What makes good time managers

How good time managers do

Time managers have goals

You may now be wondering what the connection is between goals and time management. Well, those who have goals - whether personal or those of the company - can set priorities. And with a focus on priorities, decisions can be made in favor of goal achievement.

Conclusion: time managers have clear goals in mind!

Time managers set priorities

Without priorities, effective time management is almost impossible. One of the ways organized people differ from disorganized people is their focus on priorities. Disorganized people work through a to-do list - should they even keep one - more or less as they see fit. Time managers complete tasks according to priorities.

Conclusion: time managers prioritize!

Time managers compartmentalize

No matter how familiar you are with all the time management methods - if you can't get a handle on your time thieves, you're moving in place. Or, to put it another way, the "doesn't get much done."

By compartmentalizing, I mean carving out periods when you can work on your important tasks with as little disruption as possible. In other words, keeping distractions to a minimum - even if it's just for an hour every day.

Conclusion: time managers create phases in which they work on important tasks without interruption!

Time managers prefer monotasking

The fact that multitasking doesn't really have a positive impact on productivity is well known by now. Good time managers dedicate themselves to one activity after the other in a con- centrated manner, i.e. they practice "monotasking."

Although this is not always possible and a hectic working day always requires multitasking, they regularly find phases - as already mentioned in the previous point - in which they devote themselves to ONE activity in a concentrated manner.

Conclusion: time managers favor monotasking!

Time managers do not suffer from procrastination

By procrastination I mean the tendency to put off (unpleasant) tasks. Often this happens until a low-priority task becomes an urgent task that will not tolerate further procrastination. Stress is pre-programmed.

The bottom line is that time managers usually do things differently: If unpleasant tasks are pending, they are tackled and not put on the back burner.

Time managers are not perfectionists

Perfectionism is paralyzing. Perfectionism also means doing more than is necessary or required. Perfectionists are usually "under power", putting themselves under pressure. Outsiders usually don't recognize the difference between a perfect and a well done job anyway. The difference between a job well done and a job poorly done, however, is obvious.

And one more thing: The difference between a job done well and a job done perfectly is usually also an extra time cost that no one likes to pay.

Conclusion: time managers do tasks as well as possible, but not perfectly!

Time managers have found their optimal information channel

Information is important to stay up to date and also (as an entrepreneur) competitive. In today's information age, which is also characterized by overwhelming information overload, staying informed efficiently is a challenge

The bottom line is that time managers have found ways and channels to "consume" the information that is relevant to them in a packaged form.

Time managers work in blocks

Similar activities can be done most efficiently if they are processed in blocks of work. For example, ten phone calls can be completed in one block far more efficiently than if they are split up throughout the day and an activity has to be interrupted each time for this. Of course, working in blocks is not always possible, but in my experience, it is far more common than it actually is in practice.

Conclusion: time managers work on similar tasks in blocks - as far as possible.

Time managers delegate

Of course, not everyone has the ability to hand off tasks and delegate them to other people. But often, it's those very people with this option who don't take advantage of it

Arguments like "I'll do it myself, then I know it will be done to my satisfaction" are often used. Delegating is a learning process. Because to get good results both sides are required: the delegating and the performing side.

The bottom line is that time managers can delegate and have created an appropriate environment to which they can hand off tasks with confidence.

Time managers "kaizen"

The term kaizen comes from Japanese and roughly means "change for the better". Every work process usually holds potential for improvement and development.

To stay with time management: There are numerous planning aids, pro- grams and tools that make daily work easier.

Facilitation is the key to success

To sum up, time managers are constantly striving to make work processes more efficient.

Time managers rest

Good, the headline may irritate. But the fact is: only those who are able to create a balance between rest and work phases will remain efficient in the long term. So it is important to force a balance between tension and relaxation.

In conclusion, time managers find ways and means to let phases of exertion be followed by those of relaxation.

In my opinion, these are the essential characteristics that distinguish people with good time management from those who have less control over their time.

• We tend to determine success by the size of our salaries or the size of our cars rather than by the degree to which we are helpful and human.

Martin Luther King, American. Civil rights activist, 1929-1968

• If you succeed once, it may be by chance. If you succeed twice, it may be luck. If you succeed three times, it is diligence and prowess.

Proverb

• What all successful people have in common is the ability to keep the chasm between resolution and execution extremely narrow. Peter F. Drucker, American. Economist, 1909-2005
• If you want to succeed, ask three old people for advice.
  Chinese. Proverb
• If you want to succeed, don't be afraid to make mistakes

Frank Tyger, American. Writer

• Success does not change a man. It exposes him.

Max Frisch, Swiss. Writer, 1911-1991

• To have success in life means: to laugh a lot, to win the love of children, to endure the betrayal of false friends, to make the world a better place than it was before we were born into it, to improve social conditions in some way, or to help a person become healthier, to know that a life breathes easier since you are alive, that is success!

Ralph Waldo Emerson, American. Philosopher, 1803-1882

Content: zeitblüten, Ing. Burkhard Heidenberger, Trainer für Stress- Zeitmanagemet und Arbeitsmethodik www.zeitblueten.com

Title image: Clipart courtesy of the publisher buch+musik ejw-service gmbh, Stuttgart - www.ejw-buch.de