"I am definitely going to take a course on time management... just as soon as I can work it into my schedule." - Louis E. Boone

Sound familiar? Do you find yourself running out of time weekly, daily, even hourly? For many people it seems that there are simply never enough hours in a day to achieve what is required of them. Many people spend their days in a frenzy of activity, but achieve very little, because they're not concentrating their effort on the tasks at hand that matter the most.

What is time management? It is a set of principles, practices, skills, tools and systems that help you use your time to accomplish what you want and need to achieve.

When you have learned time management skills you will feel as though you have gained control of the outcomes you need to deliver, and taken charge of your environment in general. Instead of being consumed with half-completed or never-begun tasks and projects, you will be able to begin and complete these with confidence and ease. You will be able to function exceptionally well, even under intense pressure.

To become successful in whatever direction you have chosen or the one in which life takes you, time management skills are essential for effective people. It has been proven time and again that the highest achievers in all spheres of public and private life are those who employ the use of time management techniques.

Below are a few suggested techniques that will help you to manage your time:

1. At the beginning of each day create a 'to do' list for yourself that covers all the tasks that you need to achieve for that day. Assign time to each task or item on the list and stick to it.

2. Time management skills take practice, and that practice includes checking in with yourself on a regular basis during the day to make sure that you are not wasting time that you could be using more effectively on something else.

3. Learn how to delegate tasks that could be done by others so as to free up some time for more important tasks that can be completed by you. This is one of the most critical skills that a successful manager learns to master early on.

4. At the end of each day you should spend at least 10 minutes assessing what you have achieved according to the list you created in the morning. You can use the success rate you have achieved to work towards improving your newfound time management skills.

There are many other methods and tools that you can use to become the master or mistress of your time. Thinking, planning, finding out how others manage their time, enrolling in a time management training course, and using resources such as the internet to read articles on time management will all help you to develop the skills required to become an effective manager of time.

A manager's or an employee's, and therefore a company's, productivity is directly dependent on their ability to manage time efficiently. Harnessing this critical resource increases both individual output and organisational competitiveness.