Without a good time management system you're throwing away your most precious resource...time. All other resources are actually quite plentiful if you think about it. But you can't rent, hire, buy, create, or otherwise obtain more time...Money is actually very available when needed for a good reason. We learned a long time ago that it is the demand for capital, rather than supply, that sets the limit to growth and activity.
People can be hired, although you can't always hire really "good" people. Knowledge, the most important resource, is plentiful and available to those willing to search it out.
But you can never obtain more time. There are 24 hours in a day - and that's it. The supply of time is totally set in concrete. Regardless of demand, the supply will never change.
Yesterday's time is gone forever and will never come back. There is no substitute for time. Are you beginning to see the importance of developing a good time management system?
Everything requires time. It is the only truly universal condition. All work takes place in time and uses up time. Yet most people take for granted this unique, irreplaceable, and necessary resource.
Nothing else, perhaps, distinguishes effective people as much as their tender loving care of time. Every successful person has their own efficient time management system.
Why is developing a good time management system so hard?
Managing time probably wouldn't be too difficult except for one very unpredictable element - people.
Have you ever gone into a meeting thinking it would take ten minutes and come out an hour later?
Personal relationships and time management systems are not compatible. If you give the use of time such a high priority that it results in damaging personal relationships, it will only result in frustration, anger, and a host of other negative feelings.
So flexibility becomes very important. You can't think "efficiency" with people. You have to think "effectiveness" with people and "efficiency" with things.
I've tried to give ten minutes of "quality time" to a child or an employee to solve a problem, only to discover such "efficiency" creates new problems and seldom resolves the original concern.
I see many mothers with small children often frustrated in their desire to accomplish a lot because all they seem to do is meet the needs of little children all day.
Frustration is a function of our expectations, and our expectations are often affected by outside influences rather than our own values and priorities.
Examine your heart and mind to determine the values that drive you. You can put aside your time management system for the sake of those values without worrying about compromising your integrity.
You can adapt and be flexible. Don't feel guilty when you don't meet your schedule or when you have to change it.
The only consequence will be your having to adapt to the change. A time management system is merely a guideline to help you make the best use of your most precious resource - time. And only you can determine what the best use of your time is.
So the reality is that there's no such thing as time management, there is only self-management. Time management means self-management.
See your time in the context of what's really important. You can organize your life while also giving yourself the freedom to subordinate your schedule to higher values.
A good time management system will help you achieve your goals. It gives direction and purpose to the way you spend each day. And it helps balance your life.
But throughout all of this you must have a primary focus on your values, relationships and results, with a secondary focus on your time management system.
An interesting aspect of saving time is that each of us can do it equally well. The small business owner is in as good a position to save time as a rich and powerful competitor. A teenager can do it just as well as a more experienced adult.
Over a lifetime, it's incredible how much time you can save and the advantages you can achieve.
Take, for example, sitting in your car. Some easy-to-use time management tips for your car include:
-always phone ahead when you visit someone
-keep a self-improvement book in your car at all times to take with you and read while in waiting rooms
-park your car in a getaway position
-listen to CD's and audiobooks that teach you something
-use either a pad or a tape recorder to "write notes" to yourself while travelling
There are several other non-car time management tips. Here are just a few:
-always carry something useful to read
-try not to go to the bank (or run other errands) during Friday lunch hour (or other typically busy periods)
-take a speed-reading course
-use your answering machine to screen time-wasting calls
-listen to informative tapes or radio while you jog or exercise
-adjust your daily schedule at noon every day
-avoid people who waste time
-if you know someone is a time-waster, talk to them right before you know that they have to leave
Prioritize your activities, only handle things once, and use notes/checklists.
If there is one "secret" to the effective use of time, it is concentration. Effective people do first things first, and they DO ONE THING AT A TIME.
People who "do so many things" do them one at a time. As a result, they need much less time in the end than those of us who try to do five things at once.
Be sure to make the efficient use of time a part of your daily routine. But remember that your values should influence your priorities. You can always put aside your schedule for the sake of those values.
Personal relationships and time management systems are not compatible. If you give the use of time such a high priority that it results in damaging personal relationships, it will only result in frustration, anger, and a host of other negative feelings.
So flexibility becomes very important. You can't think "efficiency" with people. You have to think "effectiveness" with people and "efficiency" with things.
I've tried to give ten minutes of "quality time" to a child or an employee to solve a problem, only to discover such "efficiency" creates new problems and seldom resolves the original concern.
I see many mothers with small children often frustrated in their desire to accomplish a lot because all they seem to do is meet the needs of little children all day.
Frustration is a function of our expectations, and our expectations are often affected by outside influences rather than our own values and priorities.
Examine your heart and mind to determine the values that drive you. You can put aside your time management system for the sake of those values without worrying about compromising your integrity.
You can adapt and be flexible. Don't feel guilty when you don't meet your schedule or when you have to change it.
The only consequence will be your having to adapt to the change. A time management system is merely a guideline to help you make the best use of your most precious resource - time. And only you can determine what the best use of your time is.
So the reality is that there's no such thing as time management, there is only self-management. Time management means self-management.
See your time in the context of what's really important. You can organize your life while also giving yourself the freedom to subordinate your schedule to higher values.
A good time management system will help you achieve your goals. It gives direction and purpose to the way you spend each day. And it helps balance your life.
But throughout all of this you must have a primary focus on your values, relationships and results, with a secondary focus on your time management system.
An interesting aspect of saving time is that each of us can do it equally well. The small business owner is in as good a position to save time as a rich and powerful competitor. A teenager can do it just as well as a more experienced adult.
Over a lifetime, it's incredible how much time you can save and the advantages you can achieve.
Take, for example, sitting in your car. Some easy-to-use time management tips for your car include:
-always phone ahead when you visit someone
-keep a self-improvement book in your car at all times to take with you and read while in waiting rooms
-park your car in a getaway position
-listen to CD's and audiobooks that teach you something
-use either a pad or a tape recorder to "write notes" to yourself while travelling
There are several other non-car time management tips. Here are just a few:
-always carry something useful to read
-try not to go to the bank (or run other errands) during Friday lunch hour (or other typically busy periods)
-take a speed-reading course
-use your answering machine to screen time-wasting calls
-listen to informative tapes or radio while you jog or exercise
-adjust your daily schedule at noon every day
-avoid people who waste time
-if you know someone is a time-waster, talk to them right before you know that they have to leave
Prioritize your activities, only handle things once, and use notes/checklists.
If there is one "secret" to the effective use of time, it is concentration. Effective people do first things first, and they DO ONE THING AT A TIME.
People who "do so many things" do them one at a time. As a result, they need much less time in the end than those of us who try to do five things at once.
Be sure to make the efficient use of time a part of your daily routine. But remember that your values should influence your priorities. You can always put aside your schedule for the sake of those values.
