Are you at times harried and harassed, with too much to do, not enough time to do it in, and the occasional desire to give up completely? Many people experience such emotions, but they not inevitable and are in fact avoidable. Actually, says Irina Klusova of Professional’s Business, most of us have more time than we think. The trick is to manage it correctly, and as she says, it is encouraging to remember that “time management is not necessarily working harder, but working smarter.”

How to deal with what seems like too much work and not enough time? You don’t need a new job or a personality transplant, says Irina Klusova, director of business development at Professional’s Business. All you need is a few simple tips and some things to keep in mind, and things should run more smoothly.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “ You delay but time does not.” He was right — time is constant and irreversible and, once wasted, can never be regained.

Many people complain about needing more time in a day. While we know it is impossible to turn minutes into hours, we can learn to manage the time we have more efficiently.

Maybe you feel your work never seems to get any closer to being completed. The stress level you are experiencing is rising and every day you become increasingly frustrated. Although you cannot control time itself, you can take charge of what you do with the time you have. You should realize what you can do, and should not do, to increase your daily output. It’s really not as difficult as you may think. Time management is not necessarily working harder, but working smarter.

To get significantly more done in the same amount of time, we need not increase our efforts. We don’t need to run twice as fast or put in twice the effort to significantly increase our daily performance. We only need to be a nose ahead of where we already are.

A lot of time management has to do more with what we are not doing than what we are doing. Sometimes our mistakes and omissions will keep us from running at a full pace.

Our life is made up of several vital areas such as health, family, finances and our intellectual, social, professional and spiritual sides. We do not necessarily spend time every day in each area or equal amounts of time in each area. But if, in the long run, we spend a sufficient quantity and quality of time in each, our lives will be in balance. But if we neglect any one area, never mind two or three, we will eventually sabotage our success.

Much like a table — if one leg is longer than the rest, it will make the entire table wobbly. If we don’t take time for health, our family life and social life are hurt. If our finances are out of balance, we will not be able to focus adequately on our professional goals, etc.

One piece of practical advice is to avoid working with a messy desk or work area. Studies have shown that the person who works with a messy desk spends, on average, one-and-a-half hours per day looking for things or being distracted by them. That’s seven-and-a-half hours per week. And it’s not a solid block of an hour and a half, but a minute here and a minute there: Like a leaky hot-water faucet — drip, drip, drip — it doesn’t seem like a major loss, but at the end of the day we’re pouring gallons of hot water down the drain.

If you have ever visited the office of a top manager, he or she was probably be working with a clean desk environment. Many will attribute this to that person’s access to other staff members. But, while there may be some truth in this, in most cases if we were to go back some years in that person’s career, we would probably see they were working with a clean desk even then — which gave them the focus they needed to become promoted to where they are today.

Another thing we should not neglect: Try to get enough sleep. Studies show that nearly 75 percent of us complain on a regular basis that we are flat-out tired; most people get enough sleep in terms if time, but not in terms of quality. Their days are filled with so much stress that it’s difficult to get a full night’s sleep. If you plan your day and then work according to this plan, you will get more done, feel a higher sense of accomplishment, experience less stress and enjoy a more restful night’s slumber.

One more mistake people often do is avoiding lunch breaks. Many people don’t take lunch breaks, working through that time instead in the hope that it will give them more time to produce results. Studies have shown, though, that it may do just the opposite. After doing something for several hours, we start to lose our edge. Sure, we can work through lunch and be productive, but that is not the issue. The issue is being more productive.

A lunch break gives us a chance to get our batteries charged up again to more effectively handle the afternoon’s challenges. We are then less likely to procrastinate on those difficult tasks that, in the long run, will make a positive difference in our productivity.

There are no time management tools that work for everyone all of the time. Instead, we need to decide what works best for us, as individuals, at this point in time. Do we need to schedule better? To prioritize more effectively? Do we work more productively in the morning? Are we trying to complete an entire project at once instead of breaking it into more manageable chunks?

Here’s some practical advice. The first step to effective time management begins with finding out how you use your time. Do this by keeping an activity log for a week. Evaluate your results by asking yourself, “ Did I accomplish what I was supposed to? Was I often pressed for time? At what time of the day was I most productive? Least productive? How much time was allotted for personal activities?”

Your next step is to make a list of everything you plan to do, dividing the list into fixed and flexible commitments. Fixed commitments are tasks that you absolutely must complete by a specific deadline. Flexible commitments are obligations you can meet on a time-available basis. Assign priorities to your list and set aside enough time to do the designated tasks.

Learn how to schedule. We all have our best times to work and play, so plan your work schedule around your peak-energy times.

There are additional steps that you can take that will help you accomplish your goals:
-Compile a “to-do” list each week of tasks that must be completed.
-Prioritize the tasks on your list in order of importance and according to deadlines.
-Try to complete tasks with a minimum of interruptions.
-Don’t overcommit your time. Learn to say “NO.”
-Delegate responsibility when appropriate.
-Be proactive: Try to think and plan in advance. Put yourself in the driver’s seat and decide what and when you will do this or that amount of work. Don’t wait and let time make its demands on you.
-Allow time for breaks, personal time and social activities.


A key point is to consider balance! We are not meant to concentrate on one thing to the exclusion of all else. We need to make sure that we give ourselves time for relaxation, exercise, friends and fun. These are critical parts of a whole person. And, without taking care of ourselves, we will not have the energy we need to take care of demands on our time.