Most people today live in a monotonous world, wasting their time on unnecessary things that do not bring happiness and joy. We want to be happy and successful, but we don't know how to manage your time and your life, and we are afraid to change something in our lives, because we are used to such a monotonous life, which is repeated daily.

Each person is given 24 hours every day, but everyone uses it differently, someone wastes time, someone tries to do more and better every day, which will ultimately lead to success and happiness. Diligence and nothing else makes it possible for 1% of 100% to achieve success and happiness. Psychologists have studied this issue and problem, and today, in this article, they will provide you with only the most effective methods that will help you manage your own time to achieve your goals.

Where and what do you spend your 24 hours on?

The first thing you need to do right now is to relax and focus on what you spend your time on every day. To start manage your time , take a pen and a piece of paper, write down everything that you spend your precious time on. Take all 24 hours and write them down as you use them daily. You will notice that in general, most of the time is spent sleeping and doing unnecessary small things. Do nothing else, just schedule your day by the clock, as it is. This will give you a basis for further solving your problem.

How much time do you spend on your sleep

Most people don't realize that most of their time is spent sleeping. In modern life, people like to sleep, sometimes even 8-10 hours daily. Of course, the body and you need to rest, but you can make it so that you can rest and sleep even better, while sleeping only 5-6 hours. To do this, you need to learn and understand some principles for a healthy and sound sleep. To begin with, you need to choose a time for sleep, doctors and psychologists advise going to bed at 21.00-22.00, since the body gets enough sleep, namely from 21.00 to 00.00, after 00.00, the body does not get enough sleep and does not rest enough. Create in your life such circumstances to go to bed, for example, at least at 22.00 regularly.

Thus, you will have the opportunity to sleep only 5-6 hours and feel better and more alert. It is also useful not to eat before going to bed for 3-4 hours, it is better to drink 1-2 glasses of plain and pure water before going to bed, and 1-2 glasses of water in the morning, on an empty stomach. It is also useful to regularly do exercises for 10-15 minutes, this will give vigor and help reduce sleep to 1 hour, while sleeping even better. By following these simple guidelines, you will begin to sleep better, feel more alert and more cheerful throughout the day, and at the same time sleep only 5-6 hours.

Make daily schedules

In order to manage your time, you need to make a schedule for the day. This will help you plan your 24 hours correctly, not spend them on unnecessary and meaningless things, while becoming more successful and happier, achieving all your goals. Just take a sheet of paper and beautifully write down every hour and minute of your day, and hang or put in a prominent place so that you do not forget what you need to do at one time or another. You will not believe it, but your productivity will become 2 or 3 times better, as you will be able to do twice as much and better in a day, while remaining happy and in a good mood.

Appreciate and take care of time, because the day you have lived cannot be returned

Remember the most important thing you need in order to manage time , so it is to realize that the most valuable thing in life is time. Money and health can still be somehow returned, but lived minutes of time never. Appreciate not only every day that is given to you, but also every hour, minute and moment, because time passes quickly enough today, but people remain unhappy and unfulfilled in life. There is enough happiness and success in the world for everyone, you just need a person to want to become one and start planning and saving their time.

Write a list of the most important things

You can often hear the phrase from adults: I don’t have time for this, but these people who say this, for some reason, have not achieved anything in life. Everyone is given 24 hours, someone says that this time is not enough for him, and someone acts and becomes successful. After all, Einstein and Michelangelo had 24 hours, just like you, but they used their time correctly and achieved success and happiness in life. And we continue to convince ourselves that we do not have enough time. You need to act, and for this, you need to make a list of what you most need. Just write everything that makes sense in your life, something that will be useful to spend time on, become successful and happy. After making a list, you realize everything that you need to do in order not to waste time in vain.

We all have 24 hours, so why not take some more time from others?

Undoubtedly, many people want to spend time only on what they like, but in the 21st century, you can spend time usefully and happily on anything. People often do not have enough time to cope with a particular job or task. But in fact, you can be wiser and take time from other people who like your work or assignment or simply need money. Understand what people need and learn from their time as well. It will turn out that you will start spending your 24 hours on the most important things, and those people who could not refuse your offer will spend time on other things. Life is really simple and beautiful, believe in yourself, show a desire and start acting.

