A recent article in Business on Main, How to Find More Time In Your Day, certainly provided a variety of ways to better manage days that go by far too quickly and make you feel as if nothing has been accomplished (or at least not the right things!). I’ve written two similar articles (links below under “related articles”) on this topic.
In this Business on Main article, I particularly found interest in the variety of online tools for sharing information and tracking “to do’s.” I don’t think we realize how much is available on line (and often for no cost!) to help us to better manage our day.
For each of the suggestions in the article, How to Find More Time in Your Day, I would suggest not just “mentally” setting aside the time (for example, 30 minutes of media a week), but rather scheduling that time right into your calendar. I find that when I schedule the time in my calendar as a meeting (and block the time from someone else taking it), I am significantly more successful in accomplishing what I set out to accomplish.
I take the following steps every morning immediately after I get my first cup of coffee:
- Check my schedule for the day
- Check my “to do” list (I keep my tasks in Outlook)
- Check emails and respond immediately or mark to respond later in the day
- Spend 10 – 15 minutes on social media (posting to and reading posts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+)
- Jot down what I want to accomplish so I can check it off as I complete it
This is my normal morning routine. Even if I have an early morning meeting, I get up in time to accomplish the tasks above. It helps me to stay focused and maintain control over my schedule/time.
How about you? What do you do to keep better track of your time each day and accomplish your goals?
Related articles:
