Everyone has 24 hours in every day - that is 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds. It is how you spend this time that impacts on your effectiveness and ability to manage everything in your life. Let me share with you some of my top tips to help you to better manage your time and plan your life more effectively.

1. Keep a time log for a week

Develop a table showing each day of the week. Record everything you do within that week and be specific.

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It may help you to break your time down into 10 or 15 minutes chunks. For example, if you are working, what are you actually doing, e.g. phone calls, checking or responding to emails, time with customers, meetings, etc.

Once you have your completed time log in front of you, you can identify time wasters and decide what you could do differently to better manage your time.

2. Prioritise

Set aside some time at the beginning and end of everyday to prioritise what you want to achieve and the importance of each task. Then at the end of each day, review what you have achieved.

If a job seems large and unmanageable, EAT THAT FROG. Firstly determine what you actually want to achieve. Then, secondly break down the goal into smaller chunks and do small steps every day until you have achieved it.

3. Develop an urgent/important time management matrix

Take a large sheet of paper and divide it into 4 quadrants, label them as follows: urgent and important, not urgent and important, urgent and not important, not urgent and not important.

Urgent and important are the things you need to do now such as emergencies and items with a tight deadline.

Not urgent and important are the things you plan to do, such as planning, scheduling, research, creating.

Urgent and not important are those activities which are routine and potential trivia.

Not urgent and not important are those which are non-productive, such as surfing the internet and reading irrelevant material.

Then allocate your tasks to each box. Once you know what is urgent and important, you can start working on these tasks.

The judgement as to whether activities are urgent, important, both or neither, is crucial for good time management. Consider the consequences of doing or not doing something. This will help you to evaluate the significance of the most important tasks. If you think everything is urgent, something not urgent and important may never happen. Urgent activities have an end date, and important activities need a start date.

Most inexperienced people, and people who are not good at time management, or in managing their environment, tend to spend most of their time in boxes 1 and 3. Any spare time is typically spent in box 4, which comprises only aimless and non-productive activities. Most people spend the least time of all in box 2, which is the most critical area for strategy for development and for success.

4. Carry a small notebook with you.

You can save time by keeping a note of everything you want or need to do. Or you can use the notebook to capture great ideas and thoughts without trying to remember them again later.

What could you do differently to manage your time better?