How to Quickly Find Emails or Files that You Really Need, When They Appear Lost?

I am sure all of you are all familiar with the situation… You have lost an email or file, and you just can’t find it. Where the heck is it?

You’re in a need of a proper Desktop or Outlook search. The Mac has Spotlight search built right in, but how about Windows?

Unfortunately, the search function in Windows Outlook has been crippled since many versions back. It really amazes me how slow and clumsy it is, causing extra jamming and frustration in moments when you just would like to find something fast.

Trying to find files in Windows is a different story. There exists some kind of a desktop search function built in Windows, but it doesn’t come even close to the built in Spotlight feature, offered by Macs. I am not interested to look at a dog animation, when I want to have lightning-fast  search results.

So, Windows still isn’t strong in search, and there exists a gap to be filled by third party search utilities. Someday, this will most probably change, but this is the situation now. Outlook 2010 definitely shows improvement. However, it still doesn’t quite make it.

Google filled the gap for a while by offering their version of a desktop search for Windows. Unfortunately, this product has been discontinued. Secondly, and this is my opinion, I never liked the interface offered by Google.

We will now take a look at three currently available desktop/Outlook search solutions: Lokeen, X1, and Copernic.

All three applications handle the same basic functions. They will index all your e-mails and files, and make them searchable. After the indexation, you are not only restricted to searching on the base of file names or e-mail subjects. You will actually be able to search for content inside files, e-mails, and e-mail attachments. After the initial indexation process, the applications will try to update the index database on a continuous basis.

Even if the basic functions are the same, all three applications have their own flavor and touch. Here are some of the characteristics I found, during my tests.

Lokeen: Well Integrated but Has Problems

In addition to offering standalone desktop search, Lokeen also integrates into Outlook with its own toolbar. When you’re not using Outlook, you can access Lokeen from small symbol in the lower-right  corner of your Windows. Any search of files or emails will only take a few seconds. After that you are presented with a complete

list of results to the left, and the preview pane to the right. What really impressed me was the fact that it’s possible to

preview search result items only by hovering the mouse over the search results.

Unfortunately, Lokeen has some serious problems, at least when I tried it. I got several times a error messages, which somehow related to the graphical user interface, nagging about some missing .NET components. Secondly, the indexation process is apparently implemented in a way that is quite heavy for the system, as it Lokeen appeared to jam and freeze whole Windows for a few seconds every now and then.

You won’t be able to use Lokeen after the trial, which is 14 days. After that a license would cost you USD 39.80. However, in its current state, I wouldn’t recommend Lokeen to anyone.

X1: Looks Nice

X1 Desktop Search is the successor of a product once known as Yahoo desktop search. It has a very nice-looking  graphical user interface, and it is lightning fast. In its preview pane, X1 can show previews of even more complex file types, like Excel documents. The indexation seemed to run more smoothly in the background. The fact that there is no direct Outlook integration, in the form of and add-on bar, didn’t disturb me at all. I more or less hate most add-on bars anyway. X1 is still capable of searching among all your e-mails. You can even press forward or reply to emails from within the utility, which launches Outlook.

I almost hesitate to write it, but for a few times, I sensed some extra minimal delays occurring. Other than that, X1 seemed very fast and robust.

X1 offers a free trial of 14 days. After that the cost is USD 49.95 for license.

Copernic: The Perfect Outlook Search Add-In?

After having tried the two solutions above, I still wasn’t fully satisfied. Is there really no perfect solution?

Well, maybe not perfect, but Copernic comes close. Get this: Copernic doesn’t offer a free trial. Instead, it IS free (for personal use).

In all other respects and capabilities, Copernic is almost identical to X1 (even the price for professional use is the same – 49.95). The biggest difference for me was in the user experience, where I didn’t get any sense of jams/freezes or anything else like that whatsoever happening. Copernic Desktop Search was clearly the winner for me, so I went ahead and bought the professional license.

Desktop/Outlook Search: Summary

Finding files in Windows, or “lost” e-mails in Outlook, isn’t always easy. Luckily, there exists some solutions to help you. Of the three, which I tested, X1 and Copernic clearly stand out as winners when choosing an Outlook search add-in.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 Review

Voice recognition has developed a lot during the last 10 years. One of the software available today is called Dragon NaturallySpeaking, by Nuance Technologies. The software is now in its 11th version. In fact, the version I am using now is 11.5. Traditionally, this kind of software has been associated with disabled people. Nowadays, the marketing seem to be shifted towards all kinds of people. Nuance is no different, and its website contains very impressive videos of how the software enables to increase productivity. I bought a copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, because I wanted to see if it can support me in my writing.

