PLANNING
It is always difficult to make a decision that which items are REALLY important. Once you have made the decision about the PRIORITIES then you must concentrate on them rather than distracted towards unimportant issues. It is human nature to lean towards easy tasks and try to finish them and leave the difficult jobs for the future. This way we keep on delaying the important activities. The main reason for this delay process is due to the lack of PLANNING. You must have heard some people saying " I am too busy and I have too much work to do. Therefore, I do NOT have time for planning." Usually, we do accept this illogical answer. On the other hand would you accept this statement from a sick / ill person " I am too sick and too weak. Therefore, do not take me to a hospital." In this case, you will carry the person quickly to the nearest hospital for immediate treatment. Similarly, in future if someone tells you that he / she is too busy to do planning then you should immediately register him / her to the next available time management seminar. Usually, most of us do not make firm plans regarding time management. Instead they carry out the activities one after the other without much consideration about the priority or importance. It is important to note that itself does not do work. It needs to be done by you. Work done in a planned way is always more organized, thorough and of high quality. Everyone accepts that planning is necessary. But very few people give time for planning. It is imperative to dedicate the necessary time for planning. In reality, planning should be a habit. People who do planning regularly -have no problem in finding more time to do more things. It is a well-known management principle that if you want something to be done quickly then gives it to the busiest person because he manages his time better and performs the planning function effectively.

It takes only 15 minutes to prepare a daily plan and 30 minutes for a weekly plan. If you prepare daily and weekly plan for just 6 weeks then you will become a habitual planner. The best approach for the preparation of these plans is to prepare the weekly plan on the last working day of the week (Wednesday) and the daily plan (for the next day) just before leaving for home. Your weekly plan must include the followings:

Identify which goals need to be worked on.
State clearly what activities have to be performed to achieve the above goals.
Assign priority to each activity.
Determine how much time should be spent on each activity.
Assign which activity should be done on which day of the week.
Once you made your weekly plan, now you can prepare your daily plan by assigning each activity a specific time. This is also a very important task. You should know which item to do at what time and why.

Control Your Time
When you start specifying the time allotment for each activity you should pay more attention to the early part of the day i.e. morning because you are well rested and fresh. Therefore, proficient time managers always assign the morning times for important tasks. This approach will lead to the best results and maximum output in very short period of time. Usually, most people use the morning times for reading newspapers, making telephone calls and doing unimportant tasks. All of us know that as the day progresses one gets tired and is exhausted by the evening. Always remember to spend your best time for the most important tasks (morning or after taking some rest in the afternoon). Similarly, do the minor tasks when your energy level is low or tired. You should assign two lots of one-hour sessions daily for important tasks. During these periods you should not receive any telephone calls or any visitor or any form of interruption. You should pay full attention to the important scheduled tasks. If two sessions are not possible then one session is absolutely necessary.

In addition to the above, our daily program should have enough flexibility to handle an unscheduled important task. Therefore the daily plan should have 25 to 50 minutes for unscheduled important activities. You must ensure that unimportant and unscheduled tasks should not be carried out until they are properly schedule. You must keep on asking yourself all the time "Am I utilizing time correctly and spending on the important issues"? This feedback mechanism will help you in controlling the time. Would you let other people control your money and spend the way they want? The answer is NO. As you know, time is more valuable than money therefore you must control your own time rather than let other people and- external activities to control your time.