If you need additional advice, help, please contact our psychologist or write your questions or problems in the comments below.

psycho- olog. en

In contact with

Classmates

Don't waste precious time

According to one of the great people, the most serious crime is not the theft of property, but the theft of time. Sadly, we commit this crime every day.

How many useful and necessary things could be done for people at a time when we are hanging around television screens or doing empty petty things.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to return wasted hours, days, years. But we can learn how to use the time that we have left.

Organization of time incredibly important for modern man. About how to properly organize your life without wasting time in vain, and will be discussed in this article.

Time management is a habit that can be acquired!

What takes a lot of time?

To learn how to use time effectively, consider what a modern person is doing all 24 hours a day.

So, the working day takes from 8 to 12 hours. Of these, really useful activities are given 4-6 hours. The rest of the time we spend on smoke breaks, conversations, coffee, attempts to understand the boss's task and tune in to the working mood.

In order to get to work and return home, residents of large cities spend from 30 minutes to 2 hours.

The lunch break is one hour. Although the meal itself lasts no more than 20 minutes: the rest of the time is spent on the road, the line at the cafe, smoke breaks, etc.

Household chores take from the fair sex from 4 to 5 hours. Women with children spend even more time.

Sleep is 4-7 hours.

As you can see, the schedule is quite tight. However, even in this situation, many manage to lose a lot of time. “In what way?” you ask. Below is a kind of rating of the most empty cases that can be easily abandoned:

>>Change what goes into your brain, and then you can change what goes into it.

Zig Ziglar<<

• - shopping and boutique shopping (moreover, many go there for the sake of sports interest, having no money with them at all);
• - reclining at television screens;
• - communication on the Internet (via Skype, ICQ, etc.);
• - visiting social networks (going for a "minute" in "Odnoklassniki" or "Vkontakte", you can lose several hours of time);
• - removal of spam from mailboxes (this is forced to do by office employees - both men and women).

However, this list can be continued indefinitely. Each of us can name dozens more types of activities, because of which we lose a huge number of priceless minutes of life.

After analyzing the current state of affairs, it is unlikely that anyone will want to devote part of their life to useless things, without which they can safely do without.

So what's the deal? Let's learn how to rationally use every precious moment of life, organize time in such a way as to use it as efficiently as possible!

How to learn to use time rationally?

Effective time management

Time management - the science of the correct distribution of time has long been adopted by businessmen who want to achieve tangible results in their activities. It will also come in handy for all those who want to more rationally organize their time, not to waste a single minute in vain.

This also applies to housewives, mothers on maternity leave, and especially those who like to be lazy for an hour or two and do not have time to do what they planned.

So, practical advice on the rational organization of your time.

1. There is such a method of Neuro Linguistic Programming as "anchoring". It is based on that. That useful activity is tied to a certain "anchor" - words, music, movements, etc. For example, some are inspired by classical music, others by their favorite movie. That is, in order to set yourself up for work, sometimes it is enough to use the desired “anchor”.
2. Get a diary. Write down the work plan for the day, periodically checking and marking the completed items.
3. Our life consists of little things, pay attention to them. Instead of a cigarette with a cup of coffee, do something useful - for example, make or check entries in your diary.
4. Do not refuse to rest if you are tired. A timely respite will not interfere with saving time, but will allow you to gather strength.
5. Mark the most important things. Group similar tasks. For example, put all the calls that need to be made in a separate column, as well as meetings. Try and complete the points in the same way, the whole group at once - and you will see how convenient and effective it is.
6. An interesting way to save time was proposed by the French. It is known that our brain is most active before noon. Do the most unpleasant and difficult things in the morning. First, you will be able to do it with the maximum return. Secondly, spend the remaining time with a clear conscience on the more pleasant and easy points of the plan.

You may not yet be ready to admit that you are wasting a lot of time. Sit down in the evening, write down everything that you did during the day in order, minute by minute.

When you see how much time has been wasted on trifles, you will be amazed. And multiplying this time by a week, a month, a year, you will understand why you have not yet achieved your goal in life - and you immediately want to fix everything. And it is in your power.

Remember: careful attitude to time will be the key to a rich, successful life.

In contact with

Many books and even more various articles have been written on this topic, and yet people do not get tired of talking about time management. And, despite the fact that there is a lot of information about time management, most somehow skip it past them. Or they don’t want to spend time reading a book, justifying themselves with a lack of time.

