The frantic rhythm of life leaves no time for your beloved hobby, family, relaxation. Against this background, problems arise that can lead to the complete collapse of life. If you want to manage your time - an article on the principles of planning is just for you. We will consider the types of planning in different areas of life, starting with the organization of the workplace and ending with finances.
Basic principles of planning
No matter how hackneyed the idea that employment is not the same as productivity, many of us at least once in our lives behave as if they had never heard this phrase. It would be possible to blame this on the modern attitude to progress, on corporate processes, on the boss or his colleagues, if not for the restrictions that sit in the very head of a person.
To break out of the vicious circle, you need to reevaluate your life, weigh the pros and cons, and then start a new path. The planning principles, which will be described later, will help.
Five reasons to make a daily planner your new habit
- Planning fosters self-discipline.
- The diary allows you to achieve your goals.
- Keeping a diary helps build confidence.
- The diary makes actions an order of magnitude more effective, days are brighter, and fills life with results.
- Diary entries from habit can be creative work.
A major role is played by visualization, picture and even design. Incidentally, this depends on your motivation for the duration of the diary. The principles and methods of planning are easier to follow with the maintenance of such a diary.
Best Time Management Rules
- The first 15 minutes of each day should be devoted to compiling a list of tasks. It sounds corny, but you really will begin to notice how your whole world is changing. This is the beginning of everything. It is worth sorting the plan items by importance and complexity.
- You need to perform them, following the hierarchy. At first - of increased complexity, then - secondary.
- Performing each task from your list, completely immerse yourself in it and do not get distracted by anything. Sitting down at the computer, first of all close all tabs and applications that you do not need, remove the phone from sight. Even the fact that the phone is in sight just makes it unknowingly switch to it to check mail or incoming calls.
- Sitting down for the task, determine how much time you need to devote to its implementation.
- Put your watch in sight. When we are very immersed in work, we lose our sense of time.
- Before each call or meeting, write down the purpose of this event in two or three sentences. This will help to direct the conversation in the right direction and achieve the desired result faster.
- Leave the habit of responding to messages if you receive them in the past.
Do not let your day control the calendar
The principle of work planning involves complete control over your time. Leave notes on your phone or computer calendar when you need to deal with deadlines. It is very important to make appointments with yourself.
Do not grab anything
Using the principles of activity planning, you must first complete the current task. If the boss or superior has assigned you a non-urgent new business, set it aside. First finish what you have already begun. This will save a ton of time.
Learn to say no
Following the principles of strategic planning, take only those tasks that make you closer to your goal. Learn to choose from a huge number of possibilities a few things that you will do. Opportunities grow in proportion to planning: time management principles open up millions of new paths. You have the same amount of time, and more cases.
Calculate the price of your hour of work
Another planning principle is the correctly calculated cost of an hour of your work. To get the right result, you need to make the following calculations: divide wages by the number of working days, then divide this number by the number of hours of work per day. This is one of the most important principles of financial planning.
Say goodbye to inspiration
There are many people who can’t work because they don’t have a moral attitude. When you follow the principles of planning, you will have to say goodbye to inspiration and just start doing the required work. After several (possibly unsuccessful) attempts, inspiration and desire to work will come at the same time. The main thing is to start, despite procrastination and laziness.
Turn regular tasks into a habit
The principle of strategic planning involves turning the tasks that you do every day into a good habit. The so-called routine, which should not be considered a full-fledged work, but in fact it is. This will help to relate to your tasks easier and perform them much faster and more productively.
Technique "Tomato"
The quality that every business person or businessman should possess is a discipline. Each business owner has a main job responsibility, which is to dream, generate a bright vision of the future and a picture of where the company will come, create ideas for good products that will best satisfy the need in the existing market and bring value to the outside world.
However, it is not enough to come up with an interesting idea. It is important to be able to implement this idea. The success of your business directly depends on how you are able to turn your dreams into business. Therefore, it is extremely important to increase discipline. Freedom is not when you do what you want, but when you are so disciplined to carry out your plan. Therefore, you need to constantly “pump the muscles” of the discipline, because this is similar to the development of muscles in the gym. There is one tool that can help with this. It is called the Tomato technique.
What is this technique? The fact is that so many people, doing their work daily, suffer from defocusing. Every day you may have quite important, priority goals, but a small business stream starts to suck you in, and your attention is scattered. As a result, the day passes, you look back and ask yourself what has been done today, but cannot find the answer. It’s just that all day you “clicked” some everyday tasks, not having time to solve important tasks. The Tomato technique helps to solve this problem.
Psychologists have proven that in order for a person to work as productively as possible, he needs to perform actions in peculiar time periods of twenty-five minutes. This is the optimal period during which a person can maintain concentration. Usually after twenty-five minutes, the brain begins to get tired of concentrated work, so it needs to be given a slight pause. The whole Tomato technique is based on the fact that you set yourself one task that you want to perform, and take a period of twenty-five minutes.
In this case, you turn off all means of communication: skype, mail, phone, etc. This is done so that you can not be distracted in any way. Next you use the timer. You can use any convenient timer (the Tomato technique was born on the basis of the use of a kitchen timer in the form of a tomato, on which you could detect a maximum of twenty-five minutes), start it at the right time. The timer starts ticking, you do your job, focusing only on it. You can’t be distracted by anything, otherwise you will need to reset the timer and start the countdown anew. If something distracts you, quickly write it down in your computer or diary notes to get back to it during the break.
So you teach everyone around you that you can’t be disturbed if a timer is ticking on your desk. This means that you are doing a very important job. When twenty-five minutes pass and the timer rings, you postpone the task and pause for five minutes, regardless of whether the problem is solved to the end or not. After five minutes, you set a new timer and begin to engage in a new task or continue unfinished.
After four tomatoes, a half-hour break is made. Then again "tomatoes" with a five-minute rest. It is important to change the type of activity in these five minutes: for example, to warm up, drink coffee or do exercises for the eyes. It is also important to change mental activity. This will also keep focus. If you make eight “tomatoes” per day, you are a very productive person, if twelve is the best result that could be achieved.
This technique really helps to solve problems and increase productivity. A little tip: so that you do not bother with any calls, allocate yourself some time before doing the “tomatoes” and solve all urgent tasks so that it does not distract you throughout the day. All calls, meetings, everything that was necessary - decide at the beginning of the day. If you make at least 6 “tomatoes” a day, believe me, the overall performance will increase significantly, and you will see the fruits of your efforts.
Some tips for successful planning
- Wake up at the same time. Planning your sleep is also important for time management.
- You need to sleep at night. The ideal time for sleep is from 22:00 to 06:00. The body manages to relax and gain strength. If you go to bed in the morning, the biological clock goes astray. That is why it is so difficult to "swing". Some go to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee, but this does not solve the problem with body fatigue.
- Take time for meditation. Do this for 20-30 minutes in the morning or in the evening. It increases concentration, strengthens the nervous system and improves overall health.
- Take a contrast shower in the morning. In order not to feel boiled, 10 minutes of such a procedure are enough.
Following all the tips, you can learn to plan your time and manage it. The main thing is to get started!