Managing Your Time  
                                                                                   

One thing is certain; there are only 24 hours in a day.  The challenge is managing yourself to get the most out of those precious hours. There’s an old saying, “So much to do, so little time.”  The originator of this saying must not have had such good time management skills.  There is enough time.  The amount of time in a day cannot be changed.  What we can change is how we plan to use that time in an efficient, healthy and productive way. The best time to start is NOW!  

Are you aware of what takes up all that time?  It's a good idea to become familiar with some of the main causes of time mismanagement.  This includes time wasters, procrastination, poor planning, lack of delegation and not saying no. Let's take a closer look at each one.
 

Time Wasters – There are hundreds of time wasters that eat up those valuable minutes and hours of the day.  Some are trivial and hard to spot.  Every action takes energy.  It is important to become aware of what tolerations are taking up your energy and make a plan.  What are you tolerating?  
Over the years, the top time wasters in general for my clients have been watching too much television, getting lost in time on social networking sites, playing video games for too long, talking and texting too much on the phone and day dreaming.

Procrastination – Do you put off today what you can do tomorrow?  What is in the way of you doing it today?  (Is it fear, laziness or lack of time?) One of the easiest ways to overcome procrastination is to begin.  Once you start doing it, you are on your way!

Poor Planning– It is time to come out of denial.  Is your planning realistic?  Is it humanly possible to do all of the items you are planning to get done in one day?  Did you prioritize the tasks?  Make it part of your morning routine to review your daily goals.  There are several online planning tools such as Remember the Milk that are very useful.  Be sure to make practical and achievable goals.  Move the ones that are not priorities and important to another day.   

Lack of Delegation – Let go of the idea that you need to do it all yourself.  If you like to be in control or find it difficult to ask for help, this might be a challenging one to overcome.  However, if you delegate a few items out, you will have more time.

Not saying No - Ultimately, you make the choice to allow others to have too much of your time.  You can also say no at times and make the choice to spend your time more efficiently. Doing favors and helping others is a good thing, but it can easily turn into a time waster if it gets out of control.  It is fine to say no if you do not have the time to do it.

What else holds you back from managing your time more efficiently?  This is a good question to start thinking about.  As you become more mindful of where your time goes each day, you will begin to recognize the changes that can be made to make that time more manageable.