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One of my prospects turned down an offer to participate in a time management course by explaining that he does not want to be turned into a robot. It is a common belief that time management is about doing things very fast and keeping yourself busy all the time. So it may really seem at first sight that good time managers act like robots.

The aim of time management is achieving your goals in your life and being satisfied with your life. Time management does not mean that you have to live a fast life. Many people who have completed time management courses keep themselves busy because they choose to do so. For example, if you want to earn high income or climb up the career ladder then time management will give you tools for it. Fast life is just the matter of preference.

Still, automatic approach to some actions will help you to save time. There are always some routine tasks for you to do, whatever profession you will choose. It can be some paper work, checking your e-mail, making bank transfers etc. Many of us do not like doing them, but we still have to do it. If we can minimize time spent on these tasks then we will have more time available for tasks we like more and tasks, which are vital for our success. It may seem that a person, who handles e-mail fast, acts like a robot, but think that he will have more time to spend together with his children or friends.

But what about people, who do not make conscious decisions about their time use. Many people are regular 9 to 5 employees, who reluctantly obey the orders from their boss. Even their leisure time goes according to a typical pattern. When they arrive home from job, then they will watch TV and eat junk food. On Friday night there will be party and on Sunday morning they will wake up with a hangover. Does not it seem as living a life of a robot?

Many people dream of breaking out of that circle, earning more money, having more free time and getting a meaning to their lives. But without learning how to take control over their time they will not succeed in it.

Time management will give you the possibility to reconsider the values and habits in your life. You will take control over you time. You will be responsible for your life and you are the one who chooses what you are going to do with it. What do you want to achieve in you life?

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I bet everyone gets called by salespeople, who offer life insurance, health magazine or real estate. These calls often happen when we are busy, so they really disturb us a lot. The worst thing is that in most cases we have absolutely no interest in these products we are being offered, but at the same time we just cannot end these calls.

If you will ask me how I personally handle these situations, then I will say that there is always a possibility to hang up the phone. When you are using a cellular phone, then you have to just press one button and you will stop wasting your time. For being sure that I do not miss an offer that is useful for me (actually I have never had any salesperson calling me and offering anything I am interested in), I would ask right away, what service or product you are offering to me. If there is no straight answer I will firmly ask him to tell me and if I do not get it in a few seconds I would say:”No, thanks. I am not interested in your offer. Good Bye!” and hang up immediately. If I get the answer then there is 99.99% probability that I will end that call in the same way.

Still, most people do not want to handle these situations in a similar way. They will think that it is impolite to do it so. And so it happens that they get into long conversation with the salesperson. Some people even like talking to them, but isn’t there any better uses for our time. Still, the time flies and at some point we want to end the call, but it may seem to be difficult.

There is always a possibility to firmly refuse and hang up (or even hang up without saying anything). But if you do not want to use it, then I will offer you some strategies that will work:

• Say that you have already purchased that product. It will work for the most cases, except if the salesperson starts offering you another product, which usually does not happen.
• Tell repetitively that you are not going to buy the product. Do not give any arguments. If the salesman asks for them, just repeat that you are not going to buy. If you have told him that you are not going to buy five times in a row then there is a high probability that he will give up.
• Anticipate the salesman. If a salesman talks to you endless about how good his products are then interrupt his monologue by saying that you are not interested in his offer. If you could anticipate the point the salesman is driving and tell it to him before he reaches to it in his monologue, then many salesmen feel defeated and end the call.
• Do not ask questions. If you start asking questions about the offer, then you give the salesperson the possibility to answer them and you will get deep into the conversation.
• Pretend that you have to answer an other call. At least it will allow you to end the conversation for that time although it may happen that you are called again by the same sales person.

And still, there is always a possibility to simply hang up the phone. Salesmen get that kind of an experience regularly and they do not take it as insulting. In fact, if you are not going to buy anyway and you finish the call quickly, then you do a favor to that salesman as it helps to save his time too and he can use it for calling to the next prospect.

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In most cases stress will do more harm than good to people. Most of the stress has negative influence on individuals. The positive effects of stress usually occur only in the short-run. If there are short high positive stress periods, then it may do good for us as it stimulates to induce effort. Unfortunately, stress tends to be continuous for many people. The long-run stress effects can be devastating. If there is always pressure and it will not go away no matter what you do then people tend to give up. If you are constantly in stress condition then it will lower your quality of life and it may lead to health problems.