In this article, we will not advise you on the next books, you already know about them. In order to save your valuable time, and so that you do not have to surf the Internet in search of suitable and useful tips, we have collected them all in this article.

Almost every person is not satisfied with his productivity. To understand how reality matches your expectations, make a to-do list for the day. Of course, this list should be within reasonable limits, you don’t need to arrange the life of Cinderella for yourself and try to cram the weekly volume of tasks into one day. Estimate how much time each task will take. Then, at the end of your day, look at how much you have done and how much you haven't done yet. Explain to yourself why you didn't have enough time. Perhaps you overestimated your capabilities or underestimated the complexity of the task, or perhaps you just lost a lot of time for nothing.

We are willing to bet that in your case, the answer to the question “Why didn’t I have time to do what I planned?” it will be something like “Well, I went on smoke breaks / I got a call / I was stuck on social networks, etc.”. It turns out that you just mismanaged your time by letting it get the better of you.

So what do you need to do to stop wasting time? We have collected for you tips that are written in many books on time management, but only in this article they are presented briefly.

1. Start a diary

In previous articles, we have talked more than once about the benefits of a diary and about how. And there is nothing surprising in the fact that every article and book about time management mentions the organizer - this is a universal way to plan your time and keep track of tasks.

2. Immerse yourself in work completely

Train yourself to be completely dedicated to the cause (by the way, this applies to everything in life). Dive into the work with your head, rejecting any annoying factor. Turn off your phones, log out of social media, put on your headphones. Do everything to ensure that in the time allotted to you for work you are engaged in only one thing. Believe me, you will thank yourself for this when you complete the task faster than usual, since nothing will distract you.

3. Relax

You don't have to be a superhero trying to work 36 hours a day. Learn to clearly separate leisure and work. If you come home and spend time with your family, please give yourself completely to this (previous point, again). Carrying thoughts about work or, even worse, some work tasks in your head, you risk not only causing irritation and dissatisfaction with your loved ones because work is always in the first place for you. If you do not fully rest, you will not be able to gain strength and renew your desire to work. Appreciate your vacation.

4. Give yourself deadlines

Even if they are not. If you need to do something, and this task has not been given clear deadlines, then it still needs to be done sooner or later. So it's better to do this task early. It will not hang over your head and it will be easier for you. Deadlines also improve productivity. Recall how the performance of students increases during the session. And all because of the tight time frames that spur you to work without being distracted.

5. Prioritize

This will help you understand what needs to be done first and what can wait. Always plan important and complex tasks in the morning, because the most productive work is before noon. It may be easier for you to work at other times of the day, but if your working day starts in the morning, still do the most important things before lunch. If you postpone them until later, then you risk simply not having time to do them.

6. Break Big Projects into Small Tasks

If you have some kind of huge project, the thought of which makes you confused, then divide it into points and you will see how much easier and clearer it has become.

7. Schedule appointments in the morning

Often, knowing that a meeting is coming, we are afraid to start working on some task, thinking that we will not have time to complete it before the meeting. Therefore, schedule meetings in the morning so that after them you can go about your work with peace of mind.

If there is an opportunity to entrust some task to someone else, do it. Not always the saying “if you want to do it well, do it yourself” is not always true in practice. Sometimes it is better and more profitable to give part of your affairs to another employee and take on more important tasks.

9. Don't procrastinate

Yep, that's also one of the things that pops up in every article and book on time management, and we know you've read it many times. But it never hurts to be reminded again. Procrastinate in between, make time for this important task, do anything but procrastinate instead of work. Get out of it.

10. Combine similar cases into blocks

For example, you need to go to a meeting, answer letters and make calls. These are all tasks of the same type and they should be combined into a block and done all together without interrupting tasks of a different kind.

11. Do the unpleasant things first.

No need to put off the most unpleasant tasks for later. Write down all the things of this type for yourself and do one a day. Firstly, you will finally do what you should have done a long time ago, and secondly, you will take this burden off your shoulders and get a dose of motivation. “Eat the frog” first, trust me, it will be easier.

12. Work at fixed times

Your body can be trained to do anything. Work every day at the same time and then your brain will be tuned in advance to work.

