours of the day and the early part of the week. This had nothing to do with managing my time but managing my peak periods of productivity.
What are peak periods of productivity you ask? Peak periods of productivity are those pockets of time during the day when your body is the most alert and capable of functioning at a high level of responsiveness. Using this information I simply changed the time of day I did certain aspects of my job and I found out that I became ten (10) times more productive and efficient by handling my more intense work during peak productivity periods. Because my brain was at its highest point of alertness I found I could think clearer and more accurately complete those difficult tasks.
A word of caution, there is no scientific evidence to back up my claims and because it worked for me does not mean it will work for you. The second thing I realized in the utilization of my time is that when working on difficult items that I always had to do research or read some information before I could actually determine how to proceed on a project. To fix this problem I once again looked at how my body functioned during a normal work week and I discovered that when I returned to work after a weekend that I had more energy at the beginning of the week rather than at the end.
Therefore, I would set up work on my projects according to the days I had the most energy in the week. Once again using the premise that I was freshest earlier rather than later I would schedule my most difficult projects at the beginning of the week. I set aside every friday to read my trade journals, decipher financial statements, plan my next week activities, and handle those miscellaneous tasks that did not fit into my peak productivity periods.
Following this same pattern of understanding my body cycles I also arranged the activities of my day in much the same way. I always do my most challenging activities in the early mornings, handle meetings at mid-day, and complete mundane paper work in the afternoon. Still another way to organize your day for greater productivity and efficiency is to organize your day according to functions or activity. By keeping all similar tasks in the same time slot and working on everything everyday you will find that you can actually generate greater volumes of work more efficiently in a shorter span of time.
For those of you who are searching for the best strategy for managing your time I would like to suggest a profound statement. The only time management technique that will work for you everytime is the one that best meet your natural way of functioning. What works for me may not work for you. But you may be able to make changes to the method I use or some one else uses to best suit your body's functioning style and come up with the greatest time management strategy you could have imagined but beware it may only work for you.
