Fundamentals of knowledge about time management. Time management briefly how to use to achieve the goal. If the goal is large, it can be divided

Often, people who pay increased attention to the development of their careers face a serious problem: there are not enough 24 hours a day for all official duties.

Modern time management technologies which allow you to properly organize your working time and thereby increase professional efficiency.

Time management is the science of time

Time management(translated from English - “time management”) - the science of methods for determining what is important for a person and what should be spent on in the first place. Its origin dates back to the 1960s.

Then in Western countries, thanks to the development of business, the pace of life rapidly accelerated. The workload of people employed in the field of management has sharply increased. They began to experience a chronic shortage of both work and free time. Gradually, the process spread to other categories of employees.

Over-employment, loss of efficiency and increased stress in many people have led to the emergence of a new science - time management, which was based not on the desire to do everything at once, but on the principle of achieving the maximum result in minimum time. Planning became the main tool for this.

Effective plan - set goals

To compose effective plan need a target. Find out what you want to achieve, and then set a clear time frame for exactly when you plan to achieve what you want. In time management, short-term and long-term goals are distinguished. They are determined depending on the implementation period. If the former can exist on paper in the form of a current task for the day, for example, call ten clients, then the latter can exist a year or more ahead, for example, move up the career ladder.

According to Brian Tracy, business consultant and best-selling author of personal productivity books, if a problem is taking too long to be dealt with all at once, it's worth breaking it down into steps and then into sub-steps. Each of them needs time. Then a plan is drawn up, and you follow it as you move from one task to another. And what you do, step by step, brings you closer to your cherished goal.

Having defined your long-term goal, all its stages and sub-stages, start fixing plans for each day. In order for the written sheet to be not just a useless to-do list, it is worth orienting it towards the result. For example, write in the list not “complete a report”, but “report completed”, so that at the end of the process you can put a bold checkmark next to the entry. This is a powerful motivator. Clearly state the outcome you want to achieve when solving the problem.

Pareto principle - 20 vs 80

Sometimes the list of work cases is so extensive that you run the risk of not meeting the standard 8 hours. Therefore, it is better to arrange things in order of urgency and importance. In case of urgent matters, postpone routine work. Time management classics believe that most people do not reach career heights not at all because of lesser abilities, but because they do not know how to highlight the main thing.

This idea is clearly demonstrated by the rule derived by the Italian economist and sociologist Vilfredo Pareto: "20% of efforts give 80% of the result, and the remaining 80% of efforts - only 20% of the result." So it is recommended to select those 20% of cases that provide the maximum effect, and start your day with them.

Don't forget to show your plan to management. Even if your boss isn't as into time management as you are, they'll know which most burning job responsibilities you're doing first and which ones you're putting off. It can also influence the plan and help you prioritize. Thanks to this, there will be no inconsistency in the work.

Eisenhower Planning Matrix

To create an effective plan for your goals and objectives, use the planning matrix of Dwight Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States. He held this post from 1953 to 1961. It provides four options for combinations by parameters: urgent, not urgent, important, not important.

Make a list of these symbols next to each case. And estimate the time costs for their implementation. Sort the tasks by importance and keep the table in front of your eyes to focus on the main thing.

Leave "spare" time

According to Gleb Arkhangelsky, a classic of Russian time management, when planning a day, you need to calculate no more than 60% of the time, and leave 40% - the so-called buffer zones - in case of urgent and unforeseen tasks. Force majeure is always there, this must also be taken into account. And you should not paint your day minute by minute, such a plan will not work anyway.

If there are no unexpected tasks, take care of the important, but not urgent, tasks. For example, sort out the papers in your desk - if you don’t need contracts with clients today, this does not mean that they will not come in handy soon. So you solve the problem before it becomes burning and requires your time at the most inopportune moment.

Well, if this approach does not allow you to avoid force majeure (for example, you need to go to an urgent meeting that will take half a working day), then you should:

  • Assign some of the planned tasks to another employee, if you have assistants.
  • Postpone cases to a later date (in whole or in part).
  • Reject tasks.

When drawing up a plan, first of all, highlight the “hard” tasks that must be completed at a strictly defined time, such as meetings.

Make sure that they are not scheduled strictly one after another, without a time interval. Your partner or client may be late, the meeting may be delayed, and this will lead to the shift of all other tasks.

Organization of manager's time

The organization of the working day for a manager has its own characteristics: communication with subordinates, setting tasks, monitoring and resolving conflicts between employees.

In the midst of all this chaos, you need to focus on problems and solve them effectively. Time management classics give four pieces of advice in this regard:

  • Do not schedule more than four meetings per day, otherwise you are unlikely to be able to act effectively.
  • Delegate: If you're doing a job that someone in your department could do, and their hour of time is cheaper than yours, then you're wasting the company's money.
  • Establish weekly reception hours for subordinates - an open door policy weans employees from independence and leads to an unreasonable waste of time.
  • When planning your working day, create conditions in order to focus on the problem being solved for at least two to three hours.

Bounded chaos method

When implementing a plan with short-term goals, as a rule, there are no problems. But with long-term projects, difficulties may arise, especially if there are several such projects. It's hard to keep a lot of details in mind. At the same time, regular work on the little things takes time and does not allow you to concentrate on the main thing. The way out is the “method of limited chaos”, described in the book of the same name by Gleb Arkhangelsky.

For each project, create a separate folder and place all related materials there. Remind them periodically and review them. Carry a small notebook with you to write down your thoughts. And then organize the records into folders. When it comes time to process the materials, you will already have some good ideas or solutions.

For very complex and long projects, when the work ahead psychologically overwhelms you with its scale, the Swiss cheese method is effective.

It is based on the fact that you need to get down to business gradually, making “holes” in the task, like those that are visible on a slice of Swiss cheese. Thus, you will begin to feel the movement forward, there will be motivation to continue solving the problem until the desired result is obtained.

Time management control

All of the above time management functions will not be as effective if not controlled.

It covers three tasks:

  • Understanding the physical and emotional state.
  • Comparison of the planned with the result.
  • If necessary, adjust the plan.
  • This simple procedure will help you better understand what you have achieved and what steps you should take to organize your working time in the best possible way.

How to answer the following interview questions: How do you manage your time? How do you plan your work day? What techniques and methods do you use in planning? Give examples of how you use the skill of time management to successfully complete the task.

You will find out all the answers to these questions by reading this article.

What is time management?

Time management is a set of knowledge, skills and abilities, thanks to which a person knows how to prioritize, accurately plans his time, thereby increasing his personal productivity in organizing his working time.

"Until you can manage your time, you can't manage anything else" Peter Drucker

  1. perfectionism
  2. procrastination
  3. Lack of Knowledge
  4. Lack of necessary tools and resources

1. Perfectionism makes it very difficult to complete tasks on time. Many consider this quality to be a strength, but it is the constant striving for excellence and dissatisfaction with the results obtained that is one of the reasons for the inefficient use of time. By finding opportunities to accept the "real" result instead of the "ideal" result, you save significant resources for other things. There is such an expression: “perfectionism is evil”, of course, all this is rather relative and in each individual situation this personality characteristic can be assessed differently, however, undoubtedly within the framework of time management: perfectionism is EVIL!

