By Ryan Laspina
Senior Specialist, Red Flags and External Reviews at APUS
While budgeting your money is a very important topic, there are ways to regain lost money. There is absolutely no way that you can regain lost time, and that is why it is extremely important to have excellent time management skills. You can even create a time budget just as you would create a financial budget. Below are some tips to help you manage your time efficiently.
1. Create a time budget.
There is nothing wrong with creating a budget that tracks the time you are spending on certain activities. This might help you realize that you are spending too much time doing something insignificant. For example, if you realize you are watching television three hours a day and are short on time for completing all of your online classroom assignments, you will be able to visualize how inefficiently you are spending your time.
2. Prioritize all of your tasks for the day.
It is up to you how important you deem certain activities, but you should spend more time on the most important activities, and also try to schedule those tasks earlier in the day. As a general rule, academic, familial, and work activities should supersede any leisure activities.
3. Keep documents and records organized.
A lot of time can be wasted searching for old medical bills, transcripts, or other important documents. You should create a system for inventorying all of your important documents (both electronic and paper). Easy access to all of your documents is crucial to efficiently utilizing your time.
4. Multitask if possible.
The most efficient workers are those that can multitask. If you can get numerous tasks completed at the same time, you will free up other parts of your day. It can be as simple as exercising while reading a chapter in a textbook, but multitasking will certainly save you time.
5. Be a clock-watcher.
This sometimes can make the day go slower, but if you constantly know what time it is, you will have a better grasp of your time management. You should always be on top of the time of day, and should never catch yourself getting so absorbed that you fail to realize what time it is.
Obviously there are other tips out there for managing your time efficiently, but the above five are a good starting point. Time is probably the most valuable thing you have to offer. Do not waste it because you will never get it back. The most successful people in the world are those people who can efficiently manage their time.
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