I used to be very frustrated when I took a college class with a friend. It was not the class, although it was not the most enjoyable class, it was the expectations of the class. We were expected to write a number of short papers, and one longer page which would be our final for the class.

Each week we would go to class, and learn about a different way of presenting information on paper. One week it would be from an observational view, the next week, a third person view, and so on. Thrown in for good measure was proper paragraph structure and proper placement of the paragraphs main sentence.

The class, although it had its boring moments, was a good experience from a beginning level on how to put together a paper correctly. If I could remember most of what I learned my writing would be cleaner and more effective.

What I found frustrating in the class was the friend with whom I was taking the class with. I took my homework very seriously. I would start the night after class, and add, change and polish my weekly paper almost every day until we met the next week and turned them in.

My friend on the other hand generally waited until a few hours before the next class, sat down, typed out their paper, and was done in less than two hours. The disparity in effort was troubling to me. I would spend six, eight, or more hours, and they would spend at the most two hours. When our papers were handed back, our grades would be equal.

There was some difference in our writing abilities, but there was also something else going on that I had yet to discover. I was yet to discover that when it came to managing my time effectively, I was not very good at it.

You see, I thought when you had free time it meant there was time to do things that needed to be done no matter how far into the future, work on my paper for example. It seemed perfectly logical to me, spend some time on homework each day, and it is all done when it needs to be. I thought I was making effective use of my time.

What my friend understood that I did not, was it was not the amount of time spent on something, it was doing something when it needed to be done was more important than doing it over time.

Unlike my friend I was not a stellar student in school. Once I started college, I decided I was going to keep up on my home work and not wait until the last minute to do it. That way I always had time to go over and fine tune my papers before I turned them in.

My friend on the other hand understood that in many cases, once a certain level of proficiency is gained, fine tuning becomes re-writing, and re-writing again; essentially writing the same material out four or five different ways before turning it in.

I eventually learned about time management and I understood that in some ways and areas I was creating busy work, and not value added work, my class writing being an example.

There are multiple ways of looking proper time management but they all can be distilled into to a few major points:

1. Everything that needs to be done carries a level of importance.

2. Not everything needs to be done at once.

3. Completing tasks ahead of schedule, is not always the best use of time.

4. Working on and finishing tasks when they are needed is much more effective than doing them over time.

The number 4 is the most important idea to take from the points above. Everything we need to get done in our lives can fit into four or even three levels of importance.

The idea of time management is two fold. Proper time management gives you extra time  to do whatever you want to do. Effective time management gives you a tool to list in importance all tasks needing attention, allowing you to work on and complete them in level of importance and time.

The time we have in our life is finite, even though it may not always seem like it. Working and reworking on a task that is not needed until some point in the future is less important than a task that needs to be completed by tomorrow.

Mark up your tasks in levels of importance with ones given to tasks that are a low priority, and a four given to those very important items that must be done, and done today or tomorrow at the latest.

Only work on those tasks that are level three or higher on your scale of importance. Tasks that you rate as level one or level two can wait until they become important enough to be raised to a level three or higher task.

Now you know how to better manage your time, which relates into better managing of your life. Why spend time today doing something that is not needed until next week? You may never see next week. Put off those future tasks, and do what needs to be done today.

If after going through your list of tasks and you find none that need doing today, you have a whole day to spend on something more important. More important may be curled up with a book, spending time with someone, or going outside for a walk around your neighborhood, or a local park.

Whatever something more important turns out to be, it won’t be wasting time on tasks that really are not that important, or doing busy work just to be busy.