13. Automate everything that can be automated

Install a program that automatically sends you a notification about a new letter that has arrived in your mail. You don't have to spend time constantly checking the mailbox. Think about little things that can be automated and do everything in order not to waste your time on these little things.

14. Learn from more experienced people

Look for professionals in your field and learn from them. Knowledge will help you get the job done faster. There is no need to reinvent the wheel, just read articles and books on the topic of your work and apply knowledge in practice.

Think about what might be preventing you from working faster. Perhaps your internet or computer is too slow. Sometimes it's easier to change one of the tools that slows down your work and spend less time on the task.

16. Take your time

Despite the fact that throughout the article we are only talking about faster completion of tasks, you should not do things in a hurry. Correcting mistakes that you can make if you rush will take longer than painstakingly and slowly completing the task.

17. Tidy up your desktop

Remove everything unnecessary from the table. No one tells you to keep the perfect order, not everyone is comfortable working at an empty table. Do not keep things on your desktop that can distract you. Remove all distractions and leave only what will be useful to you during work.

18. Don't be afraid to say no

We recently had. And if you are in doubt about whether to refuse certain offers, read it. Sometimes you can say “no” and save yourself a lot of time.

19. Don't be afraid to experiment

Sometimes the method you come up with can be more effective for you than all the existing methods combined. So don't be afraid to change something in your workflow. As a last resort, you can always restore the old mode of operation.

20. Analyze

View the list of planned tasks in advance and cross off the completed ones. So you can not only see your performance, but also motivate yourself. Also, review the past day in your head and think about what prevented you from achieving the desired result and how you can increase your productivity even more.

shares his own experience: This topic was no easy task. I looked through a bunch of books, read a lot of articles and came to the following conclusions: a) most of the books and articles are written in business language for businessmen; b) the systems are mainly aimed at business personalities, but are rarely applicable to, for example, a simple artist.
Be that as it may, from what I read, I was still able to highlight interesting moves, providing them with additional information and passing them through the filter of personal experience. Throughout this post, I will draw on quotes taken from Timothy Ferris's book "How to Work 4 Hours", which once pushed me to manage my time. I will mark them in italics.
I will not say that this system is ideal. Working with her now, I bring in more and more notes and moves, adjusting them to the feeling of my time. And I ask you to do the same. I will be pleased if my article is useful to you, but take it as a prepared canvas - you have to paint the picture yourself. Don't be lazy and don't procrastinate. By highlighting your difficulties in dealing with time, adjust the system exactly to your goals and sense of time.
So let's get started:

1. Be realistic about time
This is the very first what you need to determine for yourself before incorporating time management into your life. There are 24 hours in a day, and no matter how hard you try to add a couple more hours to this, nothing will change. Extending your work hours by depriving yourself of sleep, food, and rest close to loved ones is not the right thing to do. For some, of course, this is the way out, decide for yourself. But more doesn't always mean better. Plan things in such a way that they do not take up your personal time that you dedicate to health and loved ones. Having spoiled health once strongly enough (even through poor nutrition) - it will be extremely difficult to restore it. We always think, shrugging off, that: "This will not happen to me. Another hour and I will be closer to my goal!" - and as a result, we lose the health and trust of loved ones in the most unexpected way. I went through this first hand and I will say that looking back I see my mistakes and not a single job is worth it.

2. Learn to write down your plans
The fact that you write down what you plan to do tomorrow does not make you an old woman with a bad memory. On the contrary, s knowing what is important for you to do today and seeing it with your own eyes makes it easier to get yourself together to do and not forget anything. At this step we have several paths: calendar reception, organizer reception and electronic gadgets. The latter I do not recommend, although it may be a matter of taste, but still. AT electronic organizers items can be added indefinitely, ask them to send you letters with reminders that you will send to the trash without even reading because: "I remember, I remember." Paper works better in this case. Reception organizer- this means keeping a notebook where you will write down everything that needs to be done. Already better, but works through time. Why? Because its over open! And that is why, especially at the beginning, it works every other time. For the first period, it is better to use calendar reception. I already wrote about this technique in a post about motivation:

Draw your own calendar!
Or make from improvised materials. The calendar should look like this: it should have very large windows to write down everything you need to do! Fill in the boxes with dates not only with a monotonous text of cases, but also with beautiful pictures - visual accompaniment is important, because sometimes it’s too lazy to read the text, and the eye will catch and look at the picture, especially if you like it. The calendar should be in color to attract attention. Keep track of your schedule, trying to make the most of it. Reaching the fact that you will have time to do at least half of what is assigned to yourself will be the first success.

