Once again, I was browsing around through Yahoo Answers and stumbled upon another nice woman with some questions about Time Management. Her name is Nicole and she says:

"I'm new to this so please don't laugh…

"Here's my question: How do you handle falling behind? Do you just continue to work through your list OR do you move on forgetting what you've missed just to keep with time? Also how do i get rid of the feeling of failure every time i miss doing something i planned?"

These are three excellent questions, so let's skip right to 'em then.

First let's have look see at some of the very interesting responses Nicole received.

One person had this to say:

"I rarely fall behind. I've got this weird mentality where deadlines seem to me to be of absolute importance, and failure is not an option. When I do though I just talk to someone higher up than me and see how I could get everything done, possibly by extending the deadline of my new tasks."

It seems this person works in a corporate environment and has the ability to lean on the higher management for support and possibly get some relief from their time pressured work load.

So essentially, this person handles falling behind by requesting extension of deadlines. Though to be sure, not everyone actually has the luxury of flexible deadlines.

Wouldn't it be nice though?

And I'm not sure Nicole can relate well to the corporate world, so let's press to discover a more naturally suitable solution to her situation.

Another person had this to say:

"We all procrastinate I suppose, but to set a goal, it must be attainable for one to achieve success. Even then… it's a goal, the idea that you set it to start with is success in a form. Don't beat yourself up, just get up dust yourself off and try try again."

This person makes a good point about being practical with your expectations (i.e. can't very well do everything all at once).

From my view though, procrastination is the inability you have to motivate yourself into action; and we cannot really be certain that Nicole has a problem getting motivated, can we? However we do know that she has difficulty the process getting thing done and tends to feel bad (like a failure) when doesn't get done whatever it is she has set out accomplish.

And the quest continues… (I saved the best for last

This one is by far my favorite response. Not because it's good time management advice, but because it is a common misunderstanding and classic mistake among the modern approaches to time management.

"The secret is prioritizing. Rank everything on your list based on importance.
Get the big stuff out of the way first, and then move on the the little stuff."

This my dear readers is exactly how innocent people get hurt!

Ok, ok… I'm joking, but only a little because this is very serious stuff.

It's this type of 'sound good' time management advice is down right harmful!

On the surface it seems like good advice, right?

Well let’s see… Just write down the top 6 priorities you need to get done, and do nothing else but them until they're all done, one by one…

And sure, it seems like common sense doesn't it?

• Make a list of what you gotta do…
• Prioritize the most important one's,…
• And then do them one at a time.

But before you wreck your life, please consider relaxing into this very insightful article about the problems and solutions of time management (or preferably just continue reading…)

Now assuming you're still with me, let's go ahead and take a clean stab here at solving our friend Nicole's problem with time management, as per her first question.

How do you handle falling behind?

It's really important for you to realize that you will very likely always fall behind. No matter what you do, it is absolutely bound to happen at some point.

But it's not your fault.

Everyone has their own trouble with trying to manage their time with all the constant road blocks.

Career pressures… not enough personal time… juggling other people's demands… all those interruptions… and on and on.

Now here's the real kicker.

How Do You Get Rid of the Feelings of Time Management Failure

…every time you miss doing something you planned?

Typically it seems the hardest part is to really acknowledge that you are actually failing with time planning (remember your feelings are the key indicator here). Once you've done that (like Nicole has) then the next best thing for you need to do is identify what the root cause of your time management failure is.

In which case I HIGHLY recommend you download and absorb this extraordinary Free Time Management Report exposing the 3 techniques that cause total time management failure in today's fast paced modern lifestyle. It's 9 pages and formatted for fast reading.

Consider that in today's fast paced modern lifestyle your time planning solution must include both your work life and career development as well as your personal time management of leisure, rest, and play.

It must include:

• The big things like - What do you really want to do, have, and become?
• The medium things like - Where do you see yourself 2 years from now?
• The small things like - How can you get your hair cut, mow the lawn, take the dog to the vet, AND drop Sally off at her tutor?

The only solution to successfully juggling all those areas seems to be the InstaTime System.

Why?

Because it eliminates the standard problems of your time management skill.

So find out what you're doing wrong by getting the free report (above) and then learn how to better Prioritize and Schedule with the new system.

Your time management skill is one of the very greatest skills of your life, besides walking and talking.

And at Yahoo Answers, I discovered a woman asking a really great question.

