I used to be horrible at managing my time, but I am slowly getting better. I’m convinced that I have borderline attention deficit disorder, because I have a hard time focusing to finish one task. I’ll start one task during the day, then skip to another, then another, and then finally refocus myself to finish the first task that I started hours ago. I am like that when I write a blog post. I’ll start writing the blog post, then I remember to look something up or pay a bill, so I save the post, go surf the web, and come back to it. This is horrible time management. It may seem like there’s no difference but you’ll see the difference once you start practicing better time management habits. If you want to transition into a career that you love or you want to move up the chain in your current career, you need to be goal oriented. But, the only way to achieve those goals is by practicing better time management. With the world we live in, you can get distracted by something else with the blink of an eye. Everyone talks about how the internet has revolutionized our culture. I would submit to you that it’s also destroyed thousands of people’s careers, marriages, and social life. Think about how impersonal we have become because of the internet. Think about how easy it is to kill time on the internet and get distracted in cyber land. Here are four things you can do to start practicing better time management and achieving your career goals.

• Limit your time on the internet during the day. Tim Ferris talks about this in his book “The 4 hour work week”. He says that you should only check your email twice a day. He actually checks his less than twice a day. I don’t know about you, but I probably check mine 5 or 6 times a day. Most of the time I don’t have anything that takes up much of my time, but it makes sense. It’s just one extra thing to distract you, and there are very few emails that can’t wait 24 hours, unless it’s something specific that you are waiting for. Also, limit your internet surfing for a certain time during the day. Say to yourself that you’re only going to check your favorite sites once in the morning or at night for 30 to 45 minutes. Anything longer than that is just a waste of time.
• Write down your tasks for the day. I’m old fashioned when it comes to this. I don’t type them into Outlook or my cell phone, when I have a day when 10 things need to get done, I just write them down on a 3 x 5 note card and stick it in my pocket. I cross each task off as I complete it.
• Focus on one task and complete it before you move onto the next task. I am horrible at this, but I’m trying to get better. I work out of my house for my day job, so I try to set aside a block of time where I only focus on doing my day work on the computer. Then, I’ll give myself a set break time for lunch, taking out the dog, or any other errands that I need to do. I also try to set aside a set time for my blog writing. This is usually either early in the morning or right before dinner. Sometimes it’s after dinner, which I don’t like, but it’s mostly due to procrastination.
• Prioritize your activities for the day. There are some things that HAVE to be done today and others that can wait until tomorrow. You may think that you do this prioritization internally in your mind, but I think we prioritize in a different way. My belief is that the average person prioritizes tasks by the level of difficulty for getting them done. This may sound like a good idea, because it mentally makes you feel good that you’re getting things accomplished, but it adds more stress to your life. If you tackle the most important tasks first and don’t take into account how long they will take, you’ll take more weight off of your shoulders. This may help you to knock out some of those smaller, easier tasks at the end of the day, which will help you accomplish more for that day. Everyone is different, but I am the most mentally sharp in the morning. My best thinking is done from 9am to 12pm. After lunch, I tend to get that lazy attitude. I like to save my less mentally daunting tasks for the afternoon, because I know that if I put off my tough tasks for the afternoon, they don’t get done.

Do you have any more tips for managing your time effectively? I know that volumes of advice has been given about this subject, but it never hurts to hear it again. This world is full of procrastinators, and I am one of them! Use the most of your time, and you’ll find that your career, social life, marriage, and family will benefit from it.