Don’t Let Time Get Away From You
Time is among the most valuable of resources and all you can do with it is use it. You cannot save it and once spent, you can never get it back. You cannot buy more and you cannot steal it from someone else.
Who wants to run around reacting to situations and putting out fires when being in charge and orchestrating life’s events will lead to more productivity and less stress? To take control of your day and achieve the most out of your life, you need to practice time management, which is one of the simplest forms of self help.
Your first step is to plan your day. Create a routine for writing down the tasks you need to complete for the day, as well as to set and review your goals. This could be at night before you go to bed or first thing in the morning.
Set times to start and finish your projects so that one task doesn’t hijack your whole day. Divide big tasks into a series of smaller ones to be completed in increments.
Record tasks and set goals. When necessary, attach start and stop times so that you don’t get stuck on one task while others go unattended. The timelines will also help you stay focused. Some tasks are bigger than others.
Break these bigger tasks down into several smaller tasks so that they can be finished a little at a time, while not consuming your whole day. Lastly, get into routines for your recurring daily tasks such as reading email, reading the news, working on projects, etc.
They usually only take a minute so handle them and move on. You will feel better, be more productive and suffer less stress. Much of your day can also be eaten up by over thinking the start of a new project.
More time is often spent avoiding it than working on it. It has to get done no matter how much you wish it didn’t. So decide whether you are going to work on it now or later, then move on and continue managing your day.