Her name is Cindy and she says:

I consistently find myself pressed for time, and I always leave things till the last minute so I am extremely stressed before an assignment is due or before an exam. Is there any good ways to develop better time management skills?

Well to be sure, Time Management Skills are not so difficult to do, but they are terribly difficult to get. Not because they're difficult to learn, but because they're difficult to find.

You see, an effective time management skill requires awareness of where your time goes, and a list of what you want to fill with your time.

Good Time Management Study Skills For Students

Studying requires study time, study skills, and the motivation to keep it up until the exam. And then there are exam tips for managing those precious couple of hours. College grades and any type of student learning improve when you know how to study better, it's obvious.

Wouldn't it be nice?

You can improve your study habits from this article forwards. You already probably know a lot of studying techniques. But the stress is mounting, and you want to be efficient.

What Study Skills Do You Already Have?

Consider your reading skill. Any good?

Consider your memory, concentration and mind control.

Have you tried memory sofware? A good memory system is really what exam preparation is all about.

Student learning is done mostly for the exam. Less so for the real world application. So focus your student time management on learning a memory system. And then put it to use.

My friend Nathan in the UK says in his school exams he was able to revise the entire two year science syllabus because he had everything noted into mind-maps. So it seems mind-maps are an excellent memory technique and help with student time management tremendously.

Student Mind-Mapping For Developing Time Management | Study Skills

Nathan's advice for studying fits quite well with me because NovaMind, the mind-mapping software I use on a daily basis, has a good portion of there site devoted to mind-mapping for students.

If that's not enough, Adam Sicinski over at Study Matrix (an awesome site I happily discovered earlier this week) has put together a pretty thorough and artistic mind-map for developing time management skills.

Though my highest recommendation for developing time management skills, if you think you've got what it takes, is to get your own time management analysis by answering these 3 short questions in this helpful time management quiz.

The quiz is very revealing and has sentimental value to me because it played a factor in one of the greatest choices I've ever made in my life (thus far), which of course I'll expand on at another time.

Until then, take the Free Time Management Quiz and get your analysis.

Yours for improving your time management skills,

Joshua Seymour

PS. If I get any feedback from Cindy I'll share it with you here.

What is Google Docs?

Google Docs is an easy-to-use online word processor, spreadsheet and presentation editor that enables you to create, store and share instantly and securely, and collaborate online in real time. You can create new documents from scratch or upload existing documents, spreadsheets and presentations. There's no software to download, and all your work is stored safely online and can be accessed from any computer.

Have you ever tried using google docs?

I use it and I absolutely love it.

In fact, I have even published a Notebook For My Google Docs (for the ones that I'm sharing publicly anyway).

Generally I use Google Docs on an everyday basis for managing my projects and collaborating with important people involved in those projects.

Others Uses For Google Docs

Others uses for Google Docs might include:

• business
• teaching (educating)
• presenting
• studying
• personal effectiveness, etc.

If you're just getting started with Google Docs or even if you're still totally clueless about what a Google Document is and can allow you to do, I found an awesome PDF for how to use google documents that you might want to check out if you need a quick guide along side you. It's about 10 pages long and fairly simple to understand.

Google, of course, has put together a little slide show of their own to give you a quick tour of Google Docs, which covers things like how-to:

• Create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations online
• Share and collaborate in real time
• Safely store and organize your work

Videos For How To Use Google Docs

At YouTube, the Google Docs Community Channel has a lot of cool and helpful videos on their playlists, such as:

• Basic Introduction,
• Basic Editing, and
• Advanced Features

Or you can simply watch the ExpertVilliage Videos for google docs (there are about 40) if you feel like exploring.

Needless to say, Google Docs is among the highest of my top recommendations for online productivity. It's something I use every single day from 3am to 7pm and I just would NOT do without. So I honestly cannot stress of how important it is that you learn how to use Google documents to organize your personal and business documents and projects in order to dramatically increase your own online productivity.

And let me know of you need help or have questions.

Rather than do a belated review of 2007, I will put together a short (and exciting) projection of the year 2008 at a glance with www.web3Efficiency.com

While your eagerly waiting for me to reveal what's in store for your web 3.0 efficiency throughout the coming months, weeks, and days…

…Watch this short New Years Resolution video and discover if you're making real progress for 2008. The video was created by 11 year veteran Efficiency Trainer (Nathan Shaw), and is a bit difficult to hear, so turn up the volume and enjoy