How come some people, given the same amount of time each day, earn £10,000 per month, while some earn £10,000 per year? What's the difference?
Since we've all got the same number of minutes each day, the difference in outcome must be in how we each use the time we've got.
Some people call it 'time management'. Not quite sure how we get off thinking we can control time, let alone manage it. Steven Covey in his classic 'The 7 habits of highly effective people' came up with a term which imho most accurately describes this concept of how we use our time: it's Personal Management. The only person you can (and should) control, is you. So you should control the way you spend your time.
What you spend your time doing sows the seeds for the results you experience in your life. You are 100% responsible for the way you spend your time, so it makes sense to spend it doing things that pull you towards your goal. Things that provide increased value to yourself and the marketplace. Things that improve your skill set.
Tips To Help You Use Your Time Wisely
- List out your tasks - create a daily to-do list
- Prioritise the tasks on your list based on your goals and values. Categorise things according to their importance, urgency or both, using this grid on the right (Thanks Dr Covey!)
- Ensure that the majority of your activities fit into quadrant II (important but not urgent).
- Create time for the things on your list, in order of priority. Be realistic with your expectations here so that you don't set up yourself for disappointment.
- Learn to say 'No' and mean it.
- Learn to delegate certain things so you can focus on more important ones.
- Be in the 'now' - when you're at work, work. Give it your full attention: don't be surfing the net or facebooking when you are supposed to be working or studying. Refuse all distractions while working. When it's time to play, go all out by all means, but whatever you're doing, be fully present.
- Shop online to save a trip to the grocery store.
- Check your email maximum twice a day, then leave the net. Resist the urge to browse, surf, click links etc - save that for your dedicated 'surfing time'. Even your surfing should be purposeful, not aimless. Make every minute of every day count for something.
Be like wise old Moses who asked God to 'teach us to number our days so that we may spend our time wisely'.
What are your thoughts, experiences, challenges, etc, in the area of effective use of time? Share below.
About the Author:
Dr Kem Thompson is a General Practitioner, Author and Speaker. She specializes in Healthy Lifestyle medicine and is passionate about Health & Fitness, Personal Development, Success Principles and Women's issues.
Subscribe today to her no-nonsense FREE 'Health & Success Newsletter' to receive practical tips, techniques and strategies you can use NOW to improve your health and life. You will receive 2 thank-you gifts when you subscribe at http://www.doctorkem.com
Dr Kem Thompson is a General Practitioner, Author and Speaker. She specializes in Healthy Lifestyle medicine and is passionate about Health & Fitness, Personal Development, Success Principles and Women's issues.
Subscribe today to her no-nonsense FREE 'Health & Success Newsletter' to receive practical tips, techniques and strategies you can use NOW to improve your health and life. You will receive 2 thank-you gifts when you subscribe at http://www.doctorkem.com
2 comments:
There is usually a huge gap between what people know they should do and what they actually do.
Some say "Follow your heart and the money will come," while others say "Follow the money and the successful people who have it."
If one believes that the ultimate purpose in life is to become rich and then happy, then likely they will never have either.
What makes us human is that we can choose to follow our fine-tuned impulses rather than a time clock or a well-designed planner.
I believe it was Earl Nightingale who, when asked by apprentice Bob Proctor, "How do you manage time?" responded: I don't manage time. I write down what I believe is essential to do in the order I imagine is best, and then do one task to completion, put a line through it, add another, and move on to the next from the top of the list."
More recently, Eben Pagen has often emphasized that multi-tasking is for losers. A brain divided is often confused and our actions are compromised.
My sense is that Nightingale and Pagen have/had it right.
Yep, Earl Nightingale was spot on with that quote, as was Eben Pagen.
Can't manage time, but can manage how we use it.
Thanks for your comment, Richard.
Blessings to ya!
Kem
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