Here is a short video:

As you probably can guess by now, I'm currently dictating this text. I bought this software a few weeks ago, in the middle of the night. It did not take me more than 10 minutes to understand that this was a piece of software that I couldn't just "plug” and start “playing” with, a bit before going to sleep, because it takes some time to get it working right.

It's actually surprisingly difficult to start using this software.

I am still trying to learn it, and haven't fully gotten the hang of it. However, I have got to admit it's getting easier. You just have to get used to the commands, like: "comma”, “full stop”, “select [word  to select]”, “go to end of line”, “move two lines down”, “backspace”, “scratch that”, and many more. You really have to be a master in order to manage the more tricky spelling assignments, like in making the software write its own commands (instead of interpreting them as commands)…  Consequently I have to admit that in the last paragraphs I had to give up, and do some manual writing.

• There seems to be a few success factors that make using Dragon NaturallySpeaking easier. These include:
• taking the time to familiarize with the videos or the manual
• patience
• teaching the software your writing style, by showing it your previously written material (which it analyzes)
• patience
• patience
• teaching the software the words it constantly understands strongly (it has to do with your specific spelling)
• patience

I repeat patience many times above, because the software just didn’t understand that I wanted to create a bullet list.

Slowly, but surely, I must admit, I and this piece of software are getting better along. It will be interesting to see how much I will use Dragon in the future. Dictating texts forces you to be quiet if you haven't thought about what you want to have written. If you make unclear or unfinished utterances, that is exactly what you will have on your text (don’t worry, it’s software – it has patience to wait as you think through your next sentence). Funnily, Dragon also understands you better the longer utterances you make. This is due to the fact that the software contains statistics about which words normally belong together. When you think about it, it makes sense.

It seems like a combination of dictating, using the mouse, and keying in the most difficult-to-spell parts with keyboard, is the most effective combination for me, at least for now.

Yes, I do have a few complaints. One is that installation was a bit tricky… I had been using my Windows system as the admin user, but this software doesn't allow to be run as admin. So, I had to create a normal user profile just in order to test it. This is most likely for security reasons, as the software executes commands beyond simple dictating tasks, and running it as admin could be really harmful. Admittedly, starting to use Windows as a normal user was good for my security overall! Adding to the installation, getting the audio to work was also a bit tricky.

Secondly, using the software really requires learning, or it will kill you in frustration, as it does not do as you say. Believe me, it's really frustrating to Dragon if you don't know how to command it. Luckily, practice seems to make you better. I have really improved only during this dictation session. Really encouraging!

A last point worth noting is that Dragon seems to need quite a silent background in order to work properly. If other people are at home, you need to find a separate room for your dictation session. And if you’re home alone, you’ve better close that television.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking - Summary

Overall, voice dictation technology nowadays seems quite far developed. At around 100$ or less for the basic version (which I have), it is becoming quite affordable too. At least at this moment, I'm quite sure I will use Dragon for supporting my writing in the future too.

Learn more about Dragon NaturallySpeaking at the Nuance website.

Is Everything Called Strategy, Really a Strategy?

I have seen many articles that judging by the headline claims to deal with the concept of time management strategies. Most of them fail to touch the subject very deeply. Instead, they are just random ramblings about general time management, where the word strategy is used as a synonym to tips, tools, or practices. These articles do not provide real value, as they cannot even define what they discuss about.

Time Management Solutions is about providing structure to the field of personal productivity and time management, and I will now throw in my thoughts about what the three basic time management strategies are.

Perhaps it is also a good idea to start by taking a few steps back, and remind ourselves what the meaning of the word strategy is:

Strategy, a word of military origin, refers to a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal.

In game theory, a strategy refers to one of the options that a player can choose.

Referring to the above, I would not extensively discuss the benefits of using a to-do list in an article about time management strategies. For me, that is detail level discussion. Instead, when discussing strategies, we need to take a look at available time management approaches from a higher level.

The high level picture looks like this:

A picture illustrating the 3 main time management strategies

Let’s describe each time management strategy one by one, more in detail:

Strategy 1: Goal Orientation

This is an area which is touched many times at this site, but that is exactly because it is one of the most fundamental time management strategies. In order to achieve things, you have got to know what you want. Larger things cannot be achieved at ones, but must be divided into smaller parts.

