Time Management Tips: Fast Answers to FAQ's about Task Templates
by:
Paula Eder
Time management is highly prized by most people - and finding time is even preferred over earning more money, recent studies report. But if you don't use your time effectively, you simply lose the time you have found.
This is where task templates help you out. Task templates are simple, flexible systems for managing your time and shaping your schedule. Once you start using them, you'll wonder how you ever got by without them!
Task templates FAQS:
Q: How will task templates help me?
A: Task templates combine personal effectiveness with stress management by helping you avoid:
1. Bottlenecks
2. Late charges
3. Missed appointments
4. Under-preparing for key encounters
5. Reinventing the wheel for recurrent events
Task templates capitalize on what your mind does best, which is creating patterns. Those patterns highlight where you want to go and what you want to avoid in a given period of time.
Your brain isn't hardwired to recall, shuffle and re-prioritize multiple items in your head. But the task templates you create will put everything in front of you quickly and clearly written out. This frees up your mind to assess your options, prioritize and launch into action. And that frees up your time.
Q: Which activities are task templates best suited for?
A: Any repetitive activity with multiple steps can be streamlined with task templates.
Use them as a framework for your activities. By creating task templates, you develop a simple outline for your projects that you can refer to time after time. For example, they can help you with:
1. Tax preparation
2. Holiday planning
3. Spring cleaning
4. Packing for trips
5. Financial reports
Q: How do I get started?
A: Follow this template and see how much time you save.
First: List activities or projects where a template would be helpful to you, using the examples above for a guide.
Second: Select one project you'd like to work with first.
Third: Jot down each activity associated with this project. If applicable, also include all supplies you will need.
Fourth: Order them chronologically.
Fifth: Place all the task templates you create in a loose-leaf notebook or in a dedicated file on your desktop. That will keep them easily accessible.
Sixth: Put the template you are currently using in the appropriate workspace. If it's helpful, print out several copies to post in multiple locations.
Seventh: Review your task templates to see if important areas have been overlooked. Revise accordingly.
Task templates are infinitely flexible systems. The more you utilize them:
* The more constructive uses you'll imagine.
* The more confidence you'll place in them.
* The more confidence you'll have in yourself.
Use task templates to focus your energy. Then draw on additional time management techniques to enhance their effectiveness, such as to-do lists, setting boundaries and visualizing the sequence of tasks.
Now, ask yourself, what is your next step to finding more time?
About the Author:
Coach Paula Eder, Ph.D., The Time Finder Expert, has 35 years of success helping individuals and small businesses align time with values.
For free Time Templates + Time Tips, visit
Finding Time
Enjoy our blog!
TheTimeFinder
No. of Times this article has been viewed :
940
Date Published :
Feb 18 2009
Most Recently Published Time Management Articles as of
|
|
Mar 5 2010
Best of the Janes: Improving Time Management
by
Michele DeKinder-Smith
Improved time management skills means more time for a female business owner. Jane Out of the Box, an authority on women entrepreneurs, reveals 5 tips all business owners may employ to improve their time management skills.
|
Feb 25 2010
Time Management Tips
by
S. Housley
Managing your time and using it wisely is a journey, and not something that can be easily mastered overnight. Implementing a plan will help, but it is not going to be a sure cure. Time management requires a significant amount of self-discipline.
|
Feb 19 2010
Time Management: Tips for Three Types of Female Entrepreneurs
by
Michele DeKinder-Smith
Every woman business owner, no matter what her entrepreneurial style, can benefit from improving her time management skills. This article outlines time management techniques for three types of business owners that will provide improved efficiency and satisfaction.
|
Dec 9 2009
How to Be More Successful by Using Effective Time Management Tools
by
BMA Editorial Team A
People who are very successful in their given fields have learned to use effective time management tools and therefore are able to get more done in less time and with less stress. Here are a few ideas to help you manage your time better.
|
Nov 28 2009
How to Increase Your Company's Profitability through Proper Time Management
by
BMA Editorial Team A
Reducing employee man-hour averages per project is essential to accentuating skills in future projection analysis and for more effective time management strategies. The optimum situation means having the "right tool" to manage your numbers.
|
Nov 27 2009
The Features of a Good Time Management Software
by
BMA Editorial Team A
Since Time is Money, you need time management software as well as business management software to make your business as successful as it can be. The software you choose should feature as many of the following characteristics as possible...
|
Nov 23 2009
Time Management Consulting 101
by
BMA Editorial Team A
Employee timesheets only go so far in providing the information you will need. Having an easy to access time management history allows your company to estimate with accuracy the man hours of a particular project, the cost in labor and resources, the cost effectiveness of pricing.
|
Nov 23 2009
How to Manage Your Time as an Entrepreneur
by
BMA Editorial Team A
Entrepreneurs are busy people and time management is crucial to them. Irrespective of the business, time is a precious commodity for an entrepreneur. Here you will get information to help you get more sales and profits out of the limited time that can be invested in the creation of an enterprise.
|
Nov 18 2009
Who's Got The Monkey Now? How to find out how well you manage your time
by
Bob Selden
Use the checklist in this article to discover whether you, as a manager are “a gatherer of monkeys”. The article gives some tips on how to recognise the signs for taking on too much work and two important rules on how to avoid this problem.
|
Nov 18 2009
Who's Got The Monkey Now? Part 2: How To Make Delegation Work For You
by
Bob Selden
Less successful managers don't delegate for fear of failure by their people, no time to train people, or a lack of experienced staff. Successful managers develop the initiative within their people so they become real problem solvers and take action
|
Nov 18 2009
Ten Ways to Spend Less Time on the Phone
by
Bill Lampton, Ph.D.
The phone rings, and you wish you didn't have to pick it up, because you will waste twenty minutes or more of your already-scarce time. Solution: Follow these ten tips, and you'll get control of your phone time.
|
Nov 18 2009
What Is The True Measure Of Time?
by
Stuart Crawford
Sorry, I don't have time for that! I hear this consistently from people in my everyday travels. What does this actually mean?
|
Nov 18 2009
Are you too Busy to be Productive? - Why Customers shouldn't be Your First Priority
by
Jeff Mowatt
Too many managers are submitting to the tyranny of the urgent. The result is that managers are becoming more busy, but less productive.
|
Nov 18 2009
5 Tips to Help Keep Your Day Less Stressful
by
Cynthia Morse
Let's face it - our days are busy, full, and often stressful. How can we possibly find order in this craziness on a daily basis? Here are some (hopefully) helpful tips.
|
Nov 14 2009
Time Management - Is Such an Exercise Very Important?
by
Eddy Kong
Are time management exercise important, find out here?
|
|
Search for ebooks on Management & Business