2. procrastination- constant postponing of affairs for later, unwillingness to perform certain duties. In the vocabulary of procrastinating employees, the word "TOMORROW" dominates. About such people, Steve Jobs said very well: “Poor, unsuccessful, unhappy and unhealthy is the one who often uses the word “tomorrow”.

I can’t save you from perfectionism and procrastination, my goal is to give knowledge, provide the best techniques and methods, introduce resources and tools for mastering the skill of time management. And whether you use the information received or not - it all depends solely on your desire. However, after reading this article, you will never be the same again.

To begin with, I suggest defining your time management skills. Pass

Cognitive dissonance lies in the fact that, on the one hand, we cannot manage time as such. After all, it is time that we cannot control and it seems that it is time that controls us, and not we. We are accustomed to perceive time as something eternal and limitless. It seems that there is always a lot of it. On the other hand, time is one of the most valuable resources we all have. It is important to understand that time has its limits, every day is a vessel of a certain capacity that you fill with deeds. You can fill it with useless things, or you can fill it with things that work for your goals and lead you to the final goal.

We can control ourselves, how we plan our day, and how we spend our work time. Reasonable, productive and economical use of this resource is an important part of employee evaluation.

Time efficiency can be achieved in two ways:

  1. Achieve meaningful results by saving time. This means that you know how to achieve the task in the minimum time.
  2. Effective work time planning will reduce the number and volume of tasks you perform.

In this article, I've digested six of the best time management techniques. With their help, you will be able to learn how to plan and control your priority tasks on a daily basis.

How to learn to manage your time?

6 best practices time management:

  1. Pareto Principle
  2. Eisenhower Matrix
  3. Mind maps or Mind maps
  4. Franklin Pyramid
  5. ABCHD method
  6. Eat the frog first

1. Pareto principle

The Pareto principle states that a small proportion of the causes, efforts and funds invested is responsible for a large proportion of the results. This principle was formulated by the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto in 1897 and has since been confirmed by quantitative studies in various areas of life:

20% of efforts give 80% of results

The Pareto principle in the field of time management can be formulated as follows: about 20% of effort and time is enough to get 80% of the result.
How exactly to determine what effort is enough to spend to get a good result? Imagine that you are looking for answers to your questions in a book. According to the principle under consideration, you will find 80% of the information you need in 20% of the text. If you know exactly what interests you, you will be able to quickly flip through the book and carefully read only individual pages. Thus, you will save 80% of your time.

2. Eisenhower Matrix

This is probably the most well-known time management concept to date, which allows you to prioritize. This technique, the creation of which is credited American general Dwight Eisenhower, allows you to sort cases at the same time according to their urgency and their importance. Everyone understands that only a limited number of tasks can be completed in one period of time. Sometimes without prejudice to the work of only one. And every time we have to decide, WHICH EXACTLY? American President Dwight Eisenhower used to plan his affairs by sorting them into several important categories.
In accordance with the so-called Eisenhower matrix, each case must be assigned to one of the four types indicated on the diagram.

Eisenhower Matrix

The importance of a task is determined by how the result of its implementation affects your business. And the urgency is simultaneously two factors: firstly, how quickly this task must be completed, and secondly, whether the execution of this task is tied to a specific date and specific time. It is importance and urgency, considered together, that influence prioritization.

Let us consider in more detail what cases can be attributed to each of the four types.

Type I: "important and urgent".
These are things that will result in significant damage to your business if not completed on time (for example, renewing licenses, filing tax returns, etc.). A certain proportion of such cases will inevitably be present in the life of every person. However, with advance preparation (Type II cases – “important but not urgent”) many crises can be prevented (eg by studying the law, building good relationships with powerful people).

It can also be projects with a "burning" deadline, ambulance. For example, visiting a doctor because of a health problem, submitting an article to a journal by a tight deadline, or submitting a research report. Here we have no choice. The affairs of this group must be carried out, period. Otherwise there will be serious problems.

Type II: "important but not urgent."
These are things that are focused on the future: training, studying promising areas of business development, improving equipment, restoring health and performance. Things that lead to your strategic goal. For example, learn foreign language to go to work in another, more promising organization. It is also the prevention of problems - to keep yourself in good physical shape. Unfortunately, we often neglect such cases, putting their decision on the back burner. As a result, the language has not been learned, incomes are not growing, but declining, health is to hell. These cases have interesting feature- if they are neglected for a long time, then they go into the category of Important - Urgent. After all, if at least once a year you do not appear at the dentist, then sooner or later an urgent visit to him will become inevitable.

Type III: "not important, but urgent."
Many of these things don't really bring much benefit in life. We make them just because they hit us (a long phone call or reading an ad in the mail), or out of habit (visiting trade shows that don't have anything new). Just the same everyday routine that takes us a lot of time and effort.

Type IV: "not important and not urgent."
These are all kinds of ways to “kill time”: alcohol abuse, “light reading”, watching movies, etc. We often resort to this when we have no strength left for productive work (not to be confused with real rest and communication with loved ones and friends - very important matters). This is a “moth” that eats our time.

As you strive for the success of your business, you first of all try to complete the tasks that you define as "important" - first "urgent" (Type I), and then "non-urgent" (Type II). The remaining time can be devoted to the "urgent but not important" (type III).
It should be emphasized that the bulk of the employee’s working time should be spent on “important, but not urgent” tasks (type II). Then many crisis situations will be prevented, and the emergence of new business development opportunities will no longer be unexpected for you.

When you first start using the proposed system for prioritizing, you will most likely want to classify many of these tasks as “important”. However, as you gain experience, you will begin to more accurately assess the importance of a particular case. It will take some time to learn how to use the prioritization system. Where can you get it? Most likely, you will classify the work of mastering the techniques of managing your time as "important, but not urgent."
As Stephen Covey (author of the international bestseller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) puts it figuratively, you need to take the time to “sharpen the saw” so that firewood can be harvested faster.

Parable

A certain man saw a woodcutter in the forest, with great difficulty chopping a tree with a completely blunt ax. The man asked him:
- Dear, why don't you sharpen your ax?
“I don’t have time to sharpen my ax—I have to chop!” moaned the woodcutter...

Therefore, you need to “voluntarily” allocate a certain time for planning your classes, refusing to perform any less important things. If you can do this, then next time you can free up even more time with new skills and use it to learn something else. Thus, through the determination to improve the efficiency of your work, you will gradually free up time for the development of your personal productivity.

Prioritization Criteria
Usually, when evaluating the importance of a particular case, we consider important, first of all, those things that need to be done urgently (or "yesterday"). The accumulation of unfulfilled cases and promises creates problems for your company, and also creates unpleasant feelings for you personally. It is with such "urgent" matters that we strive to deal with in the first place. But the urgency factor should not be the only factor when writing a to-do list and determining the order in which they should be completed.
Experience shows that doing (or not doing) a lot of urgent things doesn't affect your business much, while there are a lot of non-urgent things that can lay the foundation for future success. Therefore, in addition to urgency, it is necessary to take into account how much this or that matter affects the success of the business, that is, to determine and take into account its importance.