What causes stress? There are many different types of factors, which create it. They are called stressors. First, stress can be caused by the physical environment. If you have to spend your time in disturbing physical conditions then it creates stress. The most common examples are:

• Insufficient space. If you have to work in an overcrowded office, then you are likely to get disturbed frequently. There may not be enough room for you to place and access your tools or papers. Similarly, if you live in a too small space, then conflicts are easy to rise. In order to be creative and productive in your work you need space. Otherwise you cannot develop bright ideas. For example, I am much more creative if I am alone in the room and if there is enough open space.
• Noise. Background noise can be very irritating. It will not allow you to concentrate. Other people chatting, making phone calls, or noise from different machines may create stress.
• Poor illumination. You should have as much as possible day light in order to reduce your stress level. If you have to work in a room with no windows and if the room is not properly lit, then it will create stress. On the other hand, sunlight makes people happy.
• Poor ventilation. You need to have fresh air in order to work comfortably and calmly.
• Inadequate temperature. If you feel too cold or too hot then it will disturb you-

Next, stress can be created by your working tasks. This is called work stress and it occurs when the nature of the work, the expected results or compensation received for effort is in conflict with our expectations. The main sources for work-related stress are:

• Unclear expectations. If you do not know exactly what you have to do then it is difficult to do it well. You get some instructions from the boss, but if they are not precise enough then you do not know how you should execute them. In the worst case you may get conflicting orders. For example, once you are told to work out changes in the marketing plan and then you are told not to change it. It is confusing and will cause you to do unnecessary work. Similarly, if you have given too difficult or impossible task to perform then you will know in the forehand that you will fail, which again creates stress.
• Unpleasant tasks. If you have to spend much of the time on thing you do not enjoy doing, then work will not be pleasure for you. Of course there are some tasks that you may not like for every job, but if there are too much of them, then it can be stressful. It may be caused by the fact that you are assigned tasks that are not suitable for you. Or the job itself can be something you do not like. Sadly, many people are employed on jobs that do not suit them well, but still people do not switch jobs.
• Changes in work. Different people have different capabilities of adapting to the changes. Some people feel highly stressed if the content of the work changes, they are assigned new tasks, they are transferred to a new position or when they switch jobs. Similarly, personnel changes may be a stressor, for example if you get new colleagues or team members or a new boss.
• Poor performance. If you cannot meet your expectations, then you may feel guilty for that. If you constantly underperform then you may start fearing your bad results and so working can become stressful for you.

Third, stress is often caused by human relationships. Various types of conflicts or misunderstanding or being not able to express one’s feeling may generate stress. The most common stressors in this group are:

• Marital separation or divorce. If your long-term relationship is going to end or has ended recently then it creates huge changes to lives of both partners. Furthermore, there have probably been problems for a while, and split-ups are often not so calm and controlled events. Usually there are lots of emotions and conflicts. Divorce may lead to complex financial troubles, so it can create continuous stress.
• Death of a family member or a close friend. If it comes unexpectedly then it can be a huge blow, it is going to change your life for ever and it may create high level of stress.
• Conflicts with spouse or friends. If these conflicts remain unsolved and if the repeat over and over again then they can cause much harm.
• Problems with children. Problems at school, bad behavior, trouble with police or not being able to solve conflicts with them to just make them to listen to you can cause stress.

Finally, there are many other sources for stress.

• Financial problems. It is said that money makes you calm, actually it does not make you. Money creates money problems, which cause stress. Financial stability and avoiding troubles with money makes you calm. Many people cannot handle financial issues well.
• Uncertainty about future. If there are going to be changes in your life, but you are not sure about them then it can create stress. For example, you do not know if you are going to get into university of if you will be able to find a job when you are unemployed.
• Lack of time. If there are too many tasks for you to do and you just do not have time to deal with them then you will not be able to complete all of them on time. You may feel guilty that you have so much to do, but you cannot do it and you say to yourself that you have to do more things, and you find that you are a lousy person because you have not managed it.
• Health problems. If you do not feel yourself well and if you cannot do anything to get better (or it takes time to heal) then it is unpleasant and stressful. If you do not have good health then you activities may not succeed so well, which again generates stress.
• Changing your residence. If you migrate to a foreign country then it will make huge changes to your life. You will have new job, new colleagues, and new friends. You will be in an environment where other people speak foreign language.

