Schedule Bulging Managing Career and Personal Time

Schedule Bulging Managing Career and Personal Time By Jacqui Barrett-PoindexterEvery day is filled with the same number of hours: 24. So why is it that some people think that magically, another two to three hours will somehow materialize?While you can find ways to make your life more efficientâ€"to think more quickly and to get more to-dos checked off your  list  in a limited amount of timeâ€"the reality is, you can only move so fast and get so much completed.When you try to squeeze just one more thing into an already bulging schedule, the result often is that something gets lost in the shuffle, or quality of results suffer. The longer-term loss is that your reputation takes a beating and the level of trust in your word plummets.Making the best use of your time is not easy, but it is a worthy challenge. If youre ready to tame the time-management beast, check out these three suggestions:1.  Stop saying, Lets get together.  Before tweeting, Facebooking, or emailing your enthusiasm to meet up, chat, Skype, or phone another person, consi der the realities.  Is your schedule so jam-packed  through the next six months that there is no way you would feasibly make time to meet with that other person? Then stop saying those three words, because when you fail to follow-up, your sincerity is put into question.Instead, do this. Show you value the other person in other ways. Read and comment on their blog posts. Be thoughtful. A quick, thoughtless, Youre a rock star, will not suffice. Instead, identify something specific in the post that resonated, or add value, by extending the conversation.Mail them a handwritten card, thanking them for something they did in the past year that made an impression on you. If youre compelled, include a gift card to their favorite coffee shop. You get the driftâ€"show you appreciate the person in a meaningful, specific way.To read the rest of this post over at U.S. News, please visit: How To Tame The Time-Management Beast.