Using a Time Management Worksheet

Learning Time Management Skills

A time management worksheet is useful; particularly as part of the process of learning time management. Small business owners and managers can improve productivity and efficiency through time management lessons.

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The worksheet serves as "training wheels" as you practice the art of managing time. Time management sheets help you identify the areas of life where you can make better use of your time, as well as help you keep track of time and focus on your primary goals.

There are worksheets available for various tasks and purposes, but they’re all ultimately designed with the goal of making it easier for you to manage your time. The benefit to you, and your business, is increased efficiency and improved productivity.

Learning Time Management the Easy Way

One reason many people struggle with time management is that they try to learn the concepts without having the right tools to apply those concepts to their actual work life. That's where worksheets are useful.

For instance, you may fill out a questionnaire that will help you identify areas where you waste the most time. This is much easier than if you simply sit down and try to make a list of areas where you're blowing time.

Why? Because inevitably some time sinks (wastes) will escape you – they just won't spring to mind. But when you have a series of questions to ask yourself, you'll see your use of time much more clearly, bad habits and all.

Worksheets aren't just useful for identifying where you’re going wrong – they are extremely useful for correcting your mistakes. Because a lot of time wasting is the result of unconscious bad habits, it is hard to alter these processes just by reminding ourselves and using willpower.

Having a worksheet on your desk in front of you keeps you focused on the aspect of time management you're trying to improve. Eventually, those bad habits will be replaced with good habits as you get used to using time logs or sheets.

Important Time Management Lessons

Worksheets are a great way to focus on important time management lessons – whether you happen to be teaching yourself, or team members. Effectively managing your time comes down to understanding several fundamental concepts (such as prioritization, breaking down the big tasks or projects, eliminating or minimizing less important activities, and more) and applying them consistently.

As a small business owner or manager you need to make effective use of your time, and that often means balancing the big picture with everyday tasks. So it helps to have multiple planning worksheets for different time frames or projects.

For instance, efficient entrepreneurs create a To Do list each morning, or the night before just as they leave work for the day. And they'll also have a calendar with events marked throughout the next few months, so they know in advance when they’ll be busy and can plan accordingly. They may have another worksheet which allows them to create a general plan for the week, which will then be turned into a more detailed plan on a daily basis on a separate worksheet.

In today's online environment, there are a number of software applications that are available for computers and for mobile phones that are digital versions of a time management worksheet. The advantage of maintaining an online schedule is that it is easily updatable, downloadable and accessible.

time management worksheet and clock marking time

These tools will create invitations, manage over-lapping appointments, and provide reminders of upcoming meetings and events, and synchronize with mobile devices. More advanced scheduling software also provide record keeping and report writing functions that can help you better analyze where you spend your time.

Whether you use a time management worksheet or a scheduling software program, it is important to track your time and to integrate your business goals with your efficiency and productivity objectives. Planning and writing down your goals provides the framework necessary to create an effective productivity plan – without that, your efforts to manage your time and resources will not be focused in the right direction over the long term.