3. Mind maps or Mind maps

This is the development of Tony Buzan - a well-known writer, lecturer and consultant on the issues of intelligence, the psychology of learning and the problems of thinking. There are also such translations of the phrase "Mind maps" as "Mental maps", "Thinking maps", "Mind maps".

mind maps is a method that allows:

Effectively structure and process information;
think using your creative and intellectual potential.

This is a very beautiful tool for solving tasks such as giving presentations, making decisions, planning your time, memorizing large amounts of information, brainstorming, introspection, developing complex projects, self-learning, development, etc.

Areas of use:
1. Presentations:
in less time you give more information, while you are better understood and remembered;
business meetings and negotiations.

2. Planning:
time management: plan for the day, week, month, year…;
development of complex projects, new business…

3. Brainstorming:
generation of new ideas, creativity;
collective solution of complex problems.

4. Decision making:
a clear vision of all the pros and cons;
a more balanced and thoughtful decision.

4 Franklin Pyramid

This is a ready-made planning system that helps you manage your time properly and achieve your goals. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) - Amer. polit. figure. B. Franklin was distinguished by a fantastic capacity for work and a unique sense of purpose. At the age of twenty, he made a plan to achieve goals for a lifetime ahead. Throughout his life, he followed this plan, clearly planning every day. His plan for achieving goals is called the "Franklin pyramid" and looks something like this:

1. The foundation of the pyramid are the main values ​​of life. We can say that this is the answer to the question: “What mission did you come to this world with?” What do you want from life? What mark on Earth would you like to leave behind? There is an opinion that there will not be even 1% of people living on the planet who would seriously think about this. In other words, this is the vector of the direction of movement towards your dream.

2. Based on life values, everyone sets a global goal for himself. What does he want to become in this life, what does he plan to achieve?

3. The master plan for achieving goals is the fixation of specific intermediate goals on the way to achieving the global goal.

4. A plan for one, three, five years is called long-term. Here it is important to determine the exact deadlines.

5. Plan for a month, and then for a week - this is a short-term plan. The more thoughtful it is, the more often you analyze and correct it, the more effective the work will be.

6. The last item in terms of achieving goals is a plan for each day.

5. Method "ABVGD"

The ABVGD method is effective method prioritization tasks that you can apply daily. This method is simple and so effective that it can, if used regularly and competently, elevate you to the rank of the most productive and productive people in your field of activity.
The strength of the method is in its simplicity. Here's how it works. You start by making a list of everything you have to do for the coming day. Think on paper.
After that, you put the letter A, B, C, D, or E in front of each item on your list.

Task type "A" is defined as the most important thing at this stage, something that you must do or risk serious consequences. An "A" task might be visiting an important client or writing a report for your boss. These tasks represent the real, mature frogs of your life.
If you have more than one "A" task in front of you, you rate their priority by marking A-1, A-2, A-3, etc. Task A-1 is the biggest and ugliest "frog" of all that you have to deal with.

Task type "B" defined as the one you should have done. Nevertheless, the consequences, in case of its implementation or non-compliance, are quite mild. Such tasks are nothing more than the "tadpoles" of your life. This means that if you do not do the right job, someone will be dissatisfied or put at a disadvantage, but in any case, in terms of importance, these tasks do not closely correspond to the tasks of type "A". A phone call about a not-so-urgent matter or a backlog of e-mail could be the essence of a Type B task.
The rule that you must follow is: never start a type "B" task while you have an "A" task left unfinished. Never let the "tadpoles" distract you while the big "frog" is waiting to be eaten!

Task type "B" is defined as something that would be great to do, but from which no consequences should be expected, whether you do it or not. A B task might be a phone call to a friend, a cup of coffee, lunch with a colleague, or some personal activity done during work hours. These kinds of "events" have absolutely no impact on your work.

Task type "G" is valued as a job that you can delegate to someone else. The rule in this case is that you should entrust others with everything they can, thereby freeing up time for yourself on tasks of type "A", which you and only you are able to perform.

Task type "D" is a job that can be completely removed from your to-do list. It may be a task that used to be important, but is no longer relevant for you or for others. Often this is work that you do day in and day out, either out of habit or finding pleasure in doing it.

After you have applied method "ABVGD" to your to-do list for the day, you have completely organized your work and set the stage for more important things to get done faster.

The most important condition for the ABCHD method to really work for you is the following requirement: start task A-1 without delay and then work on it until it is fully completed. Use your willpower to start and keep working on your most important task at the moment. Take hold of your biggest "frog" and "eat" it without stopping until the very last bite.
The ability to analyze your list of tasks for the day and highlight the A-1 task will serve as a starting point for achieving truly great success in your activities, increase your self-esteem, fill you with self-respect and a sense of pride in your achievements.
When you get into the habit of fully concentrating on your most important task, i.e. task A-1 - in other words, on eating your main "frog" - you will learn to do twice or even three times more than the people around you.

6. Eat the frog first

Going from hard to easy

You've probably heard the question, "How would you eat an elephant?" The answer, of course, is: "In pieces." And how would you eat your biggest and ugliest "frog"? In the same way: you would break it down into specific step-by-step actions and start from the very first one.

Start your working day with the most difficult task and complete it as quickly as you can. It will help you to realize that you still have a lot to do, and the time of the working day is limited. Doing the hardest thing first will give you a huge sense of accomplishment. Use this rule daily and you will see how much energy you get and how efficiently your work day goes. Constantly putting off a problematic task until the end of the day will cause you to think about that task all day anyway, and it will prevent you from focusing on other tasks! Eat the frog first, and then proceed to eat the elephant piece by piece!

Time planning tools

Plan your day ahead of time.
Through planning, we transfer
the future into the present and thus we have
opportunity to do something
about him now

Alan Lakin

The main generations of "planners"
The technologies and means of organizing working time known today can be divided into several generations - the differences here are in the principles of fixing information and the technique of use.

Until the 20th century, work time planning was carried out using primitive methods: memos, to-do lists, etc. At the beginning of the last century, along with the development of business, new tools were widely used to facilitate the work of manager time planning.
The idea to adapt a household calendar for office work arose in the 19th century and materialized in the form of a flip calendar in 1870. For each day, one page of the calendar was assigned, on which the day, month, and year were indicated. The availability of free space for notes made it possible to take the necessary notes: negotiations, meetings, expenses, meetings. For almost a century, the desk calendar has been the main time management tool for managers.

The result of the improvement of the flip calendar was the diary and weekly. The diary is a loose-leaf flip calendar in the form of a convenient notepad of various formats. The diary could be taken with you to meetings and business trips.
Even more convenient for the manager was the weekly journal, which had the possibility of planning working week and day, monitoring the execution of recorded cases, analysis of the time spent (since an hourly breakdown of the working day appeared), more quick search information (after all, now it was grouped by 52 weeks, and not by 365 days). In the 1980s, weeklies practically supplanted flip calendars and became so widespread that they became an element of the business style of enterprises.

