How's Your Time Management?It has been said that time waits for no man. No, it certainly does not. It keeps on going and going. Kind of like the energizer bunny of the universe. And yet it may be the one thing that most people want more of. How often have we heard it? “If only I had more time I could just...” Just what? Get in shape? Finish that project around the house or at the office? Here is a question for you. If I offered you one thousand dollars to find a few extra minutes or extra hour to do these things, or any other, would you find it? I bet you would. We should not need a financial motivator! Perhaps it is poor time management skills that are the real culprit. The interesting thing is, we all have the same amount. The day consists of 24 hours. Some people do not have 25. Okay then, through the powers of reasoning, if we all have the same amount in a day, why do we want more? To keep wanting more? How much more would be enough? One more hour a day? Five? Ten? And what exactly would this accomplish? In this idealized version of the world that our brain creates what exactly would this extra time do for us? Would we get more accomplished? More things started and finished perhaps? More hours to do “things that we want to do”? Well for starters, how much time do you spend watching television per day? How about surfing the internet? Those two activities alone probably chew up a few hours per day. I read somewhere that a father spends, on average, ten hours a week watching television and four hours a week with his children. Not good numbers. A number of years ago my spouse and I decided to give up television for the summer. It was partly a financial decision, (cable is around 30$ a month, never mind all the add on channels we think we need), and partly a healthy lifestyle decision. And guess what. The world kept turning!!! Imagine. Life went on without the boob tube. We did not even have a home computer at that time. We spent more time with each other and with the kids and accomplished more things than ever before. Someone said to me once that television is the biggest income waster ever invented. I don’t know which is worse, watching the same shows I watched five years ago or watching these useless reality shows. Yes, some things are very informative and some are downright entertaining, and I do enjoy some television, but maybe we could limit it in some way. I mean, you can't spend ten or more hours a week watching TV and also be complaining that you do not have enough time for yourself or your family. And what about procrastination? We all do it to some degree. The fact of the matter is, we do have the time. Maybe what we are lacking is the motivation. It does come down to priorities. Are you ready to make Here are a few more practical suggestion to help you manage your time. • keep an activity log to track your activities (however frequently you wish to track them – daily or weekly) •Get in the habit of scheduling important events in your life (especially leisure time – becausecontrary to popular belief, all your time will not be leisure)and, •a sense of your priorities so you can assign a time barrier to all the tasks you want to accomplish that are important to you. Don’t forget to stay flexible. You’re no longer doing this to climb a corporate ladder or to prove your competence. There’s no need to plan every minute of every day of your life. But at the same time be mindful thatyou are playing with the most precious of all commodities you’ve got left. Make it count. What is more important to you? Watching people on a screen or living life and sharing it with thosethat you care about? I think I’ll go see what my son is up to and go for a walk. positive changes in your life? Here are a few more practical suggestion to help you manage your time. Keep an activity log to track your activities (however frequently you wish to track them – daily or weekly) Make a list of things that have to be done. Make a separate list of things you would like to do or try. Get in the habit of scheduling important events in your life (especially leisure time – because contrary to popular belief, all your time will not be leisure)and, Really try to go a day with not TV or internet. Then make it Two days. Limit these activities to 5-7 hours per week. Don’t forget to stay flexible. You’re no longer doing this to climb a corporate ladder or to prove your competence. There’s no need to plan every minute of every day of your life. But at the same time be mindful that you are playing with the most precious of all commodities you’ve got left. Make it count. What is more important to you? Watching people on a screen> Or living life and sharing it with those that you care about? I think I’ll go see what my son is up to and go for a walk while I still have time.
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