Identifying Obstacles To Effective Time Management

When you first begin to undertake a time management
program it is beneficial to record your daily
activities for no less than one week. One option for
doing this is to keep a journal or notebook with you
throughout the day, for the period during which you
will be doing the recording.

Using both the front and back of a plain sheet of
paper in your journal draw 12 rectangles, several
inches wide. (You will have 6 on each side.) Each
rectangle will represent an hour of time, in a typical
12 hour day. Label each rectangle with hour
increments, such as 700 to 800 am for the first, 900
to 1000 am for the second, and so on. You will do this
everyday for one week.

Each block is reserved for you to record the
activities that you perform during that specific time
period. An example of a block of time could be;

"7:00 to 8:00 am, Monday- Showered. Brushed hair,
teeth. Made and ate breakfast. Dressed for work.
Applied Make-up. Balanced check book. Drove to the
office."

Make notes as often as you can, and be specific in the
details that you record.

At the end of the week look back through your journal
and make note of any blocks of time that you could
have made better use of. Some amount of fun and free
time is important to your overall health and
well-being, but if you notice that there are
continuous blocks of time that are not being managed
wisely, this is a good place to start to make some
changes in your daily time management habits.