The design idea to combine a calendar, a notepad and a phone book in one convenient tool successfully materialized back in 1921 in the form of an “organizer” (from the English organizer). The subsequent improvement of the tool was carried out by changing the format, design, paper quality and exterior finish. Here, in one tool, information storage devices and technical means (calendar, notepad, address and telephone book, business card holder, pen, microcalculator) were combined. At the same time, there was no clear classification and systematization of records.

The famous "time manager" was created in Denmark in 1975. It implemented the idea of ​​targeted planning of personal results based on a typical classifier of functions (“key tasks”) and technology for the implementation of global events (“elephant tasks”). At the same time, the use of a “time manager” turned out to be acceptable only for people who were organized and disciplined by nature, and besides, significant financial costs were required for training and acquisition.
Nevertheless, the name of this kind of "organizer" - "time manager" - has become a household name and today denotes a general approach to the active use of time as a managerial resource.

The development of scientific and technical progress in recent decades has led to the creation of electronic time planning tools that are fundamentally new from a technological point of view: an electronic notebook, various PC service programs, mobile phones, smartphones, etc.

The best modern time management technologies:

1.Trello is a free web application for small team project management. Trello allows you to work more productively in closer collaboration. Trello is boards, lists, and maps that let you organize and prioritize projects in a fun, flexible, and easily customizable way.

2. Evernote is a web service and a set of software for creating and storing notes. A note can be a piece of rich text, an entire web page, a photo, an audio file, or a handwritten note. Notes can also contain attachments with other types of files. Notes can be sorted into notebooks, labeled, edited, and exported.

Time management for modern man- the central concept of any system of personal effectiveness and productivity, the Holy Grail for every ambitious person, whether a student, an entrepreneur or a housewife. The fast pace of life, especially in large cities, and huge amounts of data make it difficult to achieve goals that are important for each of us, whether it is a promotion, raising a child, or creating our own entrepreneurial project. If you have something to strive for, you are unhappy with your results, you just want to become a little more effective, or you need help overcoming procrastination (the habit of putting things off until later), then this series of lessons is created just for you.

The presented online training will introduce you to the basics of time management and its details, talk about how the most successful people on the planet manage their time and organize their lives. Completely free of charge, your attention will be offered various principles, methods, exercises, techniques and techniques that make up the most effective time management systems, and which will allow you, by putting them into practice, to notice positive changes in the very first days. This online time management course will become your personal guide to a world where you will forget about eternal fatigue, constant stress and lack of time. You will learn how to correctly set goals and plan to achieve them, manage to do a huge number of things in record time, enjoy work and manage to find time to relax. The course contains tips and methods for managing time that are truly effective.

However, despite the fact that the presented course has great potential, time management itself, unfortunately, is fraught with unexpectedly many uncertainties and questions. First, why are there so many different approaches to time management? What is the difference between the methodology David's GTD Allen and the "time drive" method of Gleb Arkhangelsky? Why does every next “super-efficient” author invent something new, is there really nothing definite and accurate in time management?

Secondly, why does not everything proposed by specialists work? The authors unanimously speak about the effectiveness of their methods and techniques, but I don’t want to follow them at all. And then, even if you do everything exactly according to the instructions, something still goes wrong. What is the reason?

And thirdly, what to do with the unwillingness to live on the machine according to a once, but forever routine? How to adjust a clear system of organizing time to the constant changes that our life is so rich in?

This online tutorial series is not designed to answer all of the questions above, but is designed to help you answer them for yourself. And this is its most important value. And for the same reason, having studied the materials of this training, you can not only “pump” some of your individual qualities, but also have a complex impact on your personality.

And if you want to master time management methods as quickly and efficiently as possible, sign up for our.

Time management (organization of time, time management) is a time-ordering technology aimed at increasing the efficiency of its use.

The very concept of "time management" comes from the English "time management" and means the technology of organizing a person's time and increasing the efficiency of its use. More specifically, time management implies an action or a set of actions to train conscious control over the amount of time spent on certain activities and through which you can significantly increase your productivity and effectiveness.

Time management includes a wide range of activities, including:

  • Goal setting
  • Planning and time management
  • Task delegation and resource management
  • Time analysis
  • Time stamp
  • Prioritization
  • Listing
  • And many others

At the beginning of its appearance, time management concerned only the sphere labor activity or business. But, as it developed, the term began to expand and included various aspects of a person's personal activity. Today, time management is a necessary component of the development of absolutely any project. serves as a determining factor in calculating its scope and time required for its implementation.

In Russia, for the first time, a revolutionary and public figure A. K. Gastev, who in the 20s of the XX century was the director of the Central Institute of Labor. He began to develop ideas about the individual's personal effectiveness and the efficient use of time. Already in the early 70s, the first method appeared that allowed you to manage personal time, called "Timekeeping". Over time, the topic began to rapidly gain more and more supporters and be introduced into various areas of people's activities. All this led to the fact that time management became an independent direction, and in 2007, the department of time management was created at the Moscow Financial and Industrial Academy (today the university).

Time management has its own structure, consisting of several important processes:

  • Analysis
  • Development and formulation of strategies
  • Planning and prioritization
  • Process Implementation
  • Goal achievement control

It is important to note that time resource management allows you to effectively manage not only working time, which is the main part of life. ordinary person but also free time that a person uses for recreation. Applying it in everyday life, you can organize your life much more efficiently, plan weekends, arrange various events. Skillfully managing his time, a person can even make a mini-vacation out of his weekends. Together, this has a very positive effect on the emotional, mental and physical health of a person and significantly improves his life.

To date, established and successfully operating special schools teaching effective time management. Standard training takes place on the following main topics:

  • Strategic planning
  • tactical planning
  • Evaluation of personal effectiveness
  • Assessment of managerial effectiveness
  • Defining personal mission as an emotionally motivating factor
  • Determining the main factors for developing your own plan
  • Ability to prioritize
  • Mind Mapping Tool
  • Training in the basics of using software designed specifically for planning (MyLifeOrganized, MS Project, MS Outlook and other programs)
  • Analysis of what has been achieved
  • Studying methods for improving the process of achieving goals

To teach people the basics of competent time management, various trainings and seminars are being held today, programs and courses are being developed, books and other publications are being published, and various Internet resources and online trainings are being created, such as the training presented on our 4brain website, for example.

Application of time management

AT modern world personal time is a key human resource, often having a much higher value than money, since, unlike money, it cannot be accumulated or restored. That is why the ability to make the best use of your time and manage it is of essential value for any person. And it is important to learn how to apply this skill in all areas of life: work, business, creativity, family relationships, etc.

The skill of time management provides a person with a huge number of different benefits. Below we list just a few of them.

