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Now that the year is almost over and you begin to reflect on improving for 2011, let’s focus on time management. How are you at time management? Or as I like to refer to time management, how is your personal productivity?

* Do you accomplish everything you set out to do in a day?
* Do you find yourself running from one thing to another?
* Do you know the “time wasters” in your world?
* Do you know how to eliminate the “time wasters”?
* Do you procrastinate?
* Do you know your priorities?
* Do you get consumed by email?
* Do you have time to work on improving your skills?
* Do you run out of time to accomplish the tasks you want?
* Do you have enough time for your family?
* Do you wish you had one more hour in a day?

It is essential for career advancement and leadership to master the art of personal productivity. Like a CEO who leads a worldwide organization cannot afford to waste a single minute when trying to profitably grow their business… and neither can you.

If you started the year off with great intentions and struggled in managing your time, now is a good time to get back on track for. Going through the rest of the year and into next without a good structure in place is not worth the stress and you deserve better.

Begin to identify and crush time wasters- NOW.

Here’s how;

Make a list of all of the things that waste your time and think about what you can do to eliminate them from your day. Then begin to eliminate them one at a time. Alternatively, as you go through the next two weeks, simply record the things that waste your time.

To get you started, here are a few time wasting examples that likely need to be crushed:

* Clutter that leads you to wasting time as you constantly search for things or lose things that then have to be replaced.
* Ineffective meetings that you attend or facilitate where nothing of importance or significance results.
* Wasting time in traffic as you come to work – go home or move around your city /town.
* Misunderstandings of who was going to do what – when. There are many scenarios that can lead to last minute panic and / or resulting in doing things twice.
* What other time wasters do you experience?

Once you identify the things that waste your time and don’t contribute to your success it’s time to eliminate them. Crush them.

In my experience, anything that is a waste of time can be crushed.

If you don’t know how to eliminate them from your day get some help.

Ask your boss, co-worker or a mentor for some help or advice on how to deal with a particular time waster.

As a result of crushing those things that are robbing you of productive time, you will experience less stress, enjoy your work more, be more effective at what you do and enable you to spend valuable time on professional development which will position you for career advancement.

Randy Goruk is the founder and President of LeadersEdge360.com, a leadership development firm focused on maximizing personal and professional achievement. For over 30 years, Randy has been known for his compelling and inspiring speaking style, and is masterful in educating audiences in identifying key leadership attributes, the most common leadership mistakes, and specific tactics good leaders and teams can implement immediately to create professional and organizational growth.