The calendar works great and teaches you to follow the plan. Of course, just by flashing before your eyes, the calendar will not start working by itself. Your efforts are also needed for this.

3. Prioritize
considering your vision of life and your values ​​in it.

Lack of time - in fact, the inability to prioritize.
Find time to enjoy life.
It is necessary to prioritize both in a global sense, taking into account your work, hobbies and plans for the future, and to prioritize among your to-do list on a daily basis.
Let's start with the first - the basics:
1. Highlight of all your activities and hobbies, the most important for you at this stage of life, given the prospects for developing this or sometimes business into something more and valuable to you. Better to have them one to three the maximum, of course, can be four or five, but it will be much harder for you, and the development for each of them will not be as strong as it could be.
Based on the priority goals you have chosen, making a daily to-do list, the cases related to them will occupy the main positions in terms of the importance of implementation.
2. Highlighting the main, highlight the secondary, that is, what may eventually become accompanied by goals from the main list, as well as various hobbies, what you do according to your mood, for pleasure and long-term goals.

The following is a prioritized to-do list:
Take your list of goals and break down each item in detail, breaking down the goal into a list of things you can start doing now to get closer to achieving it. Things from the first part of the list will be the main ones, and those from the second part will be secondary. But this does not mean that you will do this every day - you set the timing and frequency of work on your goals, for example: twice a week, an hour a day, once a week, several times a month, and so on.

If you prioritize correctly, you won't need to chase two birds with one stone. When we are constantly doing something in order to believe that we are wasting our time, and at the same time achieving little, then we have a symptom of "overgrowth."

Plan daily only 1-2 big cases that you bring from the beginning to the end. If what you have planned does not fit into one day and requires more time, break such a thing into several stages, including one or two of them every day until you complete your plan. For example, you can select only 2 major and a few minor cases and bring them to the end, and spend the rest of the time on rest, spend them with loved ones, do anything with a clear conscience.

The more often we are distracted, paying attention to other things, the faster we lose focus, achieve mediocre results and do not get satisfaction.

9. Rational or efficient?
Efficiency - the ability to perform work in such a way as to bring the goal as close as possible. Rationality - the implementation of the task, no matter how unimportant it may be, in the most economical way.

On the ability to act rationally, we are brought up from childhood by most parents and employers. Let's imagine a person who updates the page "Vkontakte" every minute, afraid to miss "hello" or "like", creating an unlimited space of classifications from his social profiles. This is rational, but is it effective?
Recall the "two elementary truths" (see paragraph 5), which we talked about above - a trifling matter does not cease to be trifling, even if it is executed perfectly.

Efficiency matters, but it is useless if it is aimed at useless things.

10. Set deadlines
For most people, and especially creative people, procrastination is as natural as breathing. They do not pay attention to this, it is not interesting to anyone, I passed it on time and okay. Maybe it is. But.

Parkinson's Law
According to Parkinson's law, the task adds in importance and complexity.
commensurate with the time allotted for it.
This is the magic of a deadline.
Thus, if you are given a period of 24 hours - you will be forced to fully concentrate on business, and you simply won’t have time to be distracted by something else. If a week is allocated for the same task, then in the first six days you will have time to do everything that does not concern the case, and even make a molehill out of a molehill. Well, if you were given a deadline of a month, then the task will grow in your imagination to the state of a monster and take away all creative forces - by the end of the term, you will be terribly disgusted even by the thought of the task: "How did she put it on me!". Naturally, the deadline should be calculated from the amount of work.

As a result: the final product with a close deadline will almost always be of higher quality, or at least equivalent to what is born long and painfully.

11. When you notice a problem, ask yourself questions.
And not only a problem. Asking yourself a specific question out loud will help you find the answer faster. Constantly saying something to yourself in your head is not always effective. When you work on a specifically directed question, you almost immediately see the reason for its appearance.

To have more time, you need to work less, and this can be achieved by a combination of two methods:
1) make a short list " what to do"; 2) make a list " what not to do".

