Managing Your Time by Setting Goals and Prioritizing

One common stressor for everyone is making enough time in the day. Sometimes we simply don’t have enough time to do everything we want. The key to using time wisely is to set goals and prioritize them. The following steps will help you reduce the stress of “not enough time”

1. List your goals for today.

1. Prioritize your goals. Beside each goal, writes either an “A,” a “B,” or a “C.” the goals you label “A” are the ones you absolutely must get done that day. The ones labeled “B” are those you would like to get done. The goals labeled “C” are not very important and can wait until later.

1. During your day, do what is necessary to teach your “A” goals first, then your “B” goals. If you have some time left, you can attend to your “C” goals.

This strategy can be adapted for shorter or longer periods of time than a day. You can develop goals for a single morning, for example, or for a week, a month and even a year. The following suggestions may also help you manage your time:

• Learn to say no. Do not take tasks that you have no time to complete.

• Work on one task at a time. Don’t go back and forth between tasks. The time it takes to constantly reorient yourself is time wasted.

• Ask for help from others when you are pressured for time.