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Simply stating that time management is the management of time is not an accurate time management definition. So let us take a peek down a different rabbit hole and start with life management, shall we? What we are attempting is creating a background that will bring out the true meaning of time management in relation to your life.

First the background by bringing into focus the concept of life management which should be quite self explanatory, right? The quality of life that one lives is guided by how well we manage the different facets of our lives. Broadly these are physical health, financial well being and social interactions. This is in turn influenced by personal productivity levels in every sphere of our lives.

So this personal productivity thing is simply a matter how well you do in what you do! Simple right? Not quite. Personal productivity is optimized by acquiring and perfecting a set of skills which are learning, stress/mental control, creativity, decision making propensity, and time management !

Time management is actually a skill one uses to increase personal productivity which in turns produces stellar results in your own life management. Time management is also a whole of many small skills that one has to master if they are to unleash its full potential towards personal productivity.

Goal management is critical as we are basically directionless as long as we have no goals. As is the case with most people we have several goals that we would like to achieve but without a task management system we end up not doing most of these things. It is imperative to know what needs to get done !

Prioritizing is a skill that one has to hone if they are to conquer time management. Apart from this though you have to know when you are doing what! Using your calendar effectively is also critical to the success of this exercise.

We all get lethargic at some point and usually need a firm kick in the seat of our pants to keep us moving. Managing procrastination is something that is difficult to master if the rest of the time management skills are missing but it has to be done! Follow ups to make sure that every thing that needed to be done has been done is the last skill that completes the time management definition.

Time Management Solutions offers valuable content on managing time and personal productivity. Harri Jussila and his team welcomes you to stop by now!

I see personal productivity as the natural result of having a specific set of skills. These skills are: learning, organization, time management, mental control, enhanced creativity, and decision making. In this short article, I will shortly discuss what these mean, and why they are useful. It might also be a good idea for everyone to develop some or all of these skills, as these are all, in fact, quite handy.

Today’s work is rapidly changing, making learning more and more important. Even if the professional skills would not change that fast, we still have to face with constantly changing software, and more modern tools. Many of us are also faced with a push towards constant learning from our employer. Tools like mind maps, and skills like fast reading, can really come handy.

With organization skills, we mean the ability to organize things physically. A structured approach to this often helps for better information retrieval. Questions like “Where did I put that important letter?”, tend to be frustrating, and especially when you are in a hurry. Two good measurements for your level of personal organization are: 1) the size of your email inbox, and 2) the tidiness of your desk at work. You know what I mean.

As third, we have good old time management. Notice how I list time management as a part of personal productivity. For me, time management means things like managing tasks and email efficiently, and having an orderly way to manage your calendar. This is undoubtedly a enormous productivity booster.

Keeping yourself mentally healthy is crucial in society today. We are constantly faced with different pressures from the left and right. If you are not able to cope with stress, you might see your productivity sink through the floor. Ways to keep yourself mentally healthy include meditation, socializing, and living in the present moment.

We have all also faced the challenge suddenly to come up with solutions to difficult problems that are not easy to solve. What should we do in such situations? There are generic ways to solve problems. They allow you to reach a conclusion and motivate it to anyone, even if you are not completely familiar with the field in question. I recommend using these methods in such situations.

Last but not least we have decision making. We all know people who cannot make even the smallest decision, as they simply don’t have the guts to do it. What do I say again? There exists tools to help persons like this.

Putting in some effort and studying the areas above will help your personal productivity. That is guaranteed.

The author, Harri Jussila, contributes regularly to his blog Time Management Solutions, which is fully dedicated to time management and personal productivity. In addition to other articles around managing time efficiently, there you can also find a more comprehensive productivity definition.

categories: personal organization,personal productivity,time management,productivity,self help,Self Improvement,work-life balance,motivation

When you just can’t bring yourself to start something you actually should do, you are procrastinating. We often procrastinate almost unnoticeable. The result is that you end up doing some easier but completely irrelevant task, like checking your email or going to Facebook for the third time during the same hour, which is not good for your time management. This article will discuss some tips that might be useful when you catch yourself procrastinating.

The reasons for procrastination are often unconscious. They include perfectionism, distractions, fear of failure, and fear of success. In addition there exists a number of other reasons too, as we are all different. Successful procrastinators also often suffer from a combination of causes. Therefore, I think it is more valuable to focus on the solutions, at which we will take a glimpse on below.

At Time Management Solutions, we have listed some common suggestions for overcoming procrastination. We have also divided them into two groups: fast solutions and preventive solutions. This article focuses on fast solutions.

Fast solutions to procrastination are things you can do when you catch yourself procrastinating. Two examples of fast solutions are 1) lowering your own demands, and 2) working only for a fixed period of time.

Lowering our own demands is something worth thinking about every now and then. This is true especially if you catch yourself imagining that the outcome of your work should always be something exclusively superb. Well, guess what? In most cases it does not have to be.

What the perfectionists don’t often realize is that everything doesn’t need to be perfect. After all, if I remember correctly what was thought in engineering classes, quality is essentially about conformation to specifications. Well, how does this help? This realization is important, because it now gives you the freedom to choose the battlegrounds into which you go with 100% effort. These are probably the time you really want to impress, like when you are preparing a presentation for your boss, or writing that critical CV for your dream job. Generally, you should not hesitate emailing.

A second very effective tip is to restrict the time you allow yourself to work on a task. This approach is promoted in the book “The Now Habit” by Dr. Neil Fiore. It requires that you choose a period, often between 10 and 40 minutes, and just start working on the task. When the time is over you have to take a break.

The beauty with this trick is that you are immediately freed, even before you actually have started. You are liberated, because you know that in 20 minutes (or whatever interval you have chosen) you will be free to take a break and do something refreshing. When the focus shifts from completing a task to starting a it, the completion will inevitably follow. If you, on the other hand, are having a mindset that states, that you should sit down and stay working and focused on one single task until it is ready, you may even feel imprisoned, a thus you also welcome procrastination. Furthermore, we have this: once you really get started, you will notice that you might even enjoy the task, and the subsequent intervals may even feel pleasant. Now, who would have thought that!

If you are a perfectionist, don’t always be. I will discuss preventive solutions in a separate article. Mastering a few fast solutions like the ones above, together with some preventive measures, could potentially help you a lot at managing time.

Harri Jussila is associated with Time Management Solutions, an on-line resource for time management and personal productivity. http://www.time-management-solutions.com