Time management: 

One Question For Dramatically Freeing Up Your Time

 If you wish to manage your time effectively one of the most powerful things you can do is to is to question whether the actions you are taking are the right ones for you and the best ones to get the task completed.

If you get into the habit of asking yourself these questions, you will find that you will come up with new and better ways of getting things done. More importantly, it will help you to identify the things that are most important to you.



In a sense, it is more about managing yourself than managing your time. If you ask yourself the right questions and listen to the answers that come you will find that you will complete tasks more effectively and more quickly. What is more, you will find yourself using the time you have for what you really want to do. As you get better at this, the effective management of your time will come on its own.

In any given day you will have a number of tasks to complete and things you want to do. However, you must remember that you can only do one thing at a time and it is quite possible that you simply cannot get everything done in just one day. Because of this, the most important question you can ask yourself is, “What is the most valuable use of my time right now?”.

Get into the habit of asking yourself this question regularly. In fact, you should ask it a number of times each day. It only takes a few seconds for you to ask yourself this and listen to the answer that comes, yet it can transform how effectively you manage the precious hours in your day.

There are any number of other questions you can ask yourself that will help improve your time management. However, “What is the most valuable use of my time right now?” should be the one you ask yourself the most.

As you do this each day, you will find patterns emerging that will help you plan your day. Many people shy away from planning because of the time it takes. However, it is well worth devoting 15 minutes to planning each day as it could save you hours. It is a time investment that has very, very good returns.

If you stay focused on your goals you will develop a clear idea of which tasks and activities should take priority in your life. And in your work you will be able to identify the tasks that you enjoy doing and are good at. There will remain some things to be done that do not fall into this category. You should think about delegating these tasks to someone who is more suited to them. This can be hard to do at first but it is essential for managing your time effectively.

Above all, keep asking yourself that one question. As time passes your circumstances will change, as will your priorities. Asking that one simple question will help you manage your time to suit these changes.