So, a person who knows how to manage his time:

  • Achieve goals more often than others
  • Achieves his goals many times faster than people who do not have such a skill
  • Able to achieve success in any field of activity
  • Has much more time to relax, be with loved ones and do things you love
  • Able to perform many different tasks in a short period of time
  • Has the ability to increase his income, build capital and retire as soon as possible
  • Can get rid of the feeling of constant fatigue and improve your health
  • Much less affected by stress and negative factors
  • Positively perceives the world and the events that take place
  • May spend more time on spiritual development and self-improvement
  • Always has a clear plan of action
  • Has inner freedom and has the ability to choose
  • Able to create favorable conditions and independently control their lives

This is only part of the positive impact that the ability to manage time has on a person's life. It is not just that there is an opinion that people who do not know how to allocate their time cannot find a single free minute, and are constantly busy with something, but all their employment does not bring any sensible results. And people who are able to skillfully manage their time resource can always set aside time for something or for someone, and all their activities continuously move them towards their goals and achievement of success.

If you get acquainted with the features of the life and work of successful people, you will certainly find that all of them, as one, say that the most valuable asset that a person has is his time, and you will probably notice that they all keep diaries, make up plans, think over further steps and do it all the time. They are always full of ideas, and the amount of their cases is simply amazing. But, at the same time, they are happy, smiling, positively disposed; everything they do, they do it with enthusiasm and enjoy it; and are in good health. If you are a person who strives for self-development and personal growth, then it is likely that you would like to achieve similar results, otherwise you would not be here. And there is great news for you - YOU CAN DO IT. You just need to set yourself the goal of learning how to use your time efficiently.

How to learn it?

It's no secret that we are all born with a set of different abilities and predispositions. But, of course, these abilities and predispositions are different for everyone, and while some people are initially inclined to effectively manage the time of their lives, others have to develop and hone this skill. Whatever the case, it can be done. And again, good news - YOU CAN DO THIS INDEPENDENTLY, i.e. without resorting to being trained in specialized institutions or buying expensive training courses. Moreover, it is not at all necessary to have some special talent or genius, but you can simply go through an online training, the introduction to which you are now reading.

There are two important points in taking this course. This is:

Theoretical base- the information that you can get from the lessons we offer.

Practical development- putting what you learn into practice in your daily life.

Based on these important points, we have developed this training. Each lesson is designed so that you can learn the theoretical material, which is presented in an interesting and completely understandable and accessible language for any person. And also to ensure that you have the motivation and the opportunity to apply everything that you have learned, not waiting for some opportune moment, but right here and now. All you need is the desire to learn a new skill and some free time, which you will need to find for this, which we, of course, have no doubt about.

Do you want to test your knowledge?

If you want to check your theoretical knowledge on the topic of the course and understand how it suits you, you can take our test. Only 1 option can be correct for each question. After you select one of the options, the system automatically moves on to the next question.

Time management lessons

Having studied the experience of teaching time management to many people, we came to the conclusion that, as we have already said, you can learn its basics on your own. Having introduced some adjustments and even more adapted the material for self-study, we have prepared a series of lessons aimed at developing useful competencies for the full mastery of this skill. Below is a short description of each lesson:

The purpose of this lesson is to help you understand the features and nuances of time management as much as possible, as well as to understand and feel at a deep level how effective organization of your time can contribute to the achievement of goals, help develop the potential of your personality and have a beneficial effect on life in general.

The lesson will consider such issues as the goals of time management and its prerequisites, the main stages and features of this process. In addition, you will learn a lot of tips for improving personal efficiency and will be able to choose those that will suit you.

As you know, any human action is directly related to the fact that he spends a certain amount of time to complete it. And if the information from the first lesson will teach you to determine and fix your time costs and understand the structure of the distribution of a temporary resource, then the knowledge that you will receive from here will help you learn to separate what you need to spend your time on from what you do not need. .

Here we will talk about the goal-setting process: you will learn to determine your true goals and secondary tasks, which means you will be able to do what will allow you to eliminate wasting time, and even your minimal efforts will bring you maximum results.

Achieving any result is a process that always has its own characteristics and characteristics. It is important to understand that not all actions are effective. You need to be able to see prospects, calculate your steps and set priorities. Having a goal also means having a plan to achieve it. This lesson is devoted to these and other interesting questions.

From it you will learn about what is the process of planning cases, what are the methods of setting priorities, get acquainted with the most effective techniques for making plans and lists. In addition, you will learn some important principles that will help you learn how to save time, improve your results, and avoid many of the mistakes that are common to people who have embarked on the path of good time management.

Despite the fact that the concept of “time management” came into the Russian language not so long ago, many prominent figures have paid and continue to pay attention to the very fact of organizing personal time in order to achieve goals and increase productivity. Perhaps that is why they were able to achieve significant success, because the ability to manage the main resource - time - often depends on a person's ability to cope with all matters, work hard and efficiently in any situations, and emerge victorious from them.

One way or another, everyone planned their employment (artists, writers, politicians - well-known and not so), but B. Franklin became the creator of not a universal daily routine, but one of the first integrated time management systems. He showed by his own example how important it is to set goals and develop a plan to achieve them. About his and other author's time management systems, which combine the principles of goal setting, planning and motivation, and will be discussed in this lesson.

A. Herzen wrote: "Theory inspires conviction, an example determines the course of action." In fact, time management systems lesson 4, the basics of goal setting lesson 2 and planning lesson 3 as the main components of time management would be no more than elements of a coherent theory if they were not supplemented by specially developed general methodological and practical tools within individual techniques. Following them, applying them in their daily lives, everyone will be able to acquire not only useful knowledge, but also create their own system for setting, evaluating and implementing strategic goals.

The recommendations, tips, tricks, techniques, as well as time management services and programs collected in this lesson are taken from various sources, but are universal tools and are equally useful both in terms of time management and personal development in general: self-discipline training , character, attitude to life priorities and goals.

How to take classes?

All our lessons have one important feature - they are designed in such a way that absolutely anyone can apply them. But you must certainly keep in mind that how successfully you master the material depends, to a large extent, on your attitude. If you treat it negligently, from the position “if there is time, then of course I will do it,” then the result will be completely mediocre, if any at all. But in the event that you approach the study of the material with all responsibility and understanding the importance of what you are doing, then the result will be your rapid personal growth and an increase in the performance of all personal characteristics, not to mention the fact that you will learn to manage your time perfectly.

In order to get the most out of the training, we recommend that you study one lesson every two days: on the first day you just need to familiarize yourself with the lesson, and on the second day you will use what you have learned throughout the day, each time using new techniques. and combining them. In total, the entire course will take you about ten days. But it is also important here that, having taken up the training, in no case should you miss classes. Set yourself the task of completing this course to the end. This alone will already become your practice of time management, and in addition, it will begin to develop in you such qualities as purposefulness, commitment, diligence and punctuality. Remember that theory and practice are two sides of the same coin. Only in this way can you learn what you want, and only in this way have all successful people done at all times. And one more thing: prepare a notebook and a pen in advance, because in the matter of planning you can’t do without it.

Additional material

Time Management Books

In this supplementary section, we'll take a look at some of the most popular books on the topic of time management. Each one is a unique collection. useful information, practical advice and guidance, efficient technician and time management techniques. Some of them are written by professional authors and have already earned their reputation not only among Russian readers, but also among readers from all over the world. Others have been published quite recently, and their authors are not yet so famous, but undoubtedly deserving attention people. Any of the books reviewed will be a great addition to our training.