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Most people like to drink sometimes. Having a drink or two on Saturday night may seem to be a good idea and some people drink more than that. Getting drunk on parties is a regular practice for some people. But what kind of impact will it have on your performance?

To be honest, I will say at once the drinking alcohol will not help you to increase your productivity. To some extent, drinking will help you to lower stress, but there are many better ways for relaxation. If we compare playing tennis, talking a walk in the nature or going fishing with boozing then drinking is the least beneficial option for resting. Damage from moderate consumption is not so big, but if you consume it in big amounts then the effects on your performance will be devastating.

While I would not say that you have to totally quit drinking I will still recommend that you do not have a drink during your work day. Having a beer during your lunch may sound good, but it will not help you to work faster. Have two and it will make you much slower and less productive for the second half of your work day. So if you want to drink then you should wait till the evening with it.

If you drink too much then it will affect your performance in the next morning. How much is too much? It is individual, but I would say that too much is when you feel in the morning that you have been drinking in the previous evening. If you get a hangover then you will not be able to be fast and creative in the beginning of your day. But the first hours in the morning are critical for getting a good start to your day and often they can be the most productive ones. You will just throw away your best time by heavy drinking in the previous night. Even if you do not have a bad headache, but if you feel only just a bit tired then you still will be 5 or 10% less productive than you would have been without drinking.

As getting drunk is an easy way of relaxing and having fun then it may demotivate you in the long run. It is very easy to have a drink and feel good. Why bother with hard work and pursuing with your goals? Even if you do not succeed in your life then you can always drink and forget your problem. Well, it is everyone’s choice what do you want to do with your life.

I have many friends who drink almost every weekend. Every week the wait for the Friday night to arrive. Some of them think more on partying than there career progress, and they are making no big progress with their careers. They are not earning promotions, there income has not increased much over the years, and their life standard has not improved. They drive old cars, cannot have overseas vacations and they even do not drink expensive drinks. But they really do not care about it.

In the long run heavy drinking will destroy your health. Alcohol damages all your organs. Excessive drinking will ruin our and it will also reduce our brain size, our reactions become much slower and our memory starts to go. Alcoholics cannot be productive workers.

I personally was relatively heavy drinker when I was younger. During my university days it was natural for me to get drunk on weekends and this habit continued when I started my academic career. I think that one reason for that was that I was bored in my life and I did not have clear goals. Then it was easy entertainment and an escape form the dull everyday life.

Thing started to change when I started dealing with speed reading. It did not mix well with alcohol. If you want to read fast then you have to keep your mind fresh. Getting drunk and having hangover will just hold you back. And if you want to make progress then you take it into account and do not drink so often.

Now I drink much less. Although I will allow myself to party from time to time and to get relatively drunk, there are many other activities for me now. I simply do not have so much time to drink. Furthermore, there is no need to drink for forgetting the everyday troubles. Now I like facing the challenges and not running away from them.

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In today’s world most people are living fast lives. We all tend to be in a constant hurry. We want to do more things but tend to run out of time. Alternatively we may feel that our energy levels are too low to keep going and we start procrastinating. Nevertheless most of us want to achieve more with less time.

And that is the point where time management will help us. We learn how to set goals, prioritize tasks, make weekly and daily schedules, how to communicate and act fast. It is all about getting more things done. If you ask someone to describe an excellent time manger, then most people will point out that he/she is very rational, always busy and has excellent career progress.

Still, not all people prefer to live a fast life. In contrast to the business of the present world there has been created so called slow moment, which promotes living slow life. It is s a cultural shift toward slowing down life’s pace. It started as a protest against opening a McDonald’s restaurant in 1999 in Rome. In the beginning the aim of the movement was to resist eating fast-food, but soon it spread into the other areas of life such as travelling, reading, parenting, etc.

The followers of slow movement promote downshifting. Downshifting is simplifying your life and accepting to earn less income for working less hours and having more leisure time. At the same time they seek for non traditional leisure activities as they find that much of the leisure time of ordinary people is spent on obligations for purpose such as keeping you fit, community work, building social networks etc.

