Time Management for Busy People - How to Save Time

In this brave, new era, we are often forced to do more with less time, to make the best use of our time, and to be an efficient, productive human being. How do we do so? Time management can definitely be a challenge because each one of us only has 24 hours in a day. There are so many enticing activities to perform, but yet we can only choose those activities that we deem most dear to us. Here is some time management advice that will hopefully help keep up your sanity:

Reduce as a key time management strategy.  Remember to prioritize and reduce the amount of clutter in your life. Too many people engage in activities that they do not enjoy, but still seem to do them anyways. Reduce. Reduce. Reduce. Reduce on what you do not need or enjoy to do. Once you do this, you may finally have some time to breathe. Take a deep look at your life and determine what you can cut. You may be surprised. There are so many activities that really can be cut. At first, it may seem impossible, but if you ask yourself what on earth are you doing this for and is it really of any use? You may come up with more activities of cutting than you thought. Doing nothing is especially important because you may often gain new insights or do something that you never thought of doing, but that something may be critical for your future.

Take time to rest.  Remember when managing your time to devote and set aside time for rest and relaxation, including sleeping, eating properly, maintaining your hygiene, and just resting or doing nothing. If you are well rested, you will be more efficient, happier, less stressed or anxious, and think more clearly. You will, therefore, save more time in the long run by being well rested. In fact, if you are not so stressed out and more relaxed, your health may improve or not deteriorate so quickly, which will save you a lot of time. Remember that life is not about rushing about and doing everything. No one can do everything. You do your part. Others will do theirs.

Reduce worry time.  Often, people spend much time worrying. Therefore, it is imperative to reduce worrying time in order to have better time management.  The best way to stop this annoying practice is just to stop worrying. There is often no need to worry just because what we are worrying about is often just in our imagination. If we could predict the future, we would be crystal ball readers. Instead, to stop this worrying, just relax yourself, relax your mind. Remind yourself that once you are relaxed, you can think of a solution. Once you are relaxed, you can think of what possibilities are available for you to pursue - that is, if you are even thinking about that problem that perplexed you when you were in "worry mode." More often than not, even if you have thought of a solution, you would probably think to yourself there is no need to engage in that solution because what you were worrying about previously seems to have been almost forgotten.

Reduce travel time.  Once we've clarified some of the key essentials of saving time in our time management quest, such as reducing activities and taking time to rest, we come now to some more tangible time-saving activities. One of the worst ways that people waste time is through traveling. If you can do something close by, do it. It may not be worth going to the other side of town even if it is tastier or cheaper to eat a meal, for example. It is quite likely you will find something scrumptious close by too. Similarly, if it is possible to live near where you work or go to school, that is also a big advantage. It's difficult to quantitate all the travel time that is often wasted, but it would probably add up to some monstrous level. Therefore, by reducing travel time, or by walking to someplace close instead of waiting for the bus or driving your car, it will save you much time.

Learn.  By learning how to be more efficient in whatever you are doing, or by practicing more often, you will become more efficient at that activity. You may not be doing an activity as efficiently as possible because you are engaging in some sub-optimal strategy. By taking out some time to analyze, and learn some other ways of doing that activity, it may improve your speed in the future.

Just get it done.  Often, there may be projects where you may think that you need a group of people to do it, but you can just easily very quickly do it yourself. Just do it then. Also, you may procrastinate about a certain activity that you have always wanted to get done. Well, just do it and get it over with. It won't keep nagging your mind once you've completed it, and you can then think about and engage in other activities. In a similar vein, sometimes you may need group discussion about some problem that you keep thinking about but do not know how to go about solving it. In such an instance, group discussion or discussion with a friend may help you come up with some ideas.

Always have a clock or watch with you.  If you are not keeping track of what time of the day it is, then you do not know how much time you are spending on it, or you will not be aware that you should be doing something else at that time of the day. Keep an eye on the clock. You will then know when you will need to change activities and thus have a better handle on your time. For example, if you see that, "Oh, my gosh, it's noon." Then maybe you will know, yes, you'll need to eat lunch.

Set schedules or routines.  These routines can be daily, weekly, monthly, or whatever. It will reduce a lot of angst as to what you feel you need to do. If you have alloted a certain amount of time to it, you will feel much happier and won't feel the need to be rushing around. Of course, feel free to deviate from your routines if required, but it may help in the long run to try to stick with them or to stick with them as much as possible. You can also try alternating schedules where you do one activity one week and another week. Just remember that if you do switch your schedule radically, you will have a tendency to revert back to your old schedule. That's just natural. So, let yourself revert back, but also try to keep advancing your new schedule as much as possible. Give your new schedule time to adjust to your daily rhythms. One of the most important rhythms to set is your sleeping schedule. Another is your eating schedule.

Make use of new technology.  Consider every possible way that you can do something to develop better time management skills. If a new technology may be a good replacement for an absolute method of doing something, then go ahead and replace it with the new technology. The initial period of investment and time usage may be significant and steep, but it will be gradually worth it in the long run. Coming up with ways of automating as much as possible is one example of how you can save your time.

Pay someone to do it.  Pay, delegate, or somehow find someone else to do a certain task. You may not be the expert on it. Even if you were, you may not have that much time on your hands. Ask someone else to help you, and you may save a lot of time and energy that way.

Devote a block of time to it.  While contemplating your time management strategies, sometimes, you may just need to set aside a long period of time to get something done. For example, you may need to set aside to weeks to continuously work on a specific project or goal. Well, do that. You may need that concentrated period of time to accomplish your goal. Just remember to continue your balanced lifestyle after you have completed that task because there is often a tendency to revert back to what you were doing during that intense period. So, try to gradually wean your mind and yourself off of that topic after the intense period.

Leave good enough alone and do not aim for perfection.  Try to do your best in everything. However, once it is of high quality, leave it and go on to some other project. Similarly, if something does not need changing, do not change it just for the sake of changing it.

As you can see, time management and streamlining your schedule can be a very simple activity. You will enjoy your life more and enjoy living. Do not give up. Sometimes, it may seem like you will never have enough time. Keep trying. And remember that to save time, you should:

A. Reduce as a key time management strategy.

B. Take time to rest.

C. Reduce worry time.

D. Reduce travel time.

E. Learn.

F. Just get it done.

G. Always have a clock or watch with you.

H. Set schedules or routines.

I. Make use of new technology.

J. Pay someone to do it.

K. Devote a block of time to it.

L. Leave good enough alone and do not aim for perfection.

For some really nifty time management techniques, check out the paperback or ebook Where Did Time Fly

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