Hello! Today we will talk about time management or effective time management and answer the question of how to do everything!

The person is part of society. Each of us has certain responsibilities to ourselves, colleagues and relatives. Sometimes it seems that life is a kaleidoscope of identical days, with a large number of tasks for which there is always not enough time to solve. If you associate yourself with the squirrel in the wheel, then you will be interested to know that time can be effectively managed.

What is time management or time management

Look at rich and successful people. They own a large business, manage a huge number of people and find time for leisure and family. “How do successful people manage to do everything?” you ask. Yes, all because they know and own the basics of time management.

Time management is the ability to rationally allocate your time resources. Translated from English means "time management". Of course, people are not magicians and do not know how to turn back time, or stop it. But we can learn how to correctly distribute every minute in order to have time to complete all the tasks.
The motto of successful time managers can be considered the expression "Do more, work less."

Who can benefit from time management

People have different needs and different responsibilities. Do not think that the problem of lack of free time is a problem only for managers and wealthy people. In fact, learning to do the maximum number of things in a certain period of time begins from childhood.

Let's remember at least the daily routine of the child. Surely many of the houses hung a poster "Lesson schedule and daily routine." Thanks to him, children observe the daily routine and are disciplined.

If you are asking questions: “How to work and manage to do everything around the house for a woman with a child”, “How to learn to do everything faster and not get tired”, then these questions are relevant for you, especially if you are a young mother. Some of the fair sex manage to keep track of three children, take care of themselves and their husbands, and some cannot even cope with one child.

Therefore, do not think that time management is a useless science that is unlikely to be useful to you in life. In fact, if you learn to control your time, you will find happiness and harmony in all areas of life.

History of time management

Since ancient times, people have tried to distribute their labor resources as efficiently as possible, so even in Ancient Rome the philosopher Seneca began to distribute the time spent, for what he spent with benefit and useless. If a famous thinker did something useful, then such time was considered good, useless - bad.

Later, Seneca began to write down what he did and when. After that, I analyzed the time spent and evaluated its effectiveness. We can say that he was engaged in building an effective time management system.
In the 5th century, the famous Italian scholar Alberti argued that people who know how to manage their time usefully will always be successful.

Already in the ΧΧ century, an institute of labor was created, where many famous people. For example, the biologist Lyubyashchev A.A. invented the timing method. It has been successfully applied to in large numbers enterprises, analyzing the working hours of each specialist.

Timekeeping allows you to analyze how much time a person needs to complete a specific task.

The main components of time management

Before you start learning the basic rules of time management, you need to know what parts it consists of. That is, what will need to be done, and thanks to which you will learn how to allocate your time:

  • Strict accounting of all time;
  • Optimization of working time resources;
  • Daily planning of your day;
  • Constant motivation.

You need to manage your time not only during working hours, but also during the rest period. This will help you better restore your strength, as well as make you feel happy, self-sufficient and successful.

Not every citizen of our country has even heard that one can skillfully manage one's time. Accordingly, many do not even suspect the existence of a time management technique. But if a person is still interested and superficially acquainted with the minimum information about this art, then he immediately becomes a hostage to many fears.
Consider the most popular fears associated with time management.

  1. No one can control time, so life has gone on and will go on as usual. This is a false statement, because you yourself are the masters of your own destiny. It depends only on you how quickly the work will be done and how much time will be left for rest and communication with friends. By mastering good habits that help save time, you will not be in control of time, but of your life;
  2. Thanks to time management, you will have to work more. Some people are really afraid that if they have free time, they will have to do more unplanned work. In fact, time management allows you to optimize all processes, and you are unlikely to have time to do unplanned work;
  3. Adhering to the rules of time management, you can turn into a robot. Many people think that if you fully plan your life, you can lose all human joys. In fact, time management does not take time, but rather helps to find an extra hour or two that you can spend on yourself.

Time management principles or how to do everything

The art of managing your time- this is a rather complex science, the study of which can take more than one year. But we tried to highlight the basic principles of time management that will help to properly organize the day of each person.

Plan your every day

Every day before going to bed, try to set aside a few minutes to make a written plan for the next day. You can do this on a piece of paper or on a demonstration board. Write down every minute of your time, not forgetting about rest and force majeure. Do not forget to devote enough time to these particular points, because no one is immune from unforeseen difficulties.

Always carry your plan with you (if it is written in a notebook or diary), periodically look at it and check whether you fit in the allotted time. Cross out or erase completed items. So you will feel self-satisfaction from the work done.

Set a goal

Every person has a dream that turns into a specific goal. People who set themselves certain goals and know what they are working for, it is easier to achieve what they want.

For example, if you are an ordinary average office worker, but set yourself the goal of being a leader, then you need to get the appropriate education, prove yourself well to your superiors and do your job well. In this case, you have a great chance to move up the career ladder. Perhaps in the future you. And ideally, introduce a standard for corporate time management in your organization. The main thing is to really want it and not to sit idly by.

It is important to learn how to set goals correctly. First, think about what exactly you want. Your goal should be specific, achievable, relevant, measurable and time bound. No need to dream that living in the outback and working in a small factory, you can become president in a couple of years. Set realistic goals and go to your cherished dream.

Learn to commit to your action plan

You already know about the importance of making plans, now let's take a look at how to properly plan your affairs.

The Gantt Chart will help us with this. This, at first glance, is a difficult method that not everyone can handle. But in fact, everything is quite simple. Let's see how this method works with an example.

You need to build a house. You prescribe all the stages of construction (design, laying the foundation, ground, finishing work, etc.). After that, enter the data into a table and indicate the timing and sequence of their implementation. Some small processes, the implementation of which does not affect the quality of work, can be combined, thereby reducing the time to complete them.

Drawing up such a diagram allows you to visually explain the scale of the work performed, so that workers are included in the process faster.

Prioritize

To achieve the goal, each person has to perform a number of tasks. varying degrees gravity. Therefore, you need to learn how to prioritize and highlight the most important processes.

In order to properly plan your day, you can use a simple principle. It is called the "ABVGD" method.
Its essence is as follows. You make a plan for the day, starting with the most important things. That is, by the letter "A" we mean the execution of the most important process, by "B" - less important, "C" - not very important, etc.

The most complex and important tasks should be scheduled in the morning, or the most productive period for you. The fact is that if the most difficult task is not immediately completed and constantly postponed until later, then the feeling of unfulfilled duty will emotionally put pressure on you. A well-known expert in the field of active time management, B. Tracy, advises to approach the solution of such issues in a tough and unambiguous manner. He is the author of the “Eat a Frog Breakfast” time management method, which is successfully used by a huge number of people.

Its essence is as follows. You do the heaviest and most time-consuming tasks ("frogs") first. This is necessary so that you have time to do all the planned things, and your emotional background, throughout the day, remains normal.

The logical continuation of the frog method is the Pareto principle or law. It says that 20% of all the efforts we put in give a result of 80%, and the remaining 80% of the efforts are only 20% effective.

