How to Manage Your Time Wisely

Time management is as simply a matter of organization of items, events, and people. Knowing when, where, and who of any situation is essential to cut down the time it will take you to prepare for that situation. Organization of your personal belongings is the first place you need to look in order to save yourself time in the day.

Gain An Hour A Day By Organizing Things
Nearly everyone wasts about 60 minutes each day looking for things they have misplaced; ironically, 60% of the sought after items are not necessary in the first place. If you are a desk worker, organizing your desk is the very first place to start. If you use a computer, your electronic desktop is also up for consideration.

The first step in organizing your virtual or actual desktop is to sort what is needed from what is not needed. If you are not sure what to do with certain files or folders, just store them in a single folder so that they will be available six months from now. After six months, if the items are no longer needed, simply delete them! Once you have separated the wheat from the chaff so to speak, you can begin to organize those piles of wheat into the optimal time saving framework. Once you have your desk and office space organized you will need to clean this space at the end of every day. Cleaning your desk and you office space will enable you to come to a well organized office in the morning and not have to sort through piles of junk to find that file you were working on the previous day.

I work almost exclusively at my computer and I often find my desktop (I am a windows user) absolutely cluttered with old files and folders. One of the best things that works for me is to organize all the files I am using before I finish my work. By doing this, I don't come to my desktop with zillions of odd files; everything is stored in the correct, easily accessible location.

Using A Master List
The concept of using one master list is simple enough for anyone to understand. A master list is nothing but a meticulously compiled list of tasks, projects and events that are blessed enough to involve you. By writing everything down in a master list you give yourself to properly organize and prioritize the events in your day. The master list will help you know when you need to spend time on something and when you don't need to use your time on a task. It is easy to get side tracked by a small task or event that is not necessary to your success for the day; the master list will help you spot these distractions and eliminate them from your daily routine. Before you stop working for the day you should go through your master list so you can effectively plan for the next day's events, projects, and tasks.

The Last Time Management Step: A Daily Planner
To effectively manage your time, a daily planner is essential. Whether you use a palm pilot, black berry, or a common paper planner, daily planners do much more than just organize events in the day. Daily planners allow you the ability to keep track of addresses, phone numbers, and other essential information used throughout the day. A daily planner is most helpful when used in tandem with your master list and a clean work space; virtual, real, or otherwise. Organizing your tasks throughout the day is easily taken care of with a daily planner.