Manage Time More Effectively

It can be a challenge to juggle classes, a part-time job, and extra-curricular activities. However, there are ways you can manage your time to make it easier.

Try these tips:

• Plan for the Next Day. Set aside time in the evening to get ready for tomorrow's activities. Investing as little as 10 or 15 minutes to plan will help you organize your schedule. Be sure to identify your top priorities.
• Say "No" More Often. Time is a finite resource. Protect it by saying no. Return to your list of prioritites and evaluate whether your plate is filled with activities you don't want to do. If so, scrape them off to make room for the things that really matter. And when the next wave of people serves up more requests for your time, politely put your hand over the plate and say, "No, thank you. I'm full."
• Begin Every Day at Zero. Leave all your baggage from the day before where it belongs: in the past. Whatever mistakes, disappointments, losses, embarrassments, and failures you suffered yesterday don't have to affect the outcome of today.

Cut Out Time Wasters:

• Demanding Perfection. If you're expecting perfection out of yourself and others, you're wasting your time. Letting imperfection keep you from pursuing recreational interests or your career goals can end up limiting your fulfillment in life.
• Spending Time with Negative People. One way to bring down your energy level, reduce your enthusiasm, darken your outlook, slow your productivity, and drain your glass from half-full to almost empty is to invest your time in negative people. The more you reduce the influence they have on your life, the happier and more productive you can be.

Adapted from Successful Time Management for Dummies by Dirk Zeller®. Provided with permission by John Wiley & Sons and available wherever books are sold.