Time is the one thing we can’t buy more of, borrow, rent, sell or trade. On this, we’re all on the same playing field. So why do some people seem to move effortlessly through their day, accomplishing much AND they seem happy and balanced? Time Management done the right way…create more time by effectively using your 24 hours a day.
Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail
Brian Tracy said if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. It’s an absolute necessity to plan our days in advance in these fast-paced times. Without some kind of structure in our day, we race from here to there taking much longer than necessary, and get distracted along the way. That’s where time management comes in…
○ Plan your week in advance: Block out specific time slots to complete tasks for the next week. If you work during the day, block after work time for family, household chores, hobbies, etc. It’s important that you know what your priorities are - you’ll plan them first and then your less important priorities.
○ Plan your next day the night before: This is where you can fine tune your schedule for the next day and it takes less than 5 minutes! If something came up that needs to be addressed immediately, you can shuffle your schedule around. When you plan before sleep, you wake up with an expectation of how your day will go and work more effectively.
○ Plan personal time: Time for ourselves always falls through the cracks when we’re ultra busy. This is one of the biggest mistakes we make, thinking there isn’t time for us. When we don’t take the time for ourselves, our batteries run out. What happens then? We have even less energy to get it all done. Even 20 minutes a day of uninterrupted personal time is enough to recharge your batteries.
○ Plan exercise time: Another mistake many of us make - no time for ourselves, definitely no time to exercise. Half of recharging our batteries is mental and the other half physical. Our bodies need movement to remove life-draining toxins from our systems. Again, you don’t have to block out hours of time - commit to 30 minutes a day - all at once or broken into 10 or 15 minute segments.
Planning in time blocks gives us the structure to focus on a task at hand and getting more done. Be flexible - plan to do a little each day on a task, or in larger, less frequent blocks of time. You’ll quickly find yourself getting more done, more effectively.