Time Management-Prioritizing and Recording Tasks to Feel Productive and Accomplished

Introduction

In this article I will discuss a time management strategy and an accountability strategy that, when applied together, make sure that you finish your most important tasks for the day and leave you feeling a sense of accomplishment. I will first discuss what each of these strategies are, and then I will discuss the steps on how to put these strategies to work for you. Finally, I will suggest another time management strategy that I recommend you learn more about to save even more time and increase your sense of accomplishment even more.

Time Management Strategy

To manage your tasks efficiently, a proven time management strategy is making a to-do list, prioritizing your most important tasks to finish, and completing those tasks first. There is no rocket science to this strategy--all that it asks of you is to figure out exactly what tasks you need to get done. Then it asks you to number, rank, assign importance to those tasks.

Accountability Strategy

To increase your sense of accomplishment as you management your tasks, there is a simple accountability strategy you can use--recording your accomplished tasks. When you finish completing a task, no matter how big or small, you can write/record that you have finished it, giving you an instant sense of accomplishment and provides motivation to move on to successfully complete your next task.

How to Use These Together

Managing your time and increasing your sense of accomplishment is fairly simple once you follow these seven steps to implement both of these strategies together. First, you will use the time management strategy, and then, before moving on to accomplish your next task, you will complete the accountability strategy described above. Once finished with both, repeat the entire process to continue productively managing your time and feelings of accomplishment.

Step 1: Write Down Your Tasks to Be Completed--When using the prioritization strategy for time management it's important to know everything that you feel you need to accomplish before beginning to prioritize what tasks will make you feel most accomplished. To do this write down or type everything that you need to do to feel that you are done with your work for the day period delete be as specific as possible. Finally try to group tasks into tasks and sub-tasks.

Step 2: Prioritize Your Top Tasks--Once you have written all of the tasks you need to complete it's important to review your list closely to identify which three to five tasks to prioritize. An easy way to prioritize tasks is by asking yourself, "what would happen if I finish this task today?," and "what would happen if I did not finish this task today?" Whichever task has the most benefits to finishing and/or the most drawbacks to not finishing the task should be most highly prioritized.

Step 3: Choose the Correct Task to Actively Work On--Once you have prioritized your top tasks, choose the task that upon completion, will make you feel as though you were highly productive, and if possible, will make you feel accomplished for the day--even if you did not complete anything else. This is the first task you should attempt to complete.

Step 4: Complete the Task--Once you have prepared to complete your prioritized task, it is time to take action and actually complete your task. If you have trouble finishing the task in one sitting, try setting a timer for a certain period of time, taking a five-minute break when the timer goes off, and then refocusing on completing the task once your break is over.

Step 5: Taking Out Your Achievement Tracker--When you have fully completed the task at hand, it is time to take out your achievement tracker. You achievement tracker is simply a dated list of tasks and responsibilities that you have completed. Your tracker should be easily accessible, such as in a notebook or journal you keep in your work environment, or in a document that can be easily located and re-saved on your computer.

Step 6: Use Your Achievement Tracker--When you have your achievement tracker, you should write down the name and a short description of the task you just completed. A short description, particularly of more complex tasks, will make your achievement tracker more meaningful and motivating as you give yourself "extra credit" or a description, of what work and effort you had to put in just to accomplish completing that particular task.

Step 7: Repeat--When you finish with your task and updating your achievement tracker, you can now repeat this process--starting on the third step and working on your next most highly prioritized task.

By the way, if you would like to learn more about time management strategies, you can download my free "Batch Processing Toolkit" which includes an audio training on the time management strategy of batch processing as well as a batch processing infographic and checklist by clicking here: https://www.freedownload.greatworklifebalancehabits.com/batchprocessing.

My name is Jazmin Leon, and I am a certified master coach whose primary work involves guiding clients in how to build positive habits to increase their satisfaction with their ability to balance their professional and personal lives and learning how to develop the work life balance they deserve to live. I have a background in neuroscience and psychology, advanced educational learning techniques and instructional design, and have spent years studying how to effectively prevent and reduce burnout and increase work life balance among busy professionals.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jazmin_Leon/2699211

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10166638 https://ezinearticles.com/?Time-Management-Prioritizing-and-Recording-Tasks-to-Feel-Productive-and-Accomplished&id=10166638

How To Use Your Time To Create The Life You Want

How you use your time is just one of the variables to success. I'm not talking about the passage of time because time just is. It's what you do with the time that you have that matters. One of the secrets to success is knowing how much time to spend on the right things at the right time in the right order to get the results you want in your life.