Applying this strategy means that you think about and keep track of the things you want to achieve. This should be done in many levels – your life, at work, or regarding a specific project – and different time spans. After you have defined your goals, you need to focus yourself so that you don’t get distracted from your result brining path easily. If you manage to keep doing the things that really matter for results, you will achieve your goals faster, then if you just do a little of this and that, along with how errands and emails come across your day.

The difference between being focused, and not being focused

If you manage to keep doing the things that really matter for results, you will achieve your goals faster, than if you just do a little bit of this and a little bit of that, along with how errands and emails come across your day.

Strategy 2: Procrastination Avoidance

The second main strategy is to focus on the actual execution of things. When you procrastinate, you tend to avoid starting the execution of tasks, and find all kinds of other reasons why now is not the best time to do something.

People, who don’t procrastinate, master the art of the start. Even the best ideas and goals are of no help, if you prefer mostly to lie on the couch at home. Likewise, at work, or you might distract yourself from productive tasks with excessive private surfing on the internet.

You will always get things done by just starting. And most of the time we kind of know the rough direction. That is why procrastination avoidance is a strong time management strategy.

Strategy 3: Support System Utilization

The support system utilization strategy is more or less a time management best practice and tips based approach. An example of a support system utilization strategy would be e.g. to familiarize yourself extensively in how you can manage all your emails and tasks effectively using Outlook, Lotus notes, or Gmail. In this case, your time management would be built around that system. Using this strategy does not mean that you don’t procrastinate; you still might do it a lot. It also does not guarantee that you are a determined goal oriented corporate solider. It would just mean, that if you should get a ton of emails, you would be effective a processing those. This will naturally save you a lot of time.

You can build your system around other things too. It can just as well be a paper calendar.

Time Management Strategies – Summary

Best Approach: Be Holistic

This article took a look at the three main time management strategies, which are: goal orientation, procrastination avoidance, and support system utilization.

The area of time management strategies is a little diffuse, as there does not exist any official definition to the concept. We have e.g. Mayo Clinic, that presents a list of time management tips, and calls them time management strategies. Others have similiar thoughts than I have.

The three main time management strategies are not excluding each other. Different strategies can and should be applied in parallel, in order to achieve optimal productivity, as each strategy has slightly different angle for achieving increased productivity.

Your hard disk just died, what do you do now?

What is Your Backup Strategy?

A few months ago I played with the following idea: what would happen if I would completely loose, forget somewhere, or break my personal laptop computer? This thought play was induced by the fact that I actually thought I had lost the darn thing, for a few minutes, at that point.

How good was my current computer backup status? In addition to answering to that question, the exercise made me realize — actually internalize — a few things:

1. Loosing my laptop and its contents without backups of my most important data would severely set back my productivity for a while. I have a lot of files I do not want to lose, and I would really hate to have to re-install everything I have on this computer. But even re-installing software isn't bad, compared to losing your most precious files.

2. I needed to add my contact details somewhere on the computer. This also struck me, a standard corporate practice, and not a bad one. There is always the chance that if I would somehow just loose my computer, that it would be found by someone nice, who wanted to help. As a corrective measure to this point, I added my email and telephone number on the front cover of my laptop, using a Dymo label machine. Someone could argue that one should not ruin the looks of a design apparel, but for me, the MacBook Pro is tool. And it does not look that bad with the labels on the cover…

3. I'd better turn on password authentication. Auto-login was enabled, so any passing by user could basically just open the machine, and start to use it quite freely. Automatic login is now Off. This can be toggled in the settings.

4. I realized that I actually have a secured backup plan, which would have saved me.  I could just have bought a new machine, and within a few hours, continue exactly where I was left off. It would have cost me, and that of course did upset me, but I would not have lost my precious documents, or even been forced to install everything again (and I can tell you I have got some music software installed that takes some while to install).

What a relief!

Can you say the same?

So, what is my solution? Before I answer that question, let's take a look at some basic philosophies behind backups. I am not an expert on the subject of backup, but I will share with you what I know. It took me a small while to figure this out, hopefully I can save you that time.

Different Computer Backup Solutions

Like always with computers, there exists many options on how to do things. Here are a few points and options relating to backup.

