After a time management course or seminar, we feel energised, ready to tackle how we manage our time and start off with the best of intentions. No doubt one of the time management techniques you will have learned is how to create a personal plan.

Time management is essentially the art of defining your goals and objectives, prioritising and knowing the correct timescales to complete them in. You can't do this without a personal plan (think of it as a very advanced 'to do' list). Here is the mistake people make though - they never revisit the plan.

Many things can change in the workplace, and your list of priorities and objectives should be no different. What happens when you're up against a deadline and your boss pops his or her head around the door and tells your team to drop everything - get ready for the boardroom, because the CEO is paying a visit and wants last year's sales numbers put into a quick presentation? Naturally, in this kind of scenario, a team can work together to make sure that it only impinges a little on everyone's day instead of a lot dumped on an individual, but this isn't always the case.

Changing the goalposts on one urgent task can have a domino effect on the rest. In the above example, the panic and subsequent quick preparation will mean that very often, one forgets to update their personal plan - they just carry on with it as soon as the urgent presentation is over. Always find time - yes, even overtime - to update your plan, or a couple of distractions will have long-term effects on your time management, affecting your plan more than you thought.

Revisiting your goals and objectives isn't something you should just do if something changes, though. Even if your personal plan looks comprehensive and well thought-out as regards to your time management for the week or month, revisit it occasionally to see if you can make more time.

For example, have you learned a new skill recently that would cut a normal task time in half because you've mastered the software? Do you have a work experience person coming in that you didn't plan for, whom you can delegate things to? If you get used to revisiting your plan, you'll always snatch a few moments of extra time here and there - they all add up.

Maintaining your personal time management plan will also reveal where your time management weaknesses are. You need to review and give yourself honest criticism of where you always seem to go wrong and take more time than you schedule. Do you work overtime as a habit on days when you have to give a presentation, because you're too nervous to concentrate on your daily tasks? Do you spend far too long on minor tasks, and then rush the bigger ones? Constant vigilance of your personal plan will reveal these kinds of flaws.

Finally, don't be afraid to ask your manager or another colleague to critique your personal plan - they may spot something obvious you've missed (taking a lunch hour, for example!) or bad habits - such as working through your lunch or breaks in order to grasp more time.

What's more, any supervisor or manager will be willing to help - after all, they want more productive staff, and it's a positive thing to be pro-active in your own time management - they can only respect you for it.