It has gained popularity all over the world. Some of my colleagues at the university are participating in the local groups. These people tend to see themselves as opponents to me, who teachers people to be efficient and manage their time.

But is there really a contradiction between managing your time and slow life style. Basically everyone is managing their time regardless he/she recognizes it or what kind of priorities he/she has. Although most people do not get it, time management is about spending your time in the way you like it the most. It is about finding time to achieve your goals. And it is really about YOUR GOALS. You are the one who decides what you want to do with your life. And from that point onwards it is about finding the best ways of doing it and allocating your time.

Time management does not mean that you have to live a fast life. The reason people who consciously manage their time live the life at fast speed is because the want to achieve career success and to do it fast. They want to earn more money, buy a better car and home, and travel to foreign countries, play golf and so on. It is their choice. We may argue that it is the matter of our culture and role models in our society. Rich people are heroes for many of us and so people want to follow them. But it is their choice.

At the same time you can apply time management for working fewer hours, having more time together with your friends and so on. Time management actually makes you to think about your aims and what is the purpose of your life. Time management does not mean that you should aim at earning more money, becoming a member of parliament or developing a perfect body. It does not mean that you should drive a car instead of a bicycle, that you should eat-fast food instead of cooking a meal yourself or even that you should buy food from the shop instead of growing it by yourself. Actually many people, who participate in my time management courses are seeking more for getting more leisure time than earning more money.

It is all the question of preferences. What do you want to do with your life? People are different and so are their preferences. It is your choice if you want to earn lots of money to drive a Ferrari or you want to work less and ride a bicycle.

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From time to time we run out of energy. Sometimes it may happen that we have time but do not have enough energy. We feel tired and sleepy and cannot work productively. What can you do then? How can you regain your energy?

In order to increase your energy levels you will benefits from eating certain types of foods. Eat these energy boosters, when you feel tired or you have to deal with the most demanding tasks. Still, you cannot substitute having decent amount of rest with eating energy boosters.

The foods that help you to restore your energy levels are:

• Chocolate. It will increase your brain activity for couple of hours. At the same time consuming too much sugar, may make you sleepy. Therefore you should eat dark chocolate, which contains less sugar. Alternatively you may have a low-sugar cocoa drink.
• Bananas. They contain load of potassium, which helps to maintain normal nerve and muscle function. You lose potassium from your body when you are performing intense tasks or when you are nervous, eating bananas puts it back to your body.
• Sardines. They contain tyrosine which promotes the manufacture of norepinephrine and dopamine. These stimulants act on your brain to improve your mental focus and performance.
• Yogurt. It is rich in magnesium. Magnesium is also vital to energy, it is especially important if you have to perform task, which call for physical power.
• Beef or chicken. You will get iron from them.
• Water. You have to keep your body hydrated in order to prevent fatigue.

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In a previous post I have argued that driving fast will not you save much time. For example, if you have to travel 100 km (60 miles) then by increasing your average speed from 90 km/h (55 mph) to 100 km/h (60 mph) will save you only 6 minutes and 40 seconds. So you will not get so much time by pressing your right foot down.

Still, there exist many ways how you can save time on driving. Many of us have to drive in urban areas every day and we often get stuck in heavy traffic. In those kinds of situations there are many possibilities how you can save time and reach your destination sooner:

• Avoid driving during rush hour. You can help yourself much if you are sitting in a traffic jam and have nowhere to go. You will not know if driving a mile takes you 5 or 15 minutes or even more. Usually it is possible to anticipate that kind of situations by choosing the right time for commuting. Drive to work little earlier and you will arrive there fast.
• Plan your route. Getting lost or making a wrong turn can cost you a lot of time. If you have drive in an unknown city then study map before. Using a GPS device will be helpful. Even if you have to drive in your home town and you know the road then it is a good idea to think about the destinations where do you have to drive to day. Plan your day in a way that you can visit similar places at the same time. For example, if you have to visit three clients in one location then visit them in a row in order to minimize driving around the city.
• Keep you car always moving. Anticipate traffic lights. If you see read light then decrease your speed in time and so you can keep you car rolling until it goes green. Usually the green lights on one street work in a way that when you maintain normal driving speed then you can pass all the traffic lights at green. Following this tip will also save you fuel.
• Be alert. Look far ahead with you eyes and stay active in the driving process. Watch what the 3 cars ahead of you are doing. Know what kind of traffic is building in front of you. Anticipate cars slowing down or stopping in front of you and make a line change then.

