1. Place value on your time. Most of us see value clearly when we place it in a car, home, or wristwatch. We’ve all heard the expression “Time is Money” and if we’re paid by the hour for work we perform the point is driven home. But far too many of us see our time away from work as ‘off time’ or ‘down time’ or ‘free time.’ Not so, place a dollar amount on one hour of your time and see how much more effectively you utilize your time. More importantly, you’ll be less inclined to let others fritter away your time.
2. Get organized. Sounds like common sense but few of us get organized. Organize your home from the ‘cellar to the dome.’ Organize the glove compartment in your car. Organize your office space. An organized life does wonders for peace of mind, mental clarity and readiness as well as an immediate sense of accomplishment and control. Fumbling for books and supplies wastes precious time and results in frustration.
3. Gauge time properly. Never allow yourself to be rushed. Stress and fatigue can be avoided by allowing a little more time than you think necessary in order to complete a task.
4. Establish ‘permanent turf’ for specific projects. If you have to keep moving your work off the kitchen table you’re likely to stack it up in a corner and procrastinate about finishing what you started. Buy a card table if necessary so you’re ‘ready to roll’ every time you’re ready to start work.
5. stablish a specific time each day for really important projects. This is another important way to establish ‘turf.’ A ‘time turf.’ Others will respect that this is your time if you do! Also, working on a project for 1-2 hours a day gets the work done on a steady basis instead of a once a week marathon session that is not only anxiety inducing but doesn’t allow for inspiration to form over a period of time. Time nurtures inspiration. This applies to your life in general. Maintaining a regular routine for such things as when you go to sleep and when you wake up is crucial to avoid fatigue and stress.
6. Enlist the help of those around you. Make friends and family part of the process by asking them to help with such things as screening calls or limiting noise. When you let people help you they feel included in the process instead of feeling excluded.
7. Prioritize. Innately some things are simply more important than others. Develop a ranking system for what’s important and when. One thing that will chew up time fast is dropping everything because someone calls and suddenly wants something yesterday. Dropping everything every time someone calls is one of many ways that others take ownership but not responsibility for our time. Getting to sudden requests in do course is just fine; the world won’t end if you take care of more immediate things first.
8. Give others more responsibilities. Give those around you some of the tasks you did previously. Giving others more responsibilities tells them you value and trust them which helps everyone involved grow as individuals as they come together working toward a common cause. Ok, maybe things don’t get done exactly as you would do them. Expect this and take a deep breath; accept that this is just fine!
9. Establish the ‘muscle’ to accomplish your goals. Once you’ve cultivated the habits of being organized and able to prioritize, challenge yourself and others to do just a bit more in a day than you think can be done. Set the bar high. As Lucille Ball once said, “If you want to get something done, give it to a busy person to accomplish.”
10. Take relaxation seriously. When you schedule time for a vacation or a weekend activity with your friends and family, give yourself permission to be fully ‘in the moment.’ Athletes know that strength training muscles by lifting increasingly heavier weights is only part of the process. Equally important is the rest muscles get while sleeping. This is the time that muscles repair and build. Similarly, the times you spend enjoying the company of those you love strengthens your ‘muscles’ emotionally and intellectually. Don’t think about what happened last week at work, or what’s coming up next Monday morning at the weekly meeting. Most of us feel somewhat guilty taking time for the fun things in life. This is a mistake. When it’s time to relax, go for it wholeheartedly!
