Time management can be a challenge
in any industry. Many people convince
themselves that they are effective time
managers because their diary is always
full. But having a full diary doesn’t
mean you are managing your time
correctly; it merely means you have a
full diary. Effectiveness (getting the right
tasks done) is far more valuable than
efficiency (getting a lot of tasks done).
Poor time management
can be the result of:
•
Poor ly defined goals: your goals
help you to identify your priorities,
and outline what it is you want to
achieve and when. Without clearly
defined goals, you don’t know
which tasks to prioritise.
•
Indecisiveness: spending excessive
time going over different options
without coming to a conclusion will
make every task that much longer.
Having clear goals should help with
this.
•
Procrastination: saying ‘I’ll take
care of that tomorrow’ or waiting
to do something for when you have
‘more time’ will inevitably lead to
problems. Putting off a five-minute
task 12 times a day is an hour lost,
which equals five hours off your
working week.
•
Perfectionism: spending too much
time preparing or performing a task
perfectly will cause you to perform
much slower than you should be.
There’s a big difference in time and
not in results between performing
a task well and performing a task
‘perfectly’.
•
Doing everything yourself: whether
you are self-employed or an
employee, there’s always tasks that
can be delegated, automated or
outsourced. Identify these tasks and
remove them from your schedule.
•
Saying ‘yes’ to everything: it’s great
to help others, but always saying
yes will leave you with an excessive
workload. Learning when to say ‘no’
can free up a great deal of time.
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Poor time management
can result in:
•
Poor punctuality.
•
The feeling of always being rushed.
•
Impatience.
•
Poor performance.
•
Lack of energy.
•
Extra expense.
•
Missed opportunities.
One of the biggest reasons for a fitness
professional leaving the industry is
because they never got a grasp of
their time management. Falling further
behind, they give up and decide the
industry isn’t for them, when all they
really needed to do was a little
tweaking. Setting realistic goals and
healthy habits is all it takes to be a
proficient time manager.
While social
media is an
important tool for
personal trainers,
you need to be
disciplined when
using it or you’ll
kid yourself into
thinking that
two hours on
Facebook is
‘work time’.
WHAT’S NEW IN FITNESS - WINTER 2016