Besides these tips keep in mind that you do not have to always drive you car. You can use public transport, bicycle or take a walk. In big cities you can commute faster by using subway. If you have to travel short distances in areas with high traffic then bicycle beats the car in speed. When you go on foot then you do not have to spend time on finding the parking spot, which can be very time consuming in certain places. So choose a right way for transportation.

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Getting up early has many benefits. It allows you to start your day earlier than others, which results in more things done at the end of the day. There are many ways to use early morning hours productively such as

• You can start your work day before others. During the early morning hours no one will interrupt you by phone calling or visiting you. It is a good possibility for doing quality work. Starting your day before others means more working hours, which gives you an advantage over your colleagues.
• You will avoid rush hour. If you drive to your office early, then there will be no heavy traffic and you will save time on driving and traffic jams will not cause stress to you.
• You can exercise before starting your work day. Going jogging or to the gym before heading for your office can increase your productivity as your mind will feel relaxed after physical activities.
• You can meditate in the morning. It allows you to deal with your mind and prepare yourself for the day.

Although some people are so called “evening persons”, who tend to be more productive in the evenings most of people will benefit from starting your day early. For example, for me the early morning hours are the most productive ones and if I sleep too much then it often become as relatively unproductive day for me. Most of my articles, blog posts and course chapters are written in the morning hours.

In order to do these things you have to be able to awake and get out of the bed early. It can be pretty tough if you are not used to it. Fortunately, it is possible to change your habits if you follow these tips:

• Go to bed early. This is the number one rule here. Everyone of us needs to sleep certain number of hours. If you sleep too few hours then it is difficult to get up in the morning and you will feel tired, which does not allow you to be efficient. Normally people have to sleep 7 to 8 hours, but there may be some individual differences. If you have difficulties falling to sleep early then you should try to avoid eating at late hours, increase your physical activities and take a walk before going to bed.
• Improve your sleep quality. If you sleep better then you will rest better and it is easier for you to get up. In addition, you will be more refreshed and ready to start your day. Have fresh air in your bedroom. It is a good idea to sleep with open window as it guarantees fresh air and it will lower the temperature in your bed room. The temperature in bed room should be a couple of degrees lower then in the living room. Have comfortable bed and pillow.
• Reward yourself for getting out of bed. Getting out of bed immediately after the alarm rings can be difficult. But if you do not do it then you can fall to sleep again. To make it more pleasant for you then reward yourself. Make it a ritual that you will have your favorite food or candy right after you get out of bed, but only if you manage to get out of bed at once.
• Schedule your time in the morning. If you have certain activities planned on the morning hours then it will generate pressure to get up. Otherwise you will not able to deal with them. On the contrary, if you cannot think out what do to with these early hours then there will not be much motivation to get up.
• Do not put your alarm clock near your bed. The point is that you should not be able to snooze off the clock without getting out of the bed. So the alarm will not stop till you are lying in the bed.
• Limit your alcohol consumption. Getting drunk in previous evening will result in hangover in the following morning, which makes it difficult for you to get up and start your day.
• Get yourself a dog. If you do not like dogs then do not follow this tip. If you have a dog inside your house, then he will probably want to go out early in the morning and so he has to wake you up and he will not let you go until you are out of the bed.

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In my department at the university there is a professor, who refuses to communicate with students via e-mail. He finds that it is to much time consuming especially in case of long discussion. For example, when a student writes to him and he replies the next day and then the student again replies on the following day then already 2 days have been spent. It would have been much easier if the student would have phoned him and the problem may have been solved in 5 or 10 minutes. Like he says: “I am not going to play this ping-pong game. ” He tells that students should phone him or step in to his office at the reception time instead of sending e-mail.

In Estonia, electronic communication is very widely used, probably to somewhat greater extent than in many other countries. The younger generation is especially keen on electronic communication such as sending e-mails. Therefore it is difficult for the students to get familiar to his communication preferences. Many students find him a lazy professor and complain that it is difficult to reach him. This issue has been a problem for the whole five years that I have been employed there. The communication rules have been discussed on many meetings and this professor has been told to changes him practices. But he has refused to do so. The head of the department changed over time, but no one of them has managed to get this professor to communicate via e-mail.

