What is Time Planning?

Time planning – the self-management of the available time

People do not have an infinite amount of time. Time planning deals with measures to plan the available time in a defined time frame. An implicit prerequisite for time planning – for a year, a month, a week, a day, an hour – is therefore the self-management or time management of people who are often given tasks and, if necessary, deadlines in their everyday work, but who are able to plan the realisation of these tasks in a self-determined manner. But also in private life there is time planning, which tries to structure leisure activities.

Proposals on time planning

There is a large portfolio of suggestions as to which aspects are useful in scheduling:

• The creation of weekly and daily schedules
• Planning a maximum of 60% of the available time
• Prioritisation of tasks
• The subdivision of tasks
• Delegating tasks
• The use of pauses, buffers or “lonely” hours
• Avoiding endless displacements
• Avoiding distractions and disturbances
• The transfer of unfinished tasks to the following daily schedule
• …

Further tips on time planning

In principle, time planning should provide orientation. If regular tasks remain unprocessed, this is often due to the number of tasks or an insufficient effort estimate. In this case, the documentation of the task is a good idea; a simple piece of paper, a pen and the simple name of the activity are usually sufficient. This should be accompanied by the estimated duration of the task as well as the actual duration. The comparison between estimated and actual duration is the basis for a discussion of the reasons for possible discrepancies. For example, delays can arise due to poor self-assessments, overlooking subtasks, or questions that only arise in the course of the activity. Ideally, the knowledge gained will lead to improved, future time planning.

How important is prioritisation for successful time planning?

Notes:

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Here you will find a template for scheduling tasks and improving effort estimates.

Here you will find a time credit to give the gift of some time and a smile.

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