In general, there are only two questions to be addressed:

What 20% causes 80% of my problems and troubles?
What 20% of the reasons lead to 80% of the results and joys I desire?

Alternatively, to make it easier for you to find answers to these questions, imagine situations with more directed questions. For example:

. What are the top three things you do to fill your time and still feel like a busy person? What are the crutches for you?
. Who are the 20% of people who bring 80% of your joy and move you forward, and who are the 20% who are associated with 80% of your depression and anger?
. If today I completed only one thing - the one I have already taken on, would this day bring me a sense of satisfaction or not?

Don't be afraid to answer questions and be honest with yourself. This will help you avoid unnecessary situations, as well as highlight your strengths and productive sides.

12. Rest
No one will give you back your wasted time won't reverse it. Work is work, but health and loved ones are something that / who can be lost at any moment when you do not expect it. Value your personal time and have a proper rest - not at the computer, but in real life.

work priorities. Before planning a day or a week, decide for yourself what needs to be done first and what can be postponed. Make a schedule based on your priority list. Write down not only the start time of the activity, but also the planned end time. Also schedule breaks for rest and lunch. Control the execution of your plan and do not waste time on extraneous things.

Organize your workplace. It is better to spend 10 minutes at the end of each day than spend hours every day looking for the items and papers you need. Develop a distribution system for the necessary tools, things and documents. Let those that are needed constantly be at hand, those that are needed less often, within reach. What is rarely used, let it lie in a closet or drawer. Such a system will help you not to litter the workplace.

At the end of the day, time management recommends updating the to-do list: deleting what has been done, adding new actions. Decide on the expected timing of new work. Analyze incoming information in real time. If the analysis takes more than a few minutes, add this action to the schedule, otherwise it will overwhelm all deadlines.

Eliminate all the obstacles that interfere with your work. For example, do not receive visitors at any time, but according to the schedule, because constant distraction will keep you from working.

At the end of the working week, sum up all the results. Analyze those actions that did not have time to do, as well as those that took less time than planned. Keep this in mind when planning your schedule for next week. Make all the necessary entries for work to clear your head for the weekend.

Related videos

Helpful advice

When scheduling, do not try to reduce the time for performing some operations to a minimum. Force majeure circumstances are far from rare, as are unexpected difficulties. Try to take all this into account. By truly managing your time, you will be in time, and work, and rest. Because without breaks, you will exhale faster and do less. You need to rest more often, before you get tired, but little by little.

Related article

Tip 2: How being organized helps you manage your time

People who value their time do not put off their affairs until tomorrow. This rule is difficult to follow at the current pace of life, when the world around is changing rapidly. Information volumes are growing, the latest models of technical devices are appearing. It becomes impossible to do everything - to implement the plans, complete specialized projects, climb the career ladder and at the same time improve your level of education. And, at the same time, it is necessary to remain successful in the profession and happy in your personal life.

In the modern rhythm of life it is impossible not to plan time and strive to keep all the important moments of life in your head. In addition, there are a large number of different ways of planning to help people.

To learn how to manage time You have to learn to follow the advice of successful people. As a rule, only those who work hard become successful. But there are also secrets.

Those who wish learn to manage your time should accustom themselves to an organized way of life. Then the percentage of cases successfully completed will definitely increase.

One of the common methods is keeping your personal diary, in which not only the order of affairs is signed, but also the time allotted for their implementation. Some people find it more convenient to work with a notepad, others with a diary, and still others use special smartphone applications for this purpose. The bottom line is that this "time diary" will help to make a personal chart rating of priority cases. It turns out that time begins to be used according to individual values ​​and tasks. And then time not only becomes orderly, but also completely manageable.

There are a few simple tips that will help each person start competent time planning:

1. It is necessary to find out specific goals and determine for each of the goals its degree of significance.

2. Prioritize among the most important priority tasks.

3. Systematically arrange a review of all plans and goals in order to observe their effectiveness and progress towards success.

4. Learn the skills of getting rid of unnecessary things that are superfluous and useless.

It is important to remember that time cannot be replenished. On the other hand, the number of hours does not always correspond to how well people live them. Therefore, we must strive for such that every moment of the time lived is filled with pleasure, joy and benefit.