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Time Management Exercise
Does there never seem to be enough time left at the end of the day to complete everything you need to get done? If
so, you’re not alone. Many people complain about there not being enough time in their days or about feeling a “time
crunch” when they need to complete important tasks or activities.
What you need is better time management skills. Time management exercises are great for improving these skills.
There are many different types of time management exercises you can try to help you better manage your time and
hone the development of your time management skills.
One very helpful time management exercise involves using a task diary. The first step with this time management
exercise is to think about how you spend your time and then to keep track of your time spent.
Think of all the major, time-consuming activities in your daily life, whether you’re a student, a full-time
employee, a small business owner, a stay-at-home mom or dad, or a work-at-home mom or dad. These activities can
include studying, homework, working, writing, talking on the phone, sleeping, taking care of children, cooking,
cleaning, housework, shopping, watching T.V., e-mailing, web surfing, exercising, eating, downtime (waiting in
line, sitting on the bus, being stuck in traffic), spending fun time with family and friends, and social
activities.
Next, make a list of all these activities on a clean sheet of paper. Beside each activity, write down an estimated
time for each one—meaning approximately the amount of time you think that you spend per day or per week on each
task or activity.
Once you have your completed list, the next step in this time management exercise is to make a chart on a new sheet
of paper with those activities and seven columns, representing one week. The next step in this time management
exercise is a bit challenging and time-consuming. You will need to truck around this chart for the next seven days,
recording the time you spend on each activity per day. If you overlap activities and do two at once (such as
watching T.V. while eating, cooking while taking care of the children, etc.), just choose one.
Once your week is up, it’s time to compare and evaluate your chart and original list. Compare your actual times
spent on each activity with the time estimates you gave on your original list of activities. Most people find they
are surprised to discover how much time they waste with unproductive activities or even nothing, or how much time
they spend working and how little they spend in quality family time. A healthy life should be productive and
balanced. An unbalanced life is what leads to most time management problems.
Now that you’ve identified how you spend your time, you can begin to set new goals with this time management
exercise. Setting new goals starts with looking at specifically where you’re unhappy with how you spend your time,
and thinking about how you’d like to improve your situation and ultimately, your time management.
Looking at your activity-time chart, look for specific areas of improvement (for example, less unproductive time,
more time for family time or working, etc.). Then make a new list with the same activities with new goal-oriented
time estimates, allowing more time for the things you value or for which you need more time. Come up with a few
achievable and specific strategies for achieving these new time management goals.
This exercise is certainly not the only time management exercise you can do to help you improve your time
management skills, but it certainly is a great start, and will hopefully put you on the path toward a
better-managed, more balanced, and happier lifestyle.
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