5 STEPS FOR BETTER MANAGEMENT OF TIME.

You cannot effectively manage time unless you put strategies for setting goals in the frame work. That  is why this  blog  is  consisting of goal setting , taking action every day to reach those goals, making sure each action is focused , relevant and result oriented. Please you  will have to prioritize your  actions to know which one has to be done first or which one is most important and revisiting your goals when productivity suffers. Come with me and got through the basic principles that i have put into the following five steps.

STEP 1. WRITE DOWN YOUR SEVEN MOST IMPORTANT GOALS.

Let us start  by listing as many goals, dreams, values, focuses, wants needs and strategies for happiness as we can. Now you  chose the  ten most important and arrange them from the most important to the least important . Once you are done then you can eliminate the last three and remain with the most important seven. Now change goals into a specific result. Don't write “ I want to be rich” say “ I want $ 200,000 in the mutual funds by the time am 40.”  don't say “ I want to be a musician .” say “ I want to compose 10 song and play to them on my guitar from memory in one year.” now that you can have  a list of seven action orientated goals write down as number eight your ultimate dream. Number eight may be the same as any one of your top seven goals but most likely it will be a summary of all your goals . It is your meaning in life and is your ultimate strategy for happiness and success.

Let me help you  brainstorm about your most important goals  you start by fantasizing about what kind of environment would allow your best self to emerge . Just imagine your ideal day would be like if you had no financial hardships or time limits.  Also imagine if you had seven lives to live what would they be? From each life get one thing you value most and blend those vital parts into the design.

Now you break each major focus  into seven additional mini strategies or goals giving you 49 mini strategies to your 7 major goals .let us take an example if living your life in financial freedom is one of goals  list the actions you can do reach your goal such monthly savings , investing ,budgeting.

Big lists aren't better than small lists. Big lists are unfocused lists. Suppose your fist three goals are more important than the last four then may be you do not need the last four .

It is very likely your eighth goal will be difficult to pin down . However don't worry about it. In order to program yourself  for success and happiness realize that  ultimately you want your eighth goal to be your mission statement . Expressing the essence of your life in the few words who you are , where you have come from and where you want to go. It may be rewarding but none the less extremely challenging.

STEP  2.  EVERYDAY PLAN YOUR DAY.

It has been written and said that people who sit down and plan their day in writing have a far great chance of succeeding than those who do not make any plans. Therefore start each day by writing down what you want to accomplish on a paper.  Why not get a day planner such that you look organized. Keep In mind that if you mentally program yourself early in the day you tend to organize, focus and pace yourself better. Right away your brain starts looking for solutions and shortcuts before you actually do anything.

Writing down six or seven actions to be done every day is good because you that are generally the most thoughts you can keep in your conscious mind at any time. If you are limiting yourself to one or two actions a day you are not taking advantage of your brain power. If you write more than seven or eight like ten or fourteen you will likely be unable to maintain this load for very long and will eventually burn out.

Some people find it easy and effective to write down these actions each morning and others at the end of the previous day. Writing them down in the morning is more practical and immediate. Writing them down at the end of every day gives your subconscious the whole evening and whole night to work out and look for solutions and strategies.

STEP 3.  MAKE SURE EACH DAILY ACTION IS FOCUSED, RELEVANT AND RESULT ORIENTED.

Make sure that your daily actions  meet all or at least one of the following requirements.

1. Your action should be focused. At least one of your  daily  actions should be related to your top most goals you remember our top 7 goals. Many times all your actions will be focused on one or more of your top most seven goals. If you establish a one goal oriented action per day as a minimum no matter how your day turns out to be bad you will be a step towards your dream.
2. Your daily actions should be relevant. Write down only the most important tasks you need to accomplish  . Filling your list with unessential tasks may make you think you are doing lots everyday but will actually slow down the progress of your real priorities .
3. Your daily actions should be result orientated. Whenever you have to choose between the actions that show results at the end and one which doesn't show any result at the end of the day always choose the one  which shows results at the end of the day. For example a carpenter when finished a cabinet you must be able to stand a side and look at what you have done and say “wow it looks great.”  In other word every action you do every day should leave you with a sense of accomplishment. This is the key maintaining motivation. In a meeting where members brainstorm ideas or products to be put on the market and then choose a product to be marketed is result orientated while a meeting where every one speaks out his/her minds , doesn't choose anything but gets it all out in the open is really just group therapy . You have to remember that results have to be tangible not in words.

STEP 4.PRIORITISE WHICH ACTION NEED TO BE DONE FIRST OR WHICH ACTIONS ARE MOST IMPORTANT .

One way to prioritize your daily actions is to number them from one to seven , one being the most important that needs to be done first at the beginning of the day, two being the next and so no. whenever you finish the action you cross it out. You have to remember that prioritizing actions is just a tool not a way of life. If the tool stops working , takes long to implement , confuses more than it organizes ,then throw it away and try something else . Never let artificial structures become more than common sense.

STEP 5. RETHINK YOUR GOALS IF PRODUCTIVITY IS BEGINNIGNG TO SUFFER.

If you end up doing the same things every day eventually you become bored, your actions will become meaningless, and your performance will suffer. At this point it is important to rethink your top seven goals and your mission statement. If it is not easy to change your goals then you have to change the way you look at them, the time period you work at them.