Tips for Effective Time Management: The Six Ps Approach

Effective time management has proven to be a very effective way to reduce stress. Time management involves balancing between the most valuable resource and the undervalued one. How we spend our time largely determines how successful or not we are in life. Time is ultimately the most valuable resource we have and it is perishable.

I present you with the 6Ps approach to effective time management. Remember that we all have a limited time (24 hours) and we are responsible for what we do with our time. To quote the great martial artist Bruce Lee: “To spend time is to spend it in a specific way; to waste time is to spend it without thinking or carelessly. We all have time to waste it or lose it and it is our decision what to do with it. But once it has passed, it is gone forever.”

Beginning:

In order to spend time effectively, you must have principles. Being principled means sticking to your values ​​through thick and thin. You can only have principles when you identify your roles in life and your values. Your roles and values ​​provide instructions, guide your personal conduct, and also determine how you relate to people. You have to stand up for something, get to know yourself, and try as much as possible not to be influenced in any way. Stick to your belief set and be yourself at all times. Once people accept you for you, they will line up. This way, you can make the decisions and not the other way around.

Practice:

Adhering to your values ​​and living a principled life takes a lot of practice. You have to make a conscious effort and create a pattern of ideals that you subscribe to. Practicing means knowing when to wake up each morning, when to have breakfast, and when to take the bus to work. It also means tackling your problems, dealing with your tasks head-on, whether that’s taking care of them, delegating, setting a deadline, leaving them to a subordinate, or breaking them down (dissecting). You should be able to adjust your lifestyle until you can adopt a routine that makes it easier for you to live a full life. Regular practice forms a habit and very soon you will be able to manage your time without having to strain. As the saying goes ‘Practice makes perfect.’

Planning:

Effective time management is about effective planning. You have to plan and set SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bound). Effective planning helps you accomplish a lot. Plan your life, your daily activities and always plan when you take care of tasks. Always have an angle, a plan, a focus to deal with problems and remember to set deadlines; the point where you evaluate and see if your plan is working. Use a planner – don’t just go shopping, make a list, plan your route, and set a specific time frame. Have an inventory of your future commitments and have a focus for dealing with those commitments. Planning is the most important P among all. Managing time effectively means planning effectively. As they say, “not planning is planning to fail.” Plan for success, have a career plan, plan for your family, plan your day, and always remember to tackle the most important things first. Cascading organizing your plan in years, monthly, weekly and daily.

Priorization:

You can’t plan effectively if you don’t prioritize. Your planner (To Do List) should always have a list of your tasks with the most important ones at the top. When prioritizing, you must consider your life as a person; Think about your projects, your monthly, weekly and daily commitments and order them in order of importance. Grouping your tasks helps you tackle them more efficiently. You need to re-prioritize tasks regularly and cross completed tasks off your list. A very important rule of thumb is to move incomplete tasks to the next day’s “to do” list. But you must try not to move on. If you keep putting off a particular task, this could be because: The item is not urgent, in which case it doesn’t belong on your short-term to-do list, or the item is making you postpone, in which case you should: discard it or better still accept it. Prioritizing also helps determine your level of focus. You can easily identify when to focus all your attention on your tasks and when to relax.

Puntuality:

They are the characteristics of being able to perform a required task or fulfill an obligation before or at a previously designated time – Wikipedia. Do I need to say more? Punctuality begins with the purchase of a watch. Keep your time accurate and constantly check the time; the trick is to set your clock 2 minutes in advance. A very important reason for being late is because people don’t realize that time is passing as fast as it is. You can’t use the weather to tell time, you can’t trust the church bell, get a watch, either. The accepted norm (as I am trained in the UK) is to arrive 15 minutes early. Things usually take longer than you think. This is why you need practice. Commit to arrive 15 minutes early. Try as much as possible to examine how long your tasks take. If possible, use an alarm to keep yourself at bay. Punctuality also means that you have to meet your deadlines. Stay organized and according to plan by setting priorities. This way, you can always stay ahead of schedule.

Delay:

The only negative P in the lot is procrastination. At all times try not to procrastinate. Avoid time thieves, procrastination is one of them. You can address procrastination by listing all the tasks that you are putting off. Take them one by one by setting a time frame and reward yourself when faced with a difficult task you’ve been saving: have a cold beer, a bottle of wine, eat out if you can. It also means being honest and punishing yourself when you procrastinate. Shut up and take care of the task, avoid idleness.

The greatest goal of effective time management is to avoid crisis and stress. Always remember that you have a limited amount of time. Differentiate between the urgent, the important and the less important. My advice, try not to stay in your comfort zone.