Why I am I telling this story? I am not going to talk about handling e-mails or efficient communication today. I am going to tell you how you can reduce the number of things to do easily.

The easiest way to get rid of a task is to make a decision of not doing it. The less you do the more time you have. At the same time you have to stick to your decision of abandoning the task. If you first think that you will abandon it, but when you start considering doing it later, then you are already wasting your time.

In many cases, we are afraid of declining the task we are expected to do. We are afraid about the consequences. If I decline a work task, then what will my boss think of me? We think that we may blow over chances for promotion or even get fired by not accepting the tasks. The same story goes with our personal commitments. If someone invites us to a coffee or party then we often think that we will insult the other party by turning down the invitation. So we end up accepting it even if we have more important things to do.

The result of not having courage to decline orders and invitations is that we do not have much control over our time. We end up doing what the other people tell us and when they tell us. But good time management involves control over our actions. If we want to do more things we want then we have to fewer things other people ask us to do.

But let’s come back to the story about this professor. Although he has continuously turned down orders to start using e-mail nothing bad has happened to him. He still has his position and good reputation. The same can apply to many other things that you are told to do. In many cases despite our fears nothing happens if we do not do a task we are given. What happens if you just do not respond to one questionnaire? Probably nothing will happen. What if you do turn down on invitation to have a beer in a bar? Probably your friends are not going to think anything bad about you, if they are your real friends they will understand that you have other things to do and will accept your decision. What will your boss say if you refuse to complete a report? If you are a good employee and if this report is not very important then it will not do any harm. Furthermore you could explain why it a time waste to work on that report and tell than you can use this time for working on an other more important task. In that way, you may earn respect from your boss.

Of course, you cannot ignore all the orders you are given and you cannot always say “no”. The point is that you have to prioritize the tasks. For example, some tasks are much more important for your company’s success than other. You should not skip doing these critical tasks, but you can turn down the other commitments, which have less importance.

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Every day we spend our time on different activities. For example our working time may include meetings, gathering information, writing documents, paying the bills, making phone calls and so on. We do not spend the whole day on one kind of tasks, but there are many different tasks to be done in one day. It means that we have to switch from one task to the next task many times in a day.

Many people tend to delay with starting the new task after they have completed the previous one. That kind of pauses will waste a considerable amount of time. For example if you delay the start of a new activity on the average by 5 minutes and there are 12 activities in your day then you will lose a whole hour. But there can be more tasks in your work day and some people waste even more time than 5 minutes before getting to the new tasks, so that kind of time loss can be even bigger.

That kind of procrastination is more likely to happen if the next task is unpleasant, difficult or time-consuming. If we do not like the idea that we have to start dealing with that task then we tend to wait until we begin with it. But procrastination will not make the things easier for us. We have to get started anyway and delaying just wastes time, which means that we get less things done in one day and it causes a threat of missing deadlines.

There are many ways of reducing procrastination. You will get started to new tasks faster if you apply the following tips:

• Motivate yourself. You have to know why you are going to perform the next task. Although it may be dull or unpleasant, but if you see that it is necessary for achieving success then it is easier to get to that task.
• Reward yourself. It is very difficult to be motivated and efficient if your life is only hard work. If you reward yourself with going to a movies or buying new shoes after successfully completing a project, then it is easier for you to motivate yourself.
• Make a plan. Think through how you are going to perform different tasks. Break them into smaller pieces. Think how you will start and finish the activity. What are the objectives? What is needed for getting a good result?
• Create time pressure. Plan your time and set end times for different activities. For each task plan time necessary to complete it, but avoid leaving to much time for a particular task. If there is a little time pressure then you are more likely to be productive and waste less time. If there is no time to waste with delaying the start, then you have to get going fast.
• Stay fresh. Low energy level causes procrastination. Make regular pauses in your work day for staying energized. During the pauses stand up from the table and do some physical exercises. Eat regularly and healthy. Avoid consuming too much fat. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Drink water to keep yourself hydrated and reduce your coffee intake. Have enough sleep in the night. Get to bed early and sleep for at least 7 hours a day.
• Create a “Start now!” habit. If you face a new task, then say “Start now!” to yourself. You may have to fight with your temptation to delay, but as soon as you get into new tasks you feel easy to keep going.

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