Ugh…who wants to talk about time management? I do because time is limited and one day each of us will take our last breath, so let’s use our time wisely…and joyfully. What do you do, and don’t do, with your time? Do you manifest your goals and dreams? Do you try to squeeze as much into one day as you can without looking at the bigger picture?
*2020 Message Below*
Importance of Time Management
To manifest what you want, especially in the physical world, knowing where you want to go and being organized is important. This is especially true in the workplace. It is important for you to be on time for work, to be on time for meetings and to deliver your promises on time. Period.
Consistently meeting your commitments, on time, is self-honoring and builds trust within yourself and with others. And since trust is the foundation to successful personal and professional relationships, to be true to your word and to fulfill your commitments is essential.
Definition of Time Management
Wikipedia has a good definition of time management, “Time management refers to a range of skills, tools, and techniques used to manage time when accomplishing specific tasks, projects and goals. This set encompasses a wide scope of activities, and these include planning, allocating, setting goals, delegation, analysis of time spent, monitoring, organizing, scheduling and prioritizing.”
Take note that the definition does not say “doing, doing, doing.” Your goal may be to relax and do nothing! Or to have more fun. What are your personal and professional priorities? Do they intersect? Do you have a personal mission statement?
Time Management Resources
You can find many resources and tips on time management- you can have lists, create a project plan, avoid distractions like television or drop-in visitors, allocate a specific amount of time for a task and set clear intentions on what you want to accomplish in that timeframe, learn to respectfully say “no”, get a good night’s sleep and communicate your commitments to others.
As shared in “Take a Hike…Really!”, physical movement is important to overall wellness and you need positive energy to achieve your goals and dreams.
Time Consciousness Marble Exercise
Many years ago I read about a method to remind us to use our time wisely. You put marbles into a jar (or pebbles, or whatever you like!). The number of marbles you put in your jar reflects how long you expect to live times the frequency that you want to pull a marble from the jar and reflect. Let’s say you are 25 years old, you expect to live to be 100 years old, and you want to look at your goals and how you spend your time once per year. You would put 75 marbles into your jar and pull out one marble per year.
I suggest that you put your marble jar in a place where you can see it each day.
“Do not squander time for that is the stuff that life is made of.” Benjamin Franklin.
Time Proceeds Anyway
In reality, you cannot manage or control time. You can only manage yourself and what you do with your time. Time proceeds with or without you having a personal or professional vision or intention. Although, as shared in “When your Relationships are Good, Your Life is Good”, your intentions guide your thoughts, attitude and actions; therefore, your intentions influence the outcome of your desired experience.
The intention of this article is to heighten awareness about the importance of time and what you do, or don’t do, with your time. How did I do?
*2020 Message* I am now posting on my new site BeAllofYouToday. You can sign up for emails when I post a new article there! An update to this post can be found on BeAllofYouToday here.
photo credit: Brit.