Time management, an essential part of business management

The time that we have in a given day to get something accomplished is a huge indicator of the kind of quality of job that will be achieved.When we have time on our side we can make sure that we put our best foot forward.A lack of time makes it difficult to come up with a quality product, in business that means losing money.Time management is essential when you are a manager because not only are you responsible for how you spend your time, but you are also accountable for how your employees are spending their time.Below are some tips that will hopefully help you to improve your management of time. After all, time management is an essential part of any business.

- We are the ones who need to change - No good has ever come from focusing on universal constants.There are only 24 hours in a day.You cannot add hours where needed but what you can do is change how you are managing the hours that you do have.

- Are you wasteful? - Many times we fall into habits or become satisfied with the one way that we know how to do something to the point that we waste time and may not even realize that we are doing it.Be honest with how you spend your time and open to the suggestions that others may have about what changes you can make to cut back on wasted time.

- Make a goal - It is hard to attain a goal or measure progress made towards that goal if you never actually take the time to think your goal through and make a plan.Be specific as you are setting goals.A goal of "I will save time this week" leaves a lot up to interpretation.A better goal to eliminate poorly spent time might be to cut back on using your computer for personal matters or to avoid making personal calls while you are on the clock.

- Use helpful tools - Many of us struggle with time management but cannot find the root of our problems.Using time recording tools such as an egg timer or stop watch can provide you with an unbiased measurement of just how long things are taking you.

- Delegate where necessary - A good business manager realizes that he cannot and should not be doing everything himself.No matter how good the manager is, he simply cannot do the work of multiple trained employees.Use your time to train and to teach your employees how they can better manage their time and then benefit from the time that you will save not having to clean up after their mistakes.

- Set limits and avoid perfectionism - Many good managers share the trait of being detail oriented.While there are definite advantages to noticing the details, there is also a lot of time that is wasted when the time to make something "perfect" does not end up being worthwhile.Sometimes a good time manager has to lean when to let good enough be acceptable.

- Set limits - If you are struggling with too much to do or if a certain project always seems to eat all the time in your day, set a limit of time for yourself.Decide that you will only spend so many minutes working on a certain project per day.While you are clocking the time you are doing something nothing else should distract you from your work.

- Stay organized - When your workplace is organized it is easier and faster to get exactly what you want.Do not waste time sorting through papers to find the one that you are looking for when you could simply create a filing system that will make it easier to find anything that is needed in the future.Also, do not waste your time and the time of the person who is helping you by waiting around for services or objects that really ought not to have a delay associated with them.There is always something that can be done if you are forced to wait.