Computer Backup Term: Online or Offline

Shortly:

• Online backup: Your files are stored safely in a datacenter of the service provider you choose
• Offline backup: The backup files are stored on a separate media, like an external USB hard drive, which you provide yourself

With the evolvement of a fast internet, there has born a vast number of online file storage and backup services. If you are familiar with Dropbox, Mozy, LiveDrive, iDrive, or the likes, you know what I talk about. They are all services which back up your essential folders from your computer, into a cloud server of the providers. You get to choose which folders to backup, and most often people choose the folders containing music, pictures, and important personal files. With online backup enabed you can always transfer the files back to a new computer, or hard drive, if you get a problem.

Dropbox is one of the pioneers of this kind of a service, but there are cheaper, and equally capable services available today.

Still, my choice is SugarSync. It is mid-priced but has really cool syncing features, which somehow appealed to me. The leaders in this kind of service are SugarSync and SpiderOak. The syncing feature enables people to share the MyDocuments folder between any number of computers I choose to. So, if I e.g. would save something on my PC, into the MyDocuments folder, it will also appear in the MyDocuments folder of any other computer I choose to, where SugarSync is activated, so the files are common for all the computers. With SugarSync, I do not need to hassle with emailing files, or using USB memories! This, for me, means increased efficiency.

You can achieve an equal result with the other services too, SugarSync is just a little more advanced in this sense. But for the moment I am sticking with them.

Offline backing up of your computer is something you do yourself. Offline backup basically means that you back up files on a separate media, like an external hard drive, or on DVD's. For Macs, the most popular choice is probably the Time Machine/TIme Capsule combo. It is a superb all-inclusive solution.

With the Windows machines I am not doing offline backup at the moment. One of them is from from work, so it is covered by our policies there. The scond only one only exists virtually, inside the Mac (Parallells desktop), so it is actually backed up by the Time Machine too.

Computer Backup Term: Full Backup or Partial Backup

Shortly:

• Full backup: You will clone all the data of your computer
• Partial backup: Only the most important files are backed up

A full backup means that your whole computer is backed up, including your operating system and program files. For Mac users, Time Machine provides the most easy full backup solution. For PC's there exists many software available. Carbon Copy Cloner seems to be a popular choice for offline security. Acronis True Image is also highly recommended. In my brief study, I also stumbled across a fairly new service named Hybir. It claims to be an online full backup service. That is an interesting animal.

Normally online backup services are partial to their nature. A partial backup means that you only backup your most important files, like pictures, and music. And critical document files, like your CV.

Computer Backup Term: Scheduled or Continuous

Shortly:

• Scheduled: Your data is backed up with regular intervals, eg. monthly or weekly
• Continuous: Your data is more or less backed up always when you make a change, on the fly, and in the background

There is one more parameter that I want to mention quickly: if the backup is scheduled or continuous.

A scheduled back up process means that you need to define a specific time, when the process is done, often by defining a regular interval, like weekly. This can sometime be challenging in practice, if your computer is turned off when the computer would like to back up. In that case you miss your backup.

Continuous back up process on the other hand works in the background, and is less "seen" to the user. My SugarSync is practically totally invisible. The data is also more up-to-date, as it is backed up more often, more or less in real-time, or at minimum hourly.

My Solution

As I am currently at home primarily a Mac user, I have chosen as my offline full computer backup solution the Time Machine, which is a hardware and software combination provided by Apple itself. It is unparalleled in its ease of use. Its complete integration with the Mac OS makes it a safe choice. If I loose my laptop I can basically just buy a new one (Ouch!!), and restore all the info from the Time Machine to the new Mac, and continue where I left off. I have not needed to do it, but I have read many success stories on the web. If you want a little cheaper Mac solution, there exists non-Apple hard-drives, which you can use with the Time Machine software, e.g. by hard drive manufacturer Lacie.

As my online variant, and as an extra scurity layer for the critical files, I use SugarSync, as I already mentioned. If I would not be so obsessed with the Sync part of the SugarSync, I would probably opt in for the solutions by LiveDrive, which seem to contain value-for-money.

The most important thing is that you have some computer backup strategy! My recommendation would be, that you should at least have either an offline, or an online solution, and preferably both. What is your excuse, when online solutions don't take more than 5 minutes to set up.

You need an insurance for your digital life too.

Even just copying your MyDocuments every now and then to an external hard drive is better than nothing.

Time Management. Learn different time management solutions and be more efficient in everything you do. Increase your personal productivity and discover more free time!

