I want to exercise, study and change several other aspects of my life. How I do this with a full time job, two side businesses, a family and a profound need to sleep once in a while? Oh, and I want more down time to spend with my family and friends, too!
Not possible, you say?? Possible, if I quit my job, you say?? Perhaps.
How do highly effective and successful people appear to do all of these BIG things all at the same time? There are many thousands of people who accomplish so much more than the majority of the rest of us in the same 24 hours. How?
Money? - Maybe. I'm sure it helps but I've seen people with little money raise kids and get a degree part time on their own. I think that the secret to getting more out of your day is two fold - being organized and properly using systems to do more with less.
Time management is, for most, the easiest concept to grasp but the hardest to implement. I'll be the first to admit that I do not make the best use of my time. I sit around when I should be doing something. I put tasks off to do later. I am not well organized therefore I waste time making up for it. I waste time researching when I could seek the advice of veterans. I jump in to do things that I didn't properly plan and waste time "learning on the job." Writing about it now, it's amazing I get anything done at all. So clearly, I have a list of items to start with:
- Discovery - one week - Keep a time diary and use that data to create a time budget. How is my time really spent? What 20% of items are consuming 80% of my time?
- Elimination - Of that 20% what is just wasted energy? What can be removed without irreparable harm?
- Consolidation - Of the remaining, where am I wasting energy in duplication? What tasks can I do simultaneously that I am not already?
- Delegation - What tasks can I farm out to other systems or people? I don't have to do everything in my life manually or by my self.
Where to go from here?
This goal like all the others began on Monday the 26th. Over the course of next several weeks, I'll begin implementing tools and testing ideas as I understand them. This goal isn't just to become a better manager of my time, but also to understand why I'm where I am. Time is everything - our perception of it and where we stand sets the pace for everything else we do or don't do. I think that the reason so many people don't accomplish their goals is because they don't first get a hold on their time. I know that in the past my first excuse as to why I didn't finish something was that I didn't have time. So, this is my biggest goal.