We have so many distractions these days that it's so easy to be swayed off course. So how do you know when you're using your time effectively and when you're not?

1. Get the Balance Right

It's all about balance. If you feel you're working too slowly, how can you speed up such that you're still fully present with the task at hand, you're minimising errors and you're in that alpha brainwave state (where you're fully absorbed in what you're doing)? If work is coming in at a faster pace than your working pace you know you need to reduce the time you're spending on tasks or increase your pace.

If you're rushing around in a state of unhealthy stress (yes there is healthy stress... it's called moderate pressure!) what do you need to do to slow down and bring a sense of calmness and balance back into your being?

If you're being drawn away from what you're doing by social media and time is just passing you by, what strategies and stops do you need to put in place to ensure that you minimise those distractions? It's all about finding that fine line between speed and pace, between stress and pressure, between distraction and taking a break.

How you view what you're engaged in at any point in time is key to how successfully you do what you do. It's about gaining that clarity in your mind. For example if you feel your pace is too slow or to fast on a particular day and you've got a long list of tasks to accomplish that day, get clear about why your pace is the way it is.

Look back at what you were doing yesterday. Did you have a full-on day yesterday, or was your day too easy? In which case should you have scheduled in a lighter day today or a more active one? How did you sleep last night? If you spent the night tossing and turning and hardly slept that might be a clue that maybe your body just needs rest today. If you slept soundly last night this is going to contribute to an extra boost of energy for you.

Look at what you've been eating over the last few days. If it's empty calories that give you the feeling of fullness but lack nourishment, this is going to drain your energy levels. If, however, you've been taking in food and drink packed with E numbers you may find yourself bouncing off the walls. All of these aspects are going to have an impact on the time you spend, so planning your days effectively taking account of your energy levels is crucial.

2. Understand How You Respond

Another indicator as to whether your life is working for you time wise is how well you're moving towards what you want in life. A measure of this is how you're responding at the end of each day to what you've achieved... or not. If you feel disappointed because once again you've not accomplished what you wanted to achieve, perhaps it's because once again you've unrealistically tried to fit too many tasks into one day.

By asking yourself certain questions about the activities you undertake will begin to give you an understanding of how well you're using your time. Do you feel your task is too big, too small, too boring? Maybe you're unclear on exactly what it is you need to do. Perhaps you lack clarity on how you're going to do what it is you want to do.

3. Prioritize Your Activities

Maybe what's needed is some time to clearly define your activity, why you're doing it and to work out a simple strategy that will at least get you moving. Sometimes when you take a few moments to take just these simple steps, your energy levels begin to stabilise because confusion, frustration and uncertainty begin to wane.

Taking some time to simply prioritize your tasks according to their level of importance, timing each one and deciding when you are going to tackle each is an amazingly freeing activity on a mental level that will begin to move you forward. Adopting this more practical approach will also help you to learn more about how you naturally work, and to work in accordance with this.

4. Get Clear on Your Outcomes

The clearer you can be about your desired achievements, the more constructively you'll find yourself using your time. How to do this is relatively simple:

• Get really clear on exactly what you want to achieve
• Map out your strategy for getting there
• Break your project down into prioritized and timed phases and tasks
• Get to work!
• Evaluate on an ongoing basis what's working and what's not
• Make the necessary adjustments along the way
• Stay open-minded to what success will look like
• Keep going until you get to where you want to go (or to the closest version of it)
• Rinse and repeat

It's a simple system, but it's not necessarily easy, and a key part of this is how you use the time at your disposal to get to your outcome. When you begin to use your time more effectively by following the strategies above, you can begin to achieve the exact outcomes you want to manifest, and from there start to carve out the exact life you want to live.

Carmen Gilfillan is the founder of Stimulus Development & Training. Stimulus specialises in helping people overcome emotional trauma, experience emotional breakthroughs and live their best lives. We do this through Life & Wellness Coaching, Emotional Freedom consultations and training in the areas of personal, professional and spiritual growth. Check out our website at http://www.stimulus.uk.com to book your free Emotional Breakthrough consultation.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Carmen_Gilfillan/694789

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10142127 https://ezinearticles.com/?How-To-Use-Your-Time-To-Create-The-Life-You-Want&id=10142127