Synchronizing Bookmarks: The Why

I use regularly three different computers. On each computer I have at least two or three web browsers, like Firefox, Chrome, and IE (or Safari, on the Mac). So, when I find a super cool web site I want to remember later, I can never be exactly sure how well I can find it later, at least when I want to. The hassle of trying to remember on which computer/browser combination I bookmarked something is sometimes just too much.  Or then I know where it is, but I am on the wrong computer.

The different "bookmark sets" were also structured differently, without a unified structure. This resulted in me searching for links in one looooong list, also when I knew this was the right place.

I wanted a change, and what I wanted was the following:

1. The same bookmarks in each computer and each browser browser within each computer
2. A unified folder structure for the bookmarks

One solution to this problem is of course to use a proper social bookmarking service, like Digg, or Delicious. The idea with these services is that instead of saving the bookmarks on your computer, you save them in the web. These social bookmarking sites are small communities, where you can also recommend links to others, and become an active part of the link exchanging community. Tagging links with relevant key words is also a feature in common on this kind of sites.

Delicious (www.delicious.com), for example, furthermore offers extensions for different browsers, making it more available, and smooth to use in everyday life. You can import your current bookmarks to the service, but the browser's own bookmarks do not cease to exist. In stead, you continue with two different places where to store your links.

As I am a simple man, I did not like that idea. I only wanted to bookmark links on the browser.

The Solution

After a short study, I found the following service:

Xmarks, the browser bookmark synchronization service!

The solution I found, was Xmarks. You will actually have to join the Xmarks community, as this service is also in its fundament a social bookmarking service. However, it is more tightly structured around the browser bookmarks, which is why I chose it.

I have now installed this extension on every browser I use, on all three different computers. Luckily, installation was fast. During installation the Xmarks service asks if you want to activate "smarter search" and "site info". I choose not to.

After each installation, the service always unified all the bookmark sets into one common pool, so that after all the installations I ended up with a huge collection of bookmarks, with all the bookmarks of every browser, and synchronized across every browser. I then used one of the Chromes to reorganize them into folders, in which I grouped the bookmarks in. Chrome seemed to have the most fluid reorganization feature, according to me.

A few synchronizations later, I had the same structure, and links, on every browser.

One of the Firefoxes kept on giving some error message that there was a difference in the amount of bookmarks on that browser and the internet database, but that was solved by clearing the Firefox's own links, and by importing the whole set from the database to the browser again (there exists a button for this operation, which found in the settings: Advanced->Manual overwrite->Force overwrite of local data). A fox is always a fox.

I am now a happy internet user with only one set of bookmark links. By using Xmarks, I do not have to be overly social either, if I don't want to. After all, not every link is for sharing, like my Chuck Norris Facts link, which is only for me!

Time Management. Learn different time management solutions and be more efficient in everything you do. Increase your personal productivity and discover more free time!

My Story

This week I was ill. Yes, I got some kind of spring flu. I have no idea from where it came, it just did.

It’s seldom the right time to get sick.

Being sick made me realize a few things.

The first thing I had to realize was that C-vitamin does not always work. I tried supplementing heavily C-vitamin when I felt the first signs of a flu outbreak, but it did not work. Apparently, if you’re going to get it, you get it.

The second realization relates to time management, and it was that apparently I should have been working more planned in recent times, as on both days when I stayed at home, I had hard deadlines for reports, which I felt obliged to meet. So, I actually ended up working like I would have been at work, even if I was at the kitchen table – sick, and sore in the throat. At least I had not taken into account the possibility that I could get sick.

This was quite annoying. When you’re sick you are supposed to be able to rest, right?

What was the key lesson for me? I reminded myself to focus on starting reports well ahead of time. This is actually one of the classical time management rules: it is good habit to every day work a little bit on some project, which has a far out dead line. This way you minimize the “I have to do this today” -effect, which was the trap I was in now. When done correctly, you can completely avoid it. Think about all the stress you would miss!

Working When Sick, General Theory

My little experience inspired me to take a brief look at what the experts are saying about working when ill. When you turn up to work, it is called sickness presence. Here are the main points:

Working when sick increases your risk of stroke. This is not something to aspire for, now is it? British and Finnish researches studied 5000 persons, and found out that persons who had been working when ill during the last three years, had twice as many strokes, compared to those who had taken the sick leaves as needed.

When turning up to work, you might risk infecting your co-workers, at least when talking about the flu. Even if you are “tough” and turn up, chances are high your co-workers might be more clever than you, and call in sick, which leaves the company plus minus zero in benefiting from your braveness. I also do not recommend going to work if you have a stomach flu.