That is why the main task of everyone is to identify the most effective 20% and concentrate on their implementation.
There is another method that helps to prioritize. It's called the Eisenhower Matrix. The famous successful politician was famous for his practicality. He divides all his affairs into 4 categories:

  • urgent and important. These things must be done first. Because of their importance, they should not be entrusted to others. If you delay the completion of such tasks, this may be fraught with negative consequences in the future;
  • Important but not urgent. Pay attention to this point. It is from this category of tasks that planning can be carried out. But do not put off their implementation for a long time, because these things can turn into an urgent and important item;
  • Urgent but not very important. Such cases basically take a lot of time, so they can be delegated, that is, delegated to someone;
  • Unimportant and non-urgent. It is better to cross them off the list altogether so as not to waste your time.
    Try and you use these methods, and in a few days you will understand how effective they are.

Focus on the essentials and learn to delegate

Each person has a huge number of things to do during the day. Some of them may take you several minutes, and some require several hours. Try to take on all the difficult and important things on your own, and entrust the less important things to other people.

For example, if no one in the family, except for mom, knows how to cook borscht, and in addition to dinner, you also need to wipe the dust and put away toys, then it would be rational to entrust cleaning to children or dad, while mom will cook dinner. In this situation, everyone is fed, and the apartment is cleaned.

Or another example, if you earn several thousand rubles a day every day and your tap is dripping, then it is easier to entrust repair work to a plumber and pay him a couple of hundred, while you will earn several times more during this time.
Master the principles of delegation, that is, do not be afraid to shift some of your responsibilities to others.

Analyze the lived period and create your personal time management rules

Periodically look back and try to analyze the lived period. Pay attention to how rationally you spent your time, how quickly you reached your goal, what difficulties you encountered along the way, etc.
Regularly analyze your life and note how fast it moves, whether you are completely satisfied with your actions.
Based on the basic principles of time management, create your own rules that help you optimize your time resources and feel happy and successful.

Don't forget to rest

Plan your vacation as one of the main tasks. It is on how well you have restored your strength that the quality and speed of the work performed depends. Don't neglect sleep. The sleep of an adult should be at least 8 hours a day. Otherwise, depression and loss of strength are guaranteed to you, and these are the main enemies of productive work.

Don't forget to keep in touch with friends and family. Don't give up on your hobbies and passions. A pleasant pastime helps to relax a person and makes his life brighter.

Plan your next day

Going to bed, outline the tasks that you would like to accomplish tomorrow. It is better to write down all the points so as not to miss anything, because a person is not a robot and he tends to forget some little things.

Planning is best done in the evening. That is, you are thinking about the next one tonight. This allows you to significantly optimize temporary resources, in other words, you correctly allocate your time.

Last day

Try to live every day like it's your last. Don't put off important things. Cases for which there is always not enough time, sometimes, remain in the plans, that is, unrealized. So do your best every day. Thanks to this, you will not accumulate a lot of routine and uninteresting work.

Filter information

When studying certain information on the Internet or in printed publications, try to highlight the main aspects of the article and “run” your eyes over them. Very often, the information provided is overflowing with various advertisements, or excesses of the authors' reasoning, that is, "water". Learn to read "through the line", this will save you a lot of time.

time eaters

A lot of time modern people spend on viewing absolutely unnecessary information in the social. networks and other Internet resources, as well as useless phone calls.

But time is a resource that cannot be replenished. In order to understand how expensive it is for you, calculate how much you earn approximately per hour. Now think about how much time and money you are wasting. Even if you do not translate all this into a monetary equivalent, think that instead of empty chatter on the phone, you could read a book to a child, or play with him. And this is much more useful and will bring more satisfaction.

Of course, isolating yourself from everyone and cutting off communication with friends is also not an option. But try to minimize communication with really unnecessary people. Learn to say "no" to them.

Analyze your habits and identify your “time eaters”. Gradually get rid of them, learn.

Concentration on doing one thing

Try not to take on multiple tasks at the same time. So you will disperse your strength, and your attention will be scattered. You will take longer to complete each process. Take one thing and complete it completely, then move on to the next.

History knows some people who could do several things at the same time (for example, Julius Caesar), but they are just an exception to the rule.

But there are processes that can and should be combined. For example, riding on public transport takes a lot of time for most people. Why not educate yourself at this time. After all, you can listen to an audiobook, or read an interesting magazine.

Experts advise not to grab everything. It is better to slowly and confidently move towards the goal, performing each task with high quality.

Learn your biological clock

The pace of life is different for every person. For some, the peak of activity falls in the morning hours, while someone sleeps until lunch, and starts working in the evening. Only you yourself know when you have the rise of strength and the highest performance. It is during this period that you try to carry out the maximum amount of pre-planned work. Do it at the same time.

Tidy up your workspace

All successful people have perfect order in their workplace. This applies to both a regular desktop and a PC desktop. Have you ever noticed how much time you spend looking for a document? Scientists have calculated that people who have a mess in their workplace spend 30% of their time looking for the necessary document, tool, etc.
Put things in order, dispose of unnecessary papers, get rid of garbage. Thanks to this, you will feel comfortable, and performance will increase.

Separate workplace

If you work at home and think that the whole home is a workplace, then you are deeply mistaken. While you are working, you can be distracted by a lot of little things. Try to equip your corner where all your things necessary for the work process will be stored.

For example, if you are doing tailoring at home, then you should not scatter sewing supplies throughout the apartment. Finding the right thing will take a lot of time. Having arranged your workplace, you will save yourself from additional cleaning and constant searches.

Books about time management or time management

If you are serious about changing your life and want to learn more about time management, then you will benefit from reading the following books. They are the works of well-known experts in this field and are very popular:

  1. "Master of Time" by Evgeny Popov.
  2. "Extreme Time Management" by Nikolay Mrochkovsky and Alexey Tolkachev.
  3. How to Get Things Done, or The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen.
  4. Time Drive by Gleb Arkhangelsky.
  5. Effective Time Management, Quit the Squeamishness, Eat the Frog, Manage Your Time by Brian Tracy.
  6. Time is Money by Matthew Edlung.
  7. "Time management. The art of planning and managing your time and your life by Julia Morgenstern.
  8. "Integrated Time Management" by Steve Prentice.
  9. How to Live and Work in Time by Don Aslett and Carol Cartaino.
  10. "Your time is in your hands" by Lothar Seivert.
  11. Tough Time Management by Dan Kennedy.
  12. "The Art of Keeping Up" by Alan Lacaine.
  13. "Full order. A weekly plan for dealing with chaos at work, at home and in your head, by Regina Leeds.
  14. “Work less, do more. Personal Effectiveness Program by Carrie Gleason.

Conclusion

If it seems to you that you will not be able to organize your day using time management tips, then you are deeply mistaken. Of course, any undertaking requires discipline and self-control, but you will quickly "get involved" in this process and begin to enjoy it.

The main thing is not to quit what you started. Try to hold out for 30 - 40 days, after which the planning of the day will turn into a good habit, without which you simply cannot live.

Learn to properly manage your time. Then you will have time not only to work, but also to relax, communicate with loved ones and have fun with friends.

Time management
How to squeeze 100% efficiency out of 24 hours?

