5 Tips to Successfully Manage Time

In this week’s Success Newsletter, I would like to reveal the 5 tips to successfully managing time.

First a quick update:

“Are you a Volkswagen or a Ferrari?”
How do you let other people treat you? How much do you value yourself? What do you believe about your self-worth? Read my article and learn how to value yourself

“The Dangers of Gurus”
How do people get fooled and brainwashed? When someone is vulnerable and looks to another person for the answer and then gives away his or her personal power and choice, the consequences can be serious or even fatal. James Arthur Ray sold himself as a guru with secret wisdom and the result was 3 deaths. Watch the video

Now, let’s talk about the 5 tips to successfully managing time.

What is time management? Is it possible to actually manage time?

You’ve already heard: “We all have 24 hours in a day.” So what is the difference between a successful person who effectively manages time and the person who wastes time and fails to achieve his/her goals?

Behavior.

Read that again – behavior – not management of time.

We cannot manage the clock, but, we can manage our behavior – the way we perceive our time and the way we use it. This is known as Chronological Time (CT) Versus Experiential Time (ET.)

CT is the clock – the 24 hours; ET is the way we perceive, process, and interpret our time.

How much time do you spend producing results and how much time do you spend doing things that don’t bring you closer to your goals?

If you analyze one full day completely, you will quickly see the graph of how you actually divide your time. For example, how much time did you spend today distracting and detracting yourself from your goals i.e. surfing the internet (non-business or insignificant topics), checking and responding to social media, thinking meaningless thoughts or engaging in meaningless conversations?

Our behavior in relation to time is simply divided into action and non-action – we are either doing things that help us achieve our goals and live our values or we are not doing things that help us achieve our goals and live in alignment with our values.

Here is how we fail to manage our behavior (in relation to time) to achieve our objectives:

• We fail to determine what is our real priority or values
• We leave the hardest task till last and then we are too tired or overwhelmed to do it
• We become easily distracted
• We confuse being busy with being productive and beneficial
• We give away control to phone calls and emails and other interruptions
• We fail to plan our day – we fail to plan our behavior for the day – and thus, we become distracted by emotional impulses and moods

Before I share the 5 steps to effectively & successfully managing your time – the 5 steps to effectively & successfully managing your behavior, here is a simple analogy to help you to easily remember the one key secret to managing your behavior & time:

Rocks, pebbles, and sand.

You have to fill a glass jar using sand, rocks and pebbles. You begin filling it up with the sand, then a few pebbles and by now there is practically no room whatsoever for the rocks.

However, you are given a second chance.

This time, you begin by placing rocks in the jar and you notice that as you drop pebbles in the jar, they fall in between the rocks and start filling up the spaces; finally, you throw the sand in the jar and it fills up every empty space and now the jar is truly full.

The jar is your life.

The rocks represent the really important things in your life (the big things); the pebbles represent the next most important things in your life and; the sand represents the smallest things in your life – the small stuff.

It is up to you to determine what are the rocks, pebbles, and sand in your life – what the really important things are, the not so important things, and the truly small stuff.

However, unlike the example above, we don’t get a second chance at life and most of us spend too much time on the meaningless, small stuff – the stuff that doesn’t correspond, support or relate to our real values & goals.

1. Identify and list your priorities and values (goals, objectives)
What are the most important things to you in life? What are the most important things that you need to achieve today? Write out a list of these priorities, these goals. Take the time to write out your top 10 values and learn them by heart. When you easily know and identify your values and long term goals, you will know each day if you are living according to them, and if you are making them your priority.

2. Plan your day – schedule your day
Effective time management refers to effectively managing and guiding your behavior. Begin the day by deciding what you are going to place in your schedule today.

3. Complete the hardest or most challenging task first
Most people run away from what is uncomfortable and run towards what is easy and comfortable; the result is that the big tasks never get done because either a bad habit forms whereby one is fleeing from the challenges or, the challenging, uncomfortable task is left till the end of the day when one is either very tired, has no time left or is emotionally or psychologically overwhelmed. When you take on the toughest task first and conquer it, you will gain more confidence, enthusiasm and energy for the rest of the day and its remaining tasks.

4. Beware of interruptions and distractions
Give yourself permission to take control of yourself and your life once again; control your behavior that takes you away from your goals and priorities; avoid meaningless internet surfing or social media and ignore the phone and emails while tackling the big tasks. Practice gaining control over the cell phone and text messaging i.e. turn if off if the task is truly significant or ignore it when it rings. Schedule blocks of time to respond to calls, emails and messages.

5. Spend time on producing results
Did you know that 80% of results will come from just 20% of the action? However, that only occurs when the 20% is carefully crafted action. Nonetheless, ensure that you spend the bulk of your time on the things that count, the tasks that will produce results in accordance with your values and priorities. Additionally, set an intention for each task. What do you plan to achieve? Be clear about your intention for each task, phone call or conversation before starting so that when you do take action it will be clearly goal-directed and not aimless or a waste of time.

If you need further assistance, book a one-on-one session with me. 

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I wish you the best and remind you “Believe in yourself -You deserve the best!”

Patrick Wanis Ph.D.
Celebrity Life Coach, Human Behaviour & Relationship Expert & SRTT Therapist

www.patrickwanis.com.