A refresher on gaining control of your time

Every so often we should remind ourselves of the obvious. Time management may be common sense, but in many cases, it's common sense that isn't practiced. Here are some reminders, in the form of an acronym, spelling out the words TIME MANAGEMENT.

Take time for yourself. There will never be enough time for all the things you would like to get done. So carve out some time for self-renewal, family and friends and other things meaningful to you - before it is consumed by other activities.

Improve on current practices. There is always a better way to perform a task. For example, writing letters by hand was replaced by typing, dictating to secretaries, dictating to recorders and finally dictating to computers using voice-activated software. Be on the lookout for more efficient ways.

Make efficiency a way of life. Repetitive tasks and activities gobble up time. Recognize the value of a minute saved when multiplied a hundred times or more. Encourage employees to find more efficient ways of doing things.

Evaluate employees based on results. Delegation is a great time-saver; but it must be done correctly. The point is to capitalize on the employee's creativity and not to insist they do the task the way you have been doing it. Multiply yourself through others.

Master relaxation and stress management techniques. There will always be stress, and unmanaged it can wreck havoc on your health as well as your time. Learn to recognize stress before it becomes excessive and deal with it.

Attend to priorities first. Don't confuse urgency and importance. Important items are those that impact your goals. Schedule specific times to work on priorities, and if some things are left undone, let it be those urgent but relatively unimportant items.

Never waste other people's time. If everyone respected the time of others, everyone would benefit. Don't call, write or e-mail needlessly. Reduce interruptions, call fewer meetings, set time limits on conversations and deadlines on assignments.

Always reward timesaving ideas. What gets rewarded gets repeated, so be quick to praise employees who find faster ways of getting the job done. The time you save personally is dwarfed by the potential savings of the entire staff.

Go electronic. Embrace technology; don't avoid it. Computers, scanners, modems, the Internet, and software have revolutionized the office. But typically people use only a small fraction of the timesaving technology available to them.

End meetings on time. Meetings are one of the largest consumers of time. When the objective is reached, end the meeting. If ten people earning $45 per hour delay a meeting by only one minute, the cost is $7.50 in wages alone.

Move your computer, telephone, and in-basket. Arrange your work area so you are not facing the traffic when you work. If it's easy to make eye contact, it's easy to be interrupted needlessly. Don't face an open doorway and don't force people to approach your desk to deliver mail.

Emphasize effectiveness over efficiency. We have been mentioning the importance of efficiency, but don't lose sight of the importance of effectiveness. Doing something well is efficient; but if we can eliminate it all together, that's being effective.

No is an answer. Give it more often. Recognize that you can't be all things to all people. Don't feel guilty because you do not have time to say yes to every request. By saying yes to something you are automatically saying no to something else that may be more important.

Time is life; treat it with respect. Time management is more a philosophy than a strategy. Recognize the value of time. Time management is life management, and there's nothing more valuable than life itself. Few people want to squander life.