We all wish that there was more time in the day, right?   When the day is over and we look back at what we have accomplished, oftentimes we wonder “where did all of those hours go?”   You go to sleep unfinished with the day because things you needed to get done were not done, and you wake up the next day with the mindset to finish those things but at the end of the day there were still things not done, that needed to be done. If you’re like most people in the world, then time management may be an issue. We’re all just a little bit crunched for time. We say things like “There’s not enough time in the day” or, “I don’t know where I’ll find the time” or “I never have time for myself.” But there is a better way! There is a way to escape the SPINN cycle, and command your time. There is a way to manage your time so you get those important things that are pivotal to the success of your big goal done AND spend quality time with yourself and family. That is what effective time management can and will do if you employ it. Yes, effective time management is a skill that so many desire but so few have, but this skill can be learned, and you can do it.

So, how do you go about instituting effective time management?

Get Organized

Time management begins with organization! It’s not this elusive form of Black Magic that so few understand. In fact, anyone can efficiently manage their time as long as they get organized first. Without organization, it’s difficult to see just what needs to be accomplished, when it needs to be accomplished by, how it will be accomplished – step by step, and how important each of those things are to accomplishing your long-term goal. When you get organized with your time, you not only increase your ability to manage your daily tasks effectively, but you also increase the likelihood of putting time where it really counts: towards those long-term goals that are very meaningful and paramount to you.

Have a Plan

Being aimless is detrimental to getting anywhere! If you are not working at achieving anything, then you do not need to manage your time, do you? There has to be some vision you are working at, that’s worthwhile to you. When you have a plan, and you document it, then and only then can you set a clear path and move forward to realizing the end result of that plan. When you have a goal that is significant to you, you will ensure you direct your time to helping you accomplish those goals. Effective time management will be that skill that ensure you follow through with your important plan.

Set Clear (SMART) Goals

An absolute must – prior to being able to manage your time effectively, is to set clear goals on what you want in life and ensure they are SMART. If you’ve never done any goal setting in the past, now is the time to get started because it’s an absolute must-have prerequisite to effective time management. You might think to yourself that you already know what you want, even if you haven’t written your goals down on paper; if this is the case, then you’re very wrong. Why? Because setting clear goals down on paper is remarkably different than merely having them in your mind. If you engage in passive goal setting, then you’re less likely to have a good handle on your time management. You need to have a literal visual of your goals! Instead of having your goals in your subconscious, you need to make them become visceral and to your consciousness – every day.

Actively set your goals by deciding exactly what you want, when you want it by, and why you want it. You have to be absolutely precise here when doing this. Don’t be afraid to write out exactly what it is, down to the very last detail that you want. Don’t just say you want a lot of money, say the exact amount of money you want, what specific date you want it by, and why you want it. This is the best way to ensure you achieve your goals in life.

Prioritize Your Time

In Stephen R. Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, he discussed a system for managing time that was originally introduced by Dwight D. Eisenhower. This system splits up activities into 4 quadrants based on two factors: urgency and importance.

So, in your day, a task can be categorized by these two factors and be placed in one of the four quadrants which are:

Quadrant 1 – Emergencies & Crises: Urgent and Important

Quadrant 2 – Long-Term Goals: Not Urgent but Important

Quadrant 3 – Interruptions: Urgent but Not Important

Quadrant 4 – Distractions: Not Urgent and Not Important

When you look at your list of milestones and daily tasks, you can categorize what area each of them falls under, and the best way to effectively institute this method is to spend a week first tracking everything that you do. Where do you spend your time? Jot it down. If you spent 30 minutes making phone calls to delinquent customers, jot that down. If you spent 2 hours at the grocery store, jot it down. At the end of each day for that first week, write the quadrant down next to each task for what it fell under. How much of your time did you spend watching television (Quadrant 4), or working on your long-term goals (Quadrant 2), or dealing with emergencies or crises in your life (Quadrant 1), and so on.

After the first week, look at how much time you spent in each quadrant. The goal in life is to spend as much time in Quadrant 2 and little to no time in Quadrant 4. How much time did you actually spend in Quadrant 2? After you’ve completed this exercise, take your daily list of tasks and jot down the quadrant each of them falls under. If you watched television for 3 hours, then you lived in the dismal Quadrant 4 that day. You want to spend as little time with Quadrant 4 activities as you can if you want to effectively manage your time. Sometimes we can’t see just how much time we’re wasting unless we look at it in this manner.

Eliminate Procrastination

One of the hardest part of time management is the dreaded procrastination that tends to rear its ugly head all too often. We can set all the goals that we would like, get organized, devise our plan, and prioritize our time, but if we can’t follow through with our list of things to do each day then we’re wasting our time.

Procrastination has been termed the silent killer of success, and it’s one of the biggest deterrents to our goals. We all say that we want to accomplish something, but when it comes down to managing our time with some sense of efficiency, we can’t seem to get things accomplished. Procrastination seems to be lurking on every single corner. So how do we avoid procrastination? We can start by being conscious of our actions and recognizing when procrastination is creeping in, and instituting some discipline. We can then move on to the 7 ways to stop procrastination in its track so you can ensure you accomplish our goals.

Stick to Your Plan

In order to effectively manage your time so you do not get caught in a SPINN cycle, you must stick to your plan. You must follow the path you have carved to get to the goals you have set, and ultimately be successful in your endeavors. A man without a plan is like a ship without sail, and a man with a plan who is not working the plan is like a ship with sail but no captain.

The SPINN Cycle is not innovative, it’s not progressive, it’s not directed. Get your goals, dreams, and aspirations in motion and enlist effective time management to get you through to full materialization.

See how our Founder & CEO Eugénie Nugent is effectively managing her time in her book collaboration, “Unlock Your Unstoppable: Balancing Life, Love, and Longevity”.

With love, gratitude, and empowered attitude,