Learn2succeed.com Incorporated - Time Management for Beginners: How to Get the Most Out of Every Day

ISBN: 978-1-55270-462-2

Written by:

Learn2succeed.com Incorporated

Published in Canada by:

Productive Publications, P.O. Box 7200

Station A, Toronto, ON. M5W 1X8

Phone: (416) 483-0634 Fax: (416) 322-7434

Canadian Web Site: www.ProductivePublications.ca

American Web Site: www.ProductivePublications.com

Front Cover Art:

Spider web adapted from copyright free clip art from Corel Gallery 200,000

Corel Corporation, 1600 Carling Ave.

Ottawa, Ont. K1Z 8R7

Copyright 2012 by Learn2succeed.com Incorporated

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Time management for beginners [electronic resource] : how to get the most out of every day / by Learn2succeed.com Incorporated.

Electronic monograph.

Issued also in print format.

ISBN 978-1-55270-462-2 (EPUB)

1. Time management. I. Learn2succeed.com Inc

HD69.T54T48 2012 650.1'1 C2012-903558-0

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission of the author.

Time Management for Beginners: How to Get the Most Out of Every Day

There is a saying that some people count time, while others make time count. This book is about making time count. Its about managing your time effectively so that you can get the most out of each and every day of your life.

It will start by helping you to set your priorities and objectives. If you are involved with a business, a plan can help you establish those goals and this book provides reviews of a number of software programs which can help you. If you are not in business, it shows you how job descriptions can be used to set your priorities.

The next task is to organize your priorities into the ones which are the most important down to those which are the least pressing. It provides tips on how to handle time consuming activities such as replying to e-mail, faxes and snail mail.

You will be shown how to create time blocks. You will read about wall planners and how spreadsheets and software could assist you in managing your time. If you are involved with other people in a project, this book will describe some project management software which could help you manage them more effectively.

As you know, meetings and conferences can eat up a lot of your precious time, so some suggestions are offered on how to make meetings more effective and take less time. You will be given a review of some software programs which can help with online conferencing and interactive learning, so as to cut down on travel time.

Sooner or later, you will be faced with a crisis when your swamp is suddenly full of hungry alligators. This book will provide you with some suggestions on time management during a crisis and also give you some tips to help you prevent a crisis from happening in the first place.

Being organized is a key component of time management and a whole chapter is devoted to showing you how a number of software programs can help you. In addition, customer relationship management software can assist you with the effective time management of your customer or client contacts.

Finally, this book suggests that time management is dynamic and you should monitor your progress and make changes when necessary. It will help you get the most out of every day!

No representation is made with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and both the author and the publisher specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose and in no event shall either be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage, including but not limiting to special, incidental, consequential or other damages.

Throughout this book, reference is made to many different software programs; the names of which bear registered trademarks belonging to various software publishers. For the sake of making the text easier to read (as is customary in product review articles), most of these are shown without including the or symbols. The absence of these symbols is not intended to imply any disrespect or disregard relating to the legal ownership of such trademarked or registered names.

English novelist, George Gissing, who died in 1903, put it best when he wrote Time is money, said the proverb, but turn it around and you get a precious truth: money is time.

Lets think about that for a minute. Almost everyone who works is contributing their time in return for money. The obvious exceptions are people who are volunteers and are providing their time for nothing for the sake of a charity, political belief or other cause which they think is worthwhile.

Even in the case of volunteers, they are contributing time which could be used to earn money elsewhere i.e., they are contributing money in the form of their time.

Time and money are inseparable in our modern society.

If time is money and money is time, what is time management? In a strange way, its really about the management of money.

In a business setting, this relationship is fairly obvious, but take the case of a housewife, or to be politically correct, a house person who stays at home, makes the beds, cleans the floors, cooks the meals, washes the dishes, drops the kids off at school, etc. Now of course its possible to employ a maid or a nanny to perform these tasks-for money! Basically, the time of that house person represents money that is saved by not employing outside help. Turn it around and the time of the house person is money!

So what Ill be discussing in this book is the management of money in the form of time. Its an interesting twist! I hope it helps you with managing your time.

If youre in business, I would recommend that you commence by setting strategic goals and objectives. This, in turn, will lead to an examination of your ability to carry out those objectives. Do you have the equipment, the human resources, etc., to reach your goals? Of course, it also involves money.

Trying to launch a new product or service from a company that has limited financial resources, is a bit like pointing a rocket at the moon from a launching pad built on a quicksand. If the launching pad is being sucked down into the sand, the rocket may go off in the wrong direction or it may not make it at all. On the other hand, it may be better to fire the rocket in the hope that it will at least go somewhere!

The archives of literature on management are replete with books and articles on Management by Objectives. They became a fad much like the hula hoop and the Pet Rock. They died the same fate.

An autopsy would probably reveal that most management by objective plans in large companies failed because of the amount of time and energy that had to be expended on their creation and maintenance. They added to the paper shuffle. Managers had to write reports on their objectives and submit them to more senior managers, who in turn wrote reports...and so on it went.

Now that the tombstones are in place, it is possible to reflect back on the general concept and find some good in it. If one sets the objectives into the context of the overall strategy of the company and maintains it in that context, (rather than letting it run loose all over the place), then a powerful tool is created for enhancing future growth.