Are You A Time User Or A Time Waster?
If you are like me,
you’ve often wished there were forty eight hours in a day instead of just
twenty four. There never seems to be enough time to get everything done that
you want. Since we just have about sixteen hours a day not counting sleep
time, it’s important how we use the time we have. On the
average, people waste about two hours a day. This is mainly from poor
planning. If a person is unorganized, they waste time trying to find
things, they miss appointments, they only do one thing at a time when
they could be doing two.
Good time management is a major
building block to success. Oftentimes, it’s not how much time we
spend working but how efficiently we do the work. The key to
successful time management is careful planning and setting
priorities. Plan your day, your week, and your month in
advance. Know when things need to be done. A great way to “buy
time” is to multi-task. Do more than one thing at a time. There are
many things that do not require concentrated mental effort. These are
more easily combined.
“Failing to plan is planning to
fail,” - unknown
Even though I am a big pro football
fan, I can’t justify sitting down and spending three hours watching
a game. I have to be doing other things while I do it. Thank goodness
for instant replay! I’ve found this is a good time to spend icing
injuries or some other busy work. I can also record the games and
watch them while exercising. I exercise about thirty minutes a day so
during the football season I can watch a game during the week without
wasting any time doing it.
When you run errands try to do as
many as you can on one trip. If you are self-employed, you can
combine personal errands that are on the way to a business errand and
have the mileage written off as a business expense. I’ve
been fortunate to have been able to work at home for the past ten
years. It’s been great because I hate to waste time commuting. If
you must commute, you can use the time to listen to audio
self-improvement tapes, audio books or anything educational.
If
you are a regular exerciser and belong to a gym, think about working
out at home. If you lack the space and money for exercise equipment,
try traditional body weight exercises. A little research on the
Internet can show you websites devoted to this subject. Even though I
lifted weights for twenty years, I’ve converted to body weight
exercises. I’ve found they feel better and get the same if not
better results. Of course, if you go to the gym to socialize or
network, that’s okay. You’re doing more than one thing at a time.
You can go walking with your wife. That way you’re getting exercise
and husband / wife interaction at the same time.
Setting
priorities enables you to get the most important things done. Keep
you eye on the big picture. Don’t let low priority things bump off
the higher priority tasks from your schedule. If you’ve only got so
much time, it’s imperative you spend your time doing the things
that bring you the most benefit.
“Things which matter most
must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.” –
Goethe
Time is so precious. If you want to be successful in
life you need to be spending more time being productive and doing
things that are moving you forward. Spending hours a day watching TV,
playing computer games, or surfing the Internet is not productive
time usage. We all need downtime but you need to determine how much
is really necessary. If you use your productive time efficiently then
you will have more time to relax and do the fun things.
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