By: Rigdha Acharya
I’ve always been impressed with people who have tons of things to do and yet at the end of the day still have time to spend with their families.

I have definitely been overwhelmed with responsibilities one too many times, thinking I’d one day explode from all the stress! Not to mention the hot head I’d experience throughout the day.

Until I found out what these people who manage to get things done during the day and enjoy time with their family were doing.

You see, these people who manage to get things done and enjoy quality time with their family are experts at personal time management.

And here are the 3 techniques I have learned from them for effectively managing my time. They changed my life around and I’m confident they’ll do the same for you.

1. Perfectionist? Don’t be.

It is really hard to finish something when you can’t seem to get it right, isn’t it?

Not only that but it takes A LOT of time to be perfect. So learn to take that saying literally: “Nobody’s perfect” and tell yourself to do the best that you can with the little time that you have.

It may not be perfect, but it’ll still be great!

2. Reward yourself.

After a difficult day’s work or task, especially a very tiring one, relax!

Let all the stress just flow out of your body with a nice, warm bath, or treat yourself to a massage.

It’s no fun having to do all work and no play. Balance is the key to enjoying life as you should.

Rewarding yourself for even the littlest achievements are not only satisfying, they motivate you to WANT to have responsibilities.

3. Make plans and give yourself flexibility.

Get organized with your daily tasks. Write them down, prioritize each, and then fit them into your schedule for say, a month.

But don’t fill up each day with these tasks. We sometimes make the mistake of taking on more than we can handle.

To make yourself organized and flexible at the same time, make your day half planned, and half ready for anything. It’s easier to adjust to emergency situations or events that always “just seem to come up”.

Placed by Janet Schlarbaum

Time is hard to find these days, and many people don’t realize it’s the root of most stresses.

Poor time management increases job stress, decreases your level of job satisfaction strains your relationships and even takes away your sleep!

Now, if you are suffering from poor time management, here are some tips to help you improve your time management skills right now.

1. Make a to-do list.

A to-do list will organize your jumbled thoughts by allowing you to write it all out and decide on what requires more priority due to a close deadline, for example.

So start by listing yours, breaking down the bigger ones. Then, label each according to their priority, paying close attention to deadlines and making sure to think over which are really the most urgent and important.

Now you can get started on your things to do!

2. Take notes

You can do this in addition to your to-do list if you prefer. But by taking notes, you are pretty much reminding yourself of all sorts of ideas you might have throughout the day.

How many times do you come up with a great idea for your next project only to forget it?

Jot ideas down right away and don’t rely on yourself to remember it tomorrow. This will save you tons of time spent in trying to rethink something you’ve already thought about!

So get started with this habit by carrying around a small notepad or tape recorder, nothing big. Start noting down your valuable thoughts.

3. Learn to focus.

Figure out what needs to be done now and focus! Don’t stress over your boyfriend’s upcoming birthday, dinner with your mom or your child’s baseball game – just focus on the task at hand!

Avoid being open to interruptions. Once you focus completely on what you need to do NOW, you’ll be able to get it done quicker than if you were distracted by things that are less important.

Doing this alone will increase your productivity and save you tons of time spent in switching tasks or in asking “Uh, where was I…”

Provided by Janet Schlarbaum