More Time Management Tips

I am looking forward to a relaxing, three day weekend and wish all of you a relaxing one too. Like most families,our weekends are very busy and although we strive to plan out some relaxing, down time sometimes it doesn't happen with sports, parties, activities and homework projects. Last weekend I helped my son focus on planning out his science project so that we all weren't rushing around at the last minute trying to finish it. I've realized that a fifth grader still needs a lot of guidance, support and overseeing to make sure work isn't left to the last minute. My husband and I have gotten burned a few times staying up late the night before something was due helping our son complete a week's worth of work in one night.

Of course, I got a lot of pushback that he could do it himself, don't worry, etc. Of course, Mom persisted and after strongly encouraging him (okay forcing) him to read the project outline, together we came up with goals and a timeline. It didn't take long and at the end of the 30 minutes or so he had a huge smile on his face and he said, "that wasn't so bad. Thanks Mom!"

As I've said before in other posts, a significant piece of time management is planning and also managing the procrastination demon that can influence all of us. We can all relate to how my son thought coming up with a timeline for his project was going to be hard and take too long. In most instances whatever we are dreading, once we start, we realize isn't as bad as we thought and also doesn't take as long as we think.

So I go back to some tried and true time management strategies for success:

Plan out tasks: with a big project, break down the tasks and set deadlines and then figure what needs to be done first to meet your short-term deadlines so that you can meet your overall project deadline.

What is your best time: capitalize on it and do your hardest task then.

Bundle like tasks.

Get to know the 4 Ds: Decide, Delegate, Defer, and Delete. Decide what your priorities are now, delegate if you can, defer what can be done later, and delete what is no longer relevant or a priority.

I do think planning in some relaxing down time during the week can be revitalizing and ultimately help increase productivity. Productivity equates to good time managment.

What are some of your time management strategies?