You might irritate customers. If you work at customer service, you should be extra careful, as you definitely don’t want to pass anything your clients. It is also easy to hear from a person on the phone, when they are not feeling well, so your service level will suffer. Again, the result may be points down for your company.

Repeatedly working when ill boosts risk of long term sick leave. This is also a result of a study, this time among 12 000 Danes. Making a long story short: persons who feel they need to work, even when sick, end up taking more long term sick leaves (more than two weeks), at the end of the day. This might sound counter-intuitive, and still, this was the mean value. One reason might be that among employees who feel they must work, we also have those, who are the burn out candicates. It might also tell something about the work place, namely that it is a place which wears out people.

So, working when sick is a nice and polite thought in theory, but next time, think twice. Above we have some practical reasons for considering not showing up, after all. Perhaps thinking about them could help you feel less bad the next time. At least give them a thought.

The only thing I recommend, is to have your time management up to date all times, so you don’t have to force yourself to work from home.

Time Management. Learn different time management solutions and be more efficient in everything you do. Increase your personal productivity and discover more free time!

Tricks, but No Quick Help Tricks

About fifteen years ago I got my first touch of mnemonics – learning techniques that aid memory – when I read Harry Lorraine’s book called “The Memory Book”. Before that I had never really heard about the more advanced techniques used for remembering things better. But I had used some self-invented tricks during high school for trying to remember things at exams.

Reading The Memory Book made me partly realize the potential of the more sophisticated techniques described in it… Nevertheless, somehow, I never really got excited enough to start using them.

Hence, my experience culminated in teching myself the 51 states of the United States of America in an alphabetic order. After that it was: been there, done that, what’s next?.. At least as far as I was concerned.

Is it really worthwile learning tricks for remembering things better? Well… can I revert to that.

Ok, I admit. I have been following the mnemonics field with a passive eye since, and I have even acquired some additional literature around the subject. And the books have been in the shelf. And they have become dusty.

It was only a few days ago that I started to dig into one of them. It is called “Memo: The Easiest Way to Improve Your Memory”, and it’s written by a Norwegian fellow called Oddbjørn By. Yes, Mr. By is a memory championship winner. And no, I would never have thought that his book was so interesting.

In addition to having repeated the basics of memory techniques, this one has really got me to take real actions. So far, I am only building the ground bricks of the different systems: I have memorized symbols for the numbers 1-10,  invented persons for the numbers 1-100, and even started to work on on-the-fly coding of both vowels & consonants into numbers (and vice versa), as needed by the triple method.

There remains more work to be done before I can give you my next judgements, which I want to base on real results. Does this really work? One has to keep an open mind. It might.

If the applications described later in the book work for real, the results will be awesome.

My next half-serious goal is therefore to be able to teach myself 20 irrationally chosen numbers in 30 seconds, or less. This result should be achievable within a few weeks.

I will keep you posted.

Time Management Solutions – Main Page. Learn different time management solutions and be more efficient in everything you do. Increase your personal productivity and discover more free time!

Time Management Definition Intro

Time management is a very valuable skill in today’s society. But what is it, really? Most of us are constantly trying to cope with an increasing number of requirements, commitments, and interests. How should this be handled? Is time management the answer?

While skills in time management definitely are important in “handling it all without loosing it”, such skills solely don’t comprise a silver bullet. There are other things that have to be in place too.

In this article we will focus on a short but elegant time management definition… the way we define it here at Time Management Solutions.

Let’s start with a picture, which is always nice and polite. Take  a look at the illustration below:

The relationship between life management, personal productivity, and time management. This is the starting point of our time management definition.

Before we start grinding more deeply on time management, let’s take a quick look at the two layers below it.

From Life Management to Personal Productivity to Time Management

The following picture gives an overview of our basic stance:

Question: How does time management relate to to life management? Answer: This way.

Life management

All people manage their life in one way or another. We have split life management in five areas: personal productivity, physical training, social relationships, financial management, and eating habits.

The split above reflects our view, that we have a head (A), a body (B), and in addition to that, an environment (C) where we live in, and in which we influence.

As we all know, we have to take care of our body. At its core, this is done by some kind of physical exercise, and by striving for balanced eating habits. If there isn’t enough physical exercise, our body may suffer. If we eat wrongly for a prolonged period of time, our body may suffer. If we don’t focus on these areas at least somewhat, we seldom do them right. Sooner or later our doctor will also verify this, as we develop our modern western lifestyle diseases.

