Remind yourself about the last time you worked late in your office because the task or work assigned to you is close to the deadline but still far from the completion. Are you doing things unconsciously to complete the assignment and asking one of these questions?

“Do I really need to manage my time effectively?” or “Have I not been managing my time effectively all these days?”

You have followed all the steps told in “The Time Management Program” but still you failed to achieve the goal.

There are no programs to manage the time effectively but there are few tips and tricks by which you can make use of your time correctly. All you have to do is to change the way you work.

Prioritize the work.

The first step is to prepare the list of things to do:

First understand the sensitivity and importance of the project and arrange them in three categories.

1. Urgent work- The work which needs to be done right away.
2. Less Urgent- The work which has the deadline of a week or so.
3. Daily work- The work which can be done at any time.

To understand the ” to do-list” in a glance, color code the index, Red color for urgent assignments, Orange color for the work that is less important and has a deadline in a week or so and Blue color for the daily assignments and can be done at any time.

Second step: Understand the project

Before you start working on project or assignment, understand its requirements, and if it needs some research then do it. Calculate the time you need for the completion of the project. Now that you know how much time the work will need to get completed, mark it on your list with the date of submission.

Third Step: Reviewing

After completion of the project give yourself few hours or a day to review your work. Reviewing project is important part of prioritizing because it will help you to improve the quality of your work.

• Say NO to all those things which is not a cup of your tea.

• Make a plan and think how you are going to complete your new project.

So, In general you don’t have to follow the time management program or there is no need to attend the seminars for the time management. All you have to do is to work as you were doing but in the right way and surely the result will be fruitful.

Freelancing is appealing because it presents a change of scene. It offers a fresh start especially if your career has been a disappointment. Freelancing is also a chance to take on a new talent or pursue a different opportunity.

I have a friend who left a nice paying job in a technology company to become a freelance photographer. It didn’t happen overtime for him and he had to go through a lot of preparation – time, money, and self-assessment.

My friend chose to reinvent himself, prepared for it, and succeeded.

Some reinvent themselves because of layoffs or unplanned family situations. Ideally, you don’t want to be forced to make changes in your life. It’s no fun thinking about freelancing after a layoff. If you want a new job (because your current company sucks), you better start finding a new one before you can’t take it any more. As they say, the best time to find a new job is when you don’t need one.

If you don’t want to be in a situation where you are pushed against the wall, you should take a regular review of your current situation and find out the imbalances in your life, upside/downside of your current job, and more importantly, the gulf between who you are right now and who you want to be.

Review yourself. On a piece of paper, list your disappointments and things that stress you on the left side, and things that make you happy or will make you happy on the right. From this alone, you can clearly see what things need to be addressed to swing your life towards the happy side.

Question your fears. Everyone is afraid of something. If you think you can’t afford to start over with your career, that’s normal. However, fear and truth are not the same. List the things that are preventing you from pursuing your dream and start questioning them whether they really matter.

Sometimes, you are looking at the problem from a wrong point of view. If you quit your job and become a freelancer, you are not necessarily starting from scratch because you still have the personal network you have built over the years with you. You may have to start at the bottom with regards to accounting, but you can jumpstart your marketing through your network.

Don’t kill your dream. If you want to travel around the world but you don’t have the resources to do it, would you stop dreaming about it? Just because it is impossible today, doesn’t mean it won’t happen tomorrow. Dreams not only liberate; they also puts us in touch with who we are and who we want to be. If you stopped dreaming today, you will never get around the perceived limitations of money and security. The only way your dream can ever come true is you hold onto it with unwavering belief.

Fill the gaps. If you feel you lack a particular skill or the knowledge in subject you’re interested in, ask yourself how you can fill it. It can be as simple as spending a day in the library, a lunch with a former colleague, or regular chat with a mentor to guide you. There are millions of successful people who are more than willing to help you.

Do it. What’s the point of thinking and planning if you are not going to do it? Every change you do in your life will feel unusual at the start but that’s OK. Just keep doing it and eventually it will feel natural. Being shy, whenever I attend gatherings where I don’t know anyone I always tell myself to say “Hello” and smile. It’s weird at first because I’m consciously trying it yet. Eventually, I got over it.

There will always be moments of doubt and that’s normal. Just remember that if you fail, the worst thing that would happen is you end up to where you are right now. So what are you waiting for?

One great way to use your free time wisely, specially when you don’t have anything scheduled, is through freelancing. You can freelance in any of your expertises, such as blogging, writing articles, creating logos, graphics or even data entry. All niches are profitable, but if you don’t think you have any special skill, you can try writing. It is a quick way to earn money and anybody can write about a subject they’re passionate about. Since there are literally thousands of site owners searching for content writes, freelance writers are in an extremely high demand.

In order to start freelancing, you must find the freelancing site you like the most, and I personally recommend Freelancer.com. The main difference between this kind of sites is the types of services they allow people to freelance to, so be sure you choose a site that fits your expertise. This kind of site offers databases with professionals who are looking for work, and with people willing to hire.

Before accepting a freelance job, it’s important that you are pretty sure of the requeriments and of what is expected, and you’ll also need to be willing to meet the deadlines imposed by the buyer.

Respecting these rules you’ll be earning some extra money in no time, in a way that not everybody understands or perceives. So, there are many opportunities waiting for you.

When your profile is new to the freelance directory site, you should start asking for lower sums of money in order to build your reputation, than slowly increase your prices.

Being a freelancer is something possible for everybody and you have nothing to loose by trying it. After you receive your first payment you’ll probably be more inclined to spend some more free time freelancing and having more money to spend as you wish.

Simple actions can change a lot of things, and with one single action you can save money, time and the planet, plus also living longer and healthier.

If you work some blocks away from your home, why do you go to work by car? Instead of doing it, go walking. Doesn’t matter if it’s 2, 5 or 7 blocks, you can do it.

You will save money, because you won’t have to buy gas, will save time because you’ll get there faster than if you’d go by car (specialy if you live in a big city), will help saving the planet because you won’t produce CO2, and by doing it on a daily basis, your health will be stronger every day.