Time management is a time management technique that aims to increase the efficiency of its use. Initially, this science appeared in order to help people in work and business. But over time, the benefits of time management have become relevant to everyday life. Helpful Hints on this topic, read the articles: and

Why and who needs time management?

The latest trends in society do not pass without a trace - their influence is directly related to the free time of each of us. Over the past decades, human life has changed in such a way that new duties and new temptations have appeared in it.

Speaking of the latter, it is worth mentioning that the temptations to waste time are the first obstacle to time management. With the advent of the Internet in people's lives, there are many opportunities to “pass away” time, in other words, to spend it inefficiently. It was the same with television a few years ago, and so on.
Does this mean that time management is needed only for those who spend time in social networks Or spend it watching TV? Of course not. You can lose a lot of time without use by working 24 hours a day, which at first glance seems to be useful. It is necessary to build your plans correctly in order to successfully complete several tasks at the same time. Therefore, time management will be useful for absolutely every person.

The Consequences of Lack of Time Management

The forces of several areas of activity are directed to the study and development of this area: psychologists, managers, businessmen and other specialists in their field. Thanks to this, today we can say with confidence that the lack of time management is the cause of the following problems:
⦁ Insomnia
⦁ Stress
⦁ Depression
⦁ Loss of strength
⦁ Reduced performance
This list is endless. After all, improper planning of the day prevents you from achieving your plans, causes excessive fatigue, which entails stress, and then depression. How to deal with it? We will talk about this below.

How to properly plan your time?

Studies of psychologists and managers have shown that too much free time affects a person just as badly as too much work. Therefore, the very first rule of time management is a commensurate time for work, rest and sleep. The best duration of sleep should not be less than 7 and more than 8 hours.
As for the remaining 16 hours, which are allotted for work and rest, an individual approach is important here. In order to maintain productivity at the right level, you can not spend all the remaining time on work. But the rest time should be minimal, sufficient to maintain tone.

You have to do your own planning for your day. It is important to understand that time management is not about making plans for the day. This is a much longer and more serious process, which consists of:
⦁ Analysis of goals, formation of tasks based on analysis
⦁ Determining the degree of importance of each of the tasks
⦁ Making a plan
⦁ Execution of the plan
⦁ Analysis of the work done
⦁ Forming conclusions and adjusting the plan in accordance with real facts

Formation of tasks according to the technique "Tree of goals"

For the analysis and formation of tasks, the goal tree technology will help. This technique is used in various areas of business and everyday life. For clarity, it is drawn in any convenient way, starting with the most important goal.
For example, you need to create your own business. At the initial stage, for this you will need 3,000,000 rubles (this comes on the basis of analysis). You plan to receive this money in three ways: your savings + investor deposits + subsidies from the state. So your tasks for the near future will consist of three branches of the "tree". An illustrative method for constructing a goal tree is shown below.

To build such graphs, there are many programs with which you can draw your goal tree in two clicks.

Drawing up a plan using the ABC methodology

To plan your time, you can use a notepad or notebook, a gadget program or a service. Based on the compiled tree of goals, you need to draw up a detailed plan of actions and tasks, on the basis of which you plan your time in advance. For example, the date for the defense of the business plan and the conference is already known. Therefore, you can pre-set this task for the appointed day.
As for the daily tasks: work, household chores, meeting with the family, here you will need to form a schedule. In order to make the right plan for each day, it will take a lot of time. Start by planning for the coming days. To do this, write down a chaotic to-do list with an approximate amount of time each item will take.

Next, use the ABC sorting system. Her methodology is simple: divide all tasks into three groups according to their importance. Group A - tasks that will take 20% of the time, but will bring 80% of the result. Group B - tasks that will take 30% of the time, but bring 15% of the result. And group C - things that require 50% of the time and bring 5% of the result.
This technique helps to visually see how important your affairs are and how much time is commensurate with their benefits. After sorting the plans using the ABC methodology, distribute your tasks for the coming days so that you have to complete plans from three groups at once every day. This is done in order not to overload one of the days with too much work.
By differentiating work by complexity and duration, you will be able to achieve the best efficiency.

Analysis of the correctness of the plan

When making a plan of affairs for the coming days according to the ABC principle, you are guided by intuition and rely on logic. But the best adviser in time management is a fact. Therefore, when carrying out the drawn up plan, adjust the time that actually took the implementation of each item. Take notes several times, then analyze.
When analyzing, do not forget to make notes about what caused your breakdown during the day, and what caused the tide. This is extremely important, because no plan will improve the efficiency of your time if you are doing it in a state of fatigue. You also need to work on creating a cheerful mood.
You will notice that your day consists of two kinds of tasks: recurring and one-time. The first you do daily, and the second - only once. Analyzing already completed plans, try to deduce the perfect formula to complete the first. Since these things are constantly present in your life, you can schedule them for years to come and develop the most effective system for their implementation.

Pareto Principle

You have already met with the Pareto Principle earlier, at the stage of drawing up a plan. Its essence is that 20% of the effort brings 80% of the result. When planning your day, week, month and even year, be sure to consider this law. Analyze your plans, compare tasks with each other and identify the most productive ones.

Conversely, think twice about the importance of the tasks that take up 80% of your time and produce only 20% of your results. Perhaps they can be abandoned or another way to solve them can be found.

Unplanned Tasks and the Eisenhower Matrix

After a while, you will notice that it is not always possible to fulfill the plan. Sometimes something unpredictable can happen that will take time. And since your day was scheduled, you won’t have time to do something from the to-do list.
In order for unplanned tasks to bring the least damage to your daily routine and performance, you need to determine the degree of importance of a sudden task and the time it will require. You should not do it, sacrificing time for sleep or rest. It is better to revise the to-do list and move the item that is equivalent to the task that has arisen in terms of time, but is less important.
In order to find this item, which you can transfer to later, make an Eisenhower matrix. Its principle is based on two intersecting vectors (as well as the X and Y axes). The y-axis determines the degree of urgency of the case, and the x - importance. Distribute plans on this plane and find both the least important and the least urgent thing. Move it over to the next day.

Rest time

The optimal time that should be spent on rest should not exceed 8 hours. Of course, in the conditions of modern life, one can call the lucky person who has the opportunity to spend 8 hours on vacation. And sleep has nothing to do with it. These are the 8 hours that you can spend meeting with your family, walking in the park, visiting the opera, etc.

When planning your day, it's important to be completely honest with yourself and get your body right. At first, you will need to experiment and rest for a different amount of time, and then write down the results and describe your well-being during the day. With this method, you will be able to find the only amount of time that is right for you, which will allow you to not overwork, but at the same time not relax into a state of laziness.

Conclusion

The usual pace of life for most people on a five-day work schedule is not correct. We are used to spending Saturday and Sunday on entertainment, that is, all 48 hours. After a hard working week, such a long break for the body is commensurate with a sharp drop in temperature or oxygen levels in the air. And weekdays, often, do not leave even half an hour to rest. All this negatively affects the body, well-being and human performance.
In this regard, it is extremely important to properly allocate your time. This is where the science called "Time Management" helps.


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