How I Overcame My Time Management Problems

A few months ago I attended a time management/productivity seminar in New York City. At the time the seminar was great and I was very excited for all the excellent things we were learning. I was never great at time management and have always viewed it as a skill that can be improved, I still feel this way. The seminar recommend using some type of software and had this very elaborate system they were using. The presenter brought up her daily schedule and to do list and it simply overwhelmed me. Needless to say, I gave it a shot and started using a software system. My productivity went down. This is not to say that the software is bad, I think if I was able to master it there would an increase in my productivity. It just didn’t work for me. We are all wired in different ways and one very important thing is for you to be aware of that. Find out about yourself a little more, maybe using something like the Myers Briggs of strength finders assessments, either way the better you know yourself and what your strengths are the easier it is to find ways to help you maximize productivity. After much trial and error I am a pen and paper guy. I now have one notebook I use for everything and it is working much better. The only other separate notebook I use is for taking notes on the books I read, other than that all to-do lists, meeting notes, brainstorm sessions, mind sweeps etc are in my notebook. I make sure to put the date in large print at the top of each page to help navigate through. I actually switched from a large standard size notebook to a smaller composition notebook because I would blast through them quick and it gave me a little more sense of accomplishment. This is not to tell you what to do rather it is to help you find what works best for you and go with it, regardless of what the experts say. View Time Management as a skill, a skill that you can improve and you will stop being frustrated about time management.