Definition of time management
Getting the most out of life

The formal definition of time management is something like:

"a set of various theories, skills, activities, and techniques, which help you get more value out of your time and improve your life."

Effective time management can achieve a lot for you.  With proper implementation of time management techniques you can benefit physically, emotionally, mentally, and even financially.

Wants and Needs

Your needs are very important to maintaining a healthy and stable life, however if you're like me that's only half the story.

Your wants can be just as important as your needs. Without achieving some of your personal goals on a daily or even weekly basis, you don't feel great mentally or emotionally. Effective time management can help make sure that both needs and wants are met.

Although there are techniques and steps for developing effective time management they are slightly different for everyone.  After all we're all different with differing wants and needs. To clearly understand the definition of time management in your life, you must first make a list of your wants and needs.

List what you need to get done, and what you want to get done. Once you understand what you need to accomplish and what you would like to do on a daily basis, you can start participating in time management activities that will make your life more efficient and productive.

If you want to chart your progress in wants and needs then you could try using my self assessment chart.  It's easy to complete and you can reassess yourself every 3 to four months.  If you've started to implement some of the techniques described in this site you should see the benefits after a few months.

This kind of monitoring progress is a great way to see your progress and help motivate yourself.  Remember though don't try to do everything at once.

Go slowly and focus on one area only.  So if you want your time management to improve around the family, then work on the activities that'll bring that about.  Save working on the others until you've got family working to you're satisfaction.  I've included a blank version of the chart as part of this definition of time management which includes instructions on how to use it.

Prioritizing

To make the most of your wants assessment you need to prioritize each of the areas.  For example if you are going to focus on the family category then pick out the most important time management tasks from it.

Although you might not realize it the wants assessment is forming part of a definition of time management specific to you.  You've started with your wants; picked an area to focus on and now you'll build a set of specific tasks to help you achieve it.

As part of your definition of time management for yourself, make sure you have built effective task lists.  If you're unsure how to do this then have a read of tips on time management which explains how to set up and run task lists.

Like your wants list your task list will be prioritized to enable you to know what the most important tasks are.  If you already have a task list then take a fresh look at it after completing your wants assessment.

For me personally this wants assessment method has worked really well.  When I first tackled it I discovered that I was doing a lot of tasks that didn't fit with my wants.  It was pretty obvious.  I was spending lots of time on career related activities and not a lot on my family and other areas.  So I decided to balance things up and gradually over time I've focused on the other areas.

The definition of time management for me was then very focused.  Initially on family but then as that came to the level I wanted, I focused on spiritual and ultimately the other areas.

This wasn't a quick fix.  It's taken several years to bring them all up to the levels I want and even now I fiddle with the balance.  But I do feel in control and have felt that way through the whole process.

So if you're determined to bring your life in balance then follow the process and you like me will gain great life changing results.

Don't forget during this process to involve your family and friends.  You can always rely on them for support to help you with things.  I'm always surprised and humbled by the amount of help and support that family, friends and work colleagues are willing to give.

Goals

Goals are something that you must have in order to live life to its fullest, and to recognize your true potential. With written or understood goals you can live your dreams and better your life. Writing down goals and working them into your time management process can help you achieve them faster and therefore live a more fulfilled life.

It doesn't matter what your profession, from doctor to stay at home parent you need to set your goals.  Without goals you have nothing to strive for and nothing to achieve. A definition of time management might be

"the achievement of goals through structured schedules and activities that allow you to live in a better way"

Bringing your goals to the forefront with a pen and paper can help add real purpose to your life.  They help to structure your path towards effective time management.  Goals should be integrating in with the wants assessment and the task lists.  You can bring all this together with a full time management strategy.  I explain a lot more about how to develop such a strategy in time management strategies.

Although it might seem a lot, bringing together the strategy, the task lists and the wants assessment, will start a process that will really bring amazing results.  You just need to bring the perseverance and commitment.

Benefits

To encourage you on your journey towards a definition of time management it's always worthwhile remembering the benefits you're seeking.  Understanding a definition of time management for your life if okay but I think pretty meaningless unless you know how to gain the benefits.

While the benefits are many, there is probably nothing greater than the feeling of happiness derived from knowing that you finished everything you needed to do and still have free time.

Feeling less stressed from the heavy burden of the many things that you must do can lead to better health. When you are not constantly worrying, and have free time to devote to fitness and other stress free activities your health should improve.

Financially you can spend more time on the activities that actually bring you results, and you may even find that through effective time management you can form a new stream of income.

Whatever your wants; you can find these benefits; you can achieve them; you can get the results you want.

Although it's clear that effective time management can bring you many benefits, help you achieve goals and priorities in order, and make you a generally happier person, remember there is no concrete definition of what time management really is.

Time management means different things to different people, because we all live separate and supremely different lives. Diversity is what makes life so much fun.  Time management will always be a binding force that can help us all live more productive and efficient lives.