Knowing that there are 168 hours in a week, you can immediately subtract the number of hours spent sleeping, during the morning routine, commuting to school or work, and eating. Next, exercise or other activities, homework, doing laundry or other household chores, can be deducted from the total number of hours in a week. Now you are left with how many hours can be spent doing things that you enjoy like shopping, attending social events or just hanging out. How you handle your time is directly related to how successful you can be, and success can promote a happier and healthier life.

Know Your Priorities
Whether it is sacrificing an evening out to help someone with his or her work or chores, or missing a party to study for a midterm, recognizing what is most important and getting it done yields good time management.  Here is a list of some common TIME STEALERS:

• Interruptions - control the telephone and number of visitors to increase focus
• Tasks that can be delegated - don’t attempt too much and do everything half as well 
• Don’t put things off or neglect decisions
• Acting with incomplete information/unclear communication will waste time
• If you fail to plan, you plan to fail
• Stress and fatigue make it harder to get things done on time
• Inability to say “NO” - if people know they can ask favors, they will
• Personal disorganization is time consuming - you waste time looking for things

Forget About Time
How is it that time flies when you are having fun, like hanging out with your friends, but stands still when in a situation that you dread like sitting in traffic or trying to pass the last half-hour of school? It depends on where you focus your attention. Time either races or stands still and we sometimes feel like it is moving at the wrong pace. We wish it would speed up or slow down depending on what we are doing. Time actually moves at one pace and distressing over it will only divert your attention from objectives. Remain concentrated on your goals.

Analyze Personal Use of Time
If you keep of record of how you spend your time at any given moment for a week, you can compare what you accomplished  to what you hoped to get done. Plan a schedule for the following week and designate appropriate times to meet goals. If you are relatively close to meeting all deadlines set for yourself, great! But if you are not, then you can see what things got in the way and try to avoid them in the future. Try aiming to get more work done at the beginning of the day to guarantee enough time. Whatever is leftover can be used as leisure time. Avoid waiting until the last minute because something could come up to prevent you from finishing the tasks that need to be completed that day.

Threats to Your Time
You  should always try to spend your time in ways that are consistent with your ambitions, even when you do not enjoy what must be done. Here are a few ways to resist common threats to beneficial use of your time.

• Know when you are at your best (are you more efficient in the morning?)
• Save the best for last (after doing least enjoyable task, reward yourself with something fun)
• Use idle time (always have something to do while waiting)
• Just say no (if your work is not done, you will not be able to hang out or help anyone else)
• Let others know when you are busy 
• Monitor effectiveness and efficiency (work when focused, take shortcuts where able)
• Do work ahead of time just in case something comes up later
• Keep your word (keeping promises acts as motivator to reach goals)
• Have an action plan (plans can be reset as goals are met)
• Make lists (school, work and personal)

Clock Time versus Felt Time
One can guess that clock time is the actual hours and minutes that  pass. Felt time is how one is experiencing the passage of time. The more you are absorbed in a project or whatever you are doing, time will pass more easily. Feeling rushed or that time will never end is a distraction that can lead to wasting precious time.

Battling Stress
Stress is something to be accepted as a part of life. Both adverse and positive events can trigger stress. What’s important is how you deal with stress. Poor time management can be a big source of stress.

Helpful Ways to Reduce Stress

• Physical activity
• Relaxation methods like yoga, pilates or meditation
• Just chilling with friends, family or your favorite pet
• Counseling or seeking support from loved ones

Coping with stressors in a way that confronts a problem rather than denying that one exists is an effective skill. If you receive stress management, group support or participate in sports or some physical activity to release tension, you are more adept at fighting off stress.