Then we have our environment. We interact with our surroundings via social interactions. This might mean meeting with friends, living everyday life with our partner, using Facebook, or chatting to our local store clerk while looking for the right credit card. Workplaces are also an important place to mingle with people.

People who are too much alone often become unhappy. It is important to plan enough time with your friends. Sports often combine both physical exercise and socializing.

As our society is built today, money is important. This is why we need financial skills too. There exists a plethora of advisories and methods for that. Some are rip-offs, others could benefit you. Only the people in the know survive in the long run.

Last but not least we have personal productivity, which is key for doing and achieving.

Personal productivity

We have discussed personal productivity in a separate post. To put it shortly, we define personal productivity as a set of skills. These skills are time management, learning, personal organization, mental control, creativity, and decision making.

As we have a separate post on the subject, we leave personal productivity here, and go on to the beef. Here it comes, time management, give it to me baby!

Time Management Definition

So, whereas personal productivity is an important component of life management, time management is THE part of personal productivity that we are mostly interested in here at Time-management-solutions.com. The six skills of time management, according to our time management definition, are as follows:

1. Managing goals is important because if we don’t know what we strive at, we are lost like elks in thick fog. Yes, we may still be doing all kind of things with our sleeves wrapped and sweat pears on our forehead, but if it is the wrong thing we are doing, we are not getting towards our true goals. In that case, we might as well lie on the couch chilling. Instantly when we define a goal, we know our direction. The doing then automatically starts to focus at the right direction.

2. Managing tasks is also needed, as we always end up with many goals and too many things to do. That is why we need a system for storing these tasks, and as a place to jot down our “AHAA! This is what I should do” moments. If we don’t manage our tasks, we forget important things, and miss deadlines.

3. Prioritizing complements task management, because time is limited. Prioritizing means putting things in an order of importance, and taking this importance in consideration when making decisions. Many times your prioritizing is simple as you only need to look at deadlines. Other times you might need to ask for your bosses opinion (if you have one), or rely on your gut feeling. The bottom line is that prioritizing skills help in situations where we have several things we should start doing. It answers the questions: what is most important to me, and what should I do next?

4. Calendar utilization. As a platform for managing appointments, we all need a calendar. It may be in a classic paper form, your mobile phone, or your Outlook calendar (ideally the two latter are synchronized). The best solution for you is one you feel confident using. But don’t think you can manage without one. You cannot. Trust me.

5. Managing procrastination. We all know the situations when we just can’t bring ourselves to start something. This is called procrastination, and it is a complicated, yet very important subject. The reasons for procrastination are often rooted deeply in our souls, and some people have a stronger tendency toward it than others. That is why you actually know who these people are at your work. It is the ones that activate themselves just before important deadlines.

The good news is, that there exists methods for managing procrastination. The tips for beating procrastination are basic time management skills. Any good time manager should have these skills in their skill set, and use them when needed (I know I have to, sometimes).

6. Follow-up systems. Finally, we need some kind of follow-up systems for ensuring that things get finished. Many times, especially in work life, projects are started, and in the beginning they are also closely monitored. A little later, new projects are started. The old projects are forgotten. Most often, they are left undone, for good. With proper follow-up systems this can be avoided. At least the old projects should be closed, or be put on hold consciously.

So, above we have the areas we feel are key for a proper time management definition. Now, let’s look at some other views, and ways to excerice time management.

Time Management Techniques and Systems

There exists many ways to exercise time management. The most classical way is to take a piece of paper, and to write down a list of things to accomplish “today”.

Some others are found in the table below:

The important thing to remember when talking about time management techniques is that everyone develops their own favorites. There is no right or wrong system for managing time, and no single, one and only time management definition. One has to use what works for them.

Time Management Definition – Summary

By using proper time management skills for different purposes, you should be able to maximize your free time. It is almost contradictory how it is O.K. to be motivated to learn time management, with the purpose of avoiding too long work days (at least for longer periods).

Life is a whole experience. We must not focus only on only one area of it, which often ends up being work. By using time management tools and techniques, we can get more time for doing all the other things we love, too.

Luckily, skills in personal productivity and time management really help. Personally, I could not live without these skills anymore.

Want more? Here is a link to Wikipedia’s time management definition.

Introduction to time management. Not fully familiar with time management yet? We offer a selected collection of articles for your convenience.

Time Management (Main Page). Learn different time management solutions and be more efficient in everything you do. Increase your personal productivity and discover more free time!

Time Management Quotes with Meaning

I wanted to have a look at time management quotes, so I did. Please find below a collection of the 24 most meaningful time management quotes that I stumbled upon. Comments in blue.

Nature of Time

Time is an interesting element, isn't it? It is impossible to control, and most of us forget to value it enough. Take a look at the following time management quotes:

Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love time is eternity.
Henry Van Dyke

Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.
M. Scott Peck

A man who dares to waste one hour of life has not discovered the value of life.
Charles Darwin

Time is the scarcest resource of the manager; If it is not managed, nothing else can be managed.
Peter F. Drucker

A man must be master of his hours and days, not their servant.
William Frederick Book

Minutes are worth more than money. Spend them wisely.
Thomas P. Murphy

Look at Steve Jobs here below – that is surprisingly deep! Way to go Steve.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
Steve Jobs

Time Management Quotes: Procrastination

No better time to start than now… at lease according to these time management quotes:

Defer no time, delays have dangerous ends.
William Shakespeare

Do not wait; the time will never be ''just right.'' Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.
Napoleon Hill

Never leave ’till tomorrow which you can do today.
Benjamin Franklin

He who know most grieves most for wasted time.
Dante

Which of these time management quotes are your favourite?

This is a controversial one:

Doing a thing well is often a waste of time.
Robert Byrne

Didn't we also say "what is worth doing, is worth doing well"? I guess that the point above is just that don't be too much of a perfectionist. Please also note the word "often"; it is not "always".

Mindfulness / Present Moment Awareness

There is no other moment than now (take a look at our article about mindfulness stress reduction):

The moment has no time.
Leonardo Da Vinci

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it's called the present.
Elanor Roosevelt

You can't change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying about the future.
Unknown

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future,
concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Buddha

The next time you find yourself in an argument, rather than defend your position, see if you can see the other point of view first.
Richard Carlson, PH.D

When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.
Abraham Lincoln

Remember to Enjoy Your Time

Don't forget to have some fun too, we are reminded by the following time management quotes:

The happiest people spend much time in a state of flow – the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Time spent laughing is time spent with the gods.
Japanese proverb

Time you enjoyed wasting is not wasted time.
T. S. Elliot

All that really belongs to us is time; even he who has nothing else has that.
Baltasar Gracian

Time Management Quotes: Humorous

A few funny time management quotes:

There is never enough time, unless you're serving it.
Malcolm Forbes

I've been on a calendar but I have never been on time.
Marilyn Monroe

Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician.
Unknown

I hope you enjoyed some of these time management quotes above! If you have some favourite time management quotes of your own, feel free to email them to me!

Want more? Sellingsalesmanship.com also features a big collection of time management quotes.

Time Management (Main Page). Learn different time management solutions and be more efficient in everything you do. Increase your personal productivity and discover more free time!

Do We Want to Be Efficient or Effective in our Time Management?

Do you still remember the difference between efficient and effective from your physics class? No? Don’t worry! Here is a quick recap:

Effective – producing or being able to produce an intended result. Focus on the output.

Efficient - being effective without wasting time, expense or some other resource. Focus on the input/output ratio.

Generally, in the context of time management, to be effective is said to be “doing the right thing”. To be efficient is to “do things right”. It is possible to be effective without being efficient, but also the other way around.

When we talk about effectiveness and efficiency, we should generally tell a little more… This and this is effective for DOING THAT. Something is efficient in THIS SENSE. Especially when talking about efficiency, it’s good to know in which way something is efficient. Is it fuel-efficient, cost-efficient, or maybe time-efficient?

Above we have a Toyota Prius, a fuel-efficient hybrid car. Below a Hummer – a relic from the times when it was super cool to own the least fuel-efficient, most bad ass car on the block. Nevertheless, it sure has an effective engine.

Table-form explanations:

Examples in table form.

For most of you all this was probably somewhat understood. For those of you who needed some crystallizing, I hope that this article was effective in doing so. However, if I go on for longer, it won’t be efficient.

Summary: Efficient versus Effective

So, effectiveness or efficiency, which one do we desire? Well, the answer, my friend, is that we often need both. Still, effectiveness is the basis and means that we are doing something in the right direction. To be efficient is the bonus. At Time Management Solutions we want to help you be both. When we manage to do both at the same time, it leaves us with the maximum amount of time to lie on the couch. And isn’t that cool!

Time Management Solutions – Main Page. Learn different time management solutions and be more efficient in everything you do. Increase your personal productivity and discover more free time!