Time Management Blog

How much time do you need for a day? Do you wish to have more time for a day? If you do not have enough time, what would be the best possible problem?

If you want to know a revelation about time, it is this. Everyone, it does not matter if you are a CEO of a listed company or the fellow sweeping the floor, has 24 hours a day.

If a CEO of a listed company has the ability to get so many things done within 24 hours, why can’t you? Someone even said, the busiest person on earth actually has time to do everything.

It is all about time management.

Time is very valuable to all of us. It is even more valuable than money. Ask yourself this question. Would it be easier for you to give money or give time? If you need to save the time, you would not mind paying extra for time.

Since time is so valuable to everyone of us, what are the best ways to manage your time? Here are a few things you can do.

Do It Now 
Procrastination is the number one killer of success. You know you should do it, you know you need to do it but you keep putting it off. “I’ll do it later”.

When you need to write a 200-page report, you get yourself prepared like cleaning the table, getting a hot coffee, wear the most comfortable shirt, have the best working environment and finally said, “I’ll do it tomorrow!”.

Does that sound familiar to you? Why is this happening? It is because human being rarely think by logic. They are often driven by emotion.

The difference that makes the successful people to get so many things done is that, they choose to do it anyway. They do feel overwhelmed too but they choose to bring down the great wall and once they have done that, their motivation comes.

Plan Ahead 
Often when you do not have a plan, you will be driven by unnecessary tasks. This means you will be wasting a lot more time doing things that are not related to the final outcome you desire.

It is like building a house without having a floor plan. You can simply build a house without planning on how you want to have it built. If you do, the chances are you will find a lot of errors and eventually you will spend a lot more time correcting your mistakes.

It is the same in everything that you do in life. Before you start a business, before you market a product or even before you go for a holiday. If it is not planned, the chances are your journey can be adventurous yet time wasting.

Consequence of Not Having Time Management 
This works really well and this only happens to people who realize that they need more time and improvement. Some people just do not think they need more time.

What did it cost you in the past when you did not plan your time well? Maybe you kept putting an assignment off until the very last minute of the submission date. Maybe you could be thinking there is still a plenty of time left and you do not see the need of starting to work on the project yet.

As a result of it, you did not score in your assignment or your manager rejected the project you have done because it was not of the quality one.

When you know what it has cost you to lose, you will begin to use your time more effectively and eventually you will waste no time in everything that you do.

Do it. Do it right. Do it right now.

Life is a game of chess, the player opposite you is Old Father Time. Time is an opponent that stalks its prey with stealth and cunning. You may think that everything is fine and by staying upon the neutral ground of indecision that you are upon safe ground, but those who fail to act will get left behind. Time waits for no man and is no respecter of persons. On the chess board of life time will corner those guilty of hesitation until they are out of options, forced into check mate.

It has taken me 21 years to realise that procrastination is one of lifes easiest and greatest evils. Failure to master to procrastination will result in a huge pile of regrets. Napoleon Hill wrote ‘Indecision and procrastination are twins. Where one is found the other may usually be found also. Kill off this pair before they completely tie you to the treadmill of failure’. You can not stand still in time, everything in the whole universe is in either a state of growth or decay, including your body and the quality of your life, nothing remains inactive or static. So if you are not growing, then you are in fact decaying. Either flow with the current by making the best use of your time or risk finding yourself stuck in an unpleasant life, where your options have been severely reduced.

Time can be a great advantage to those who use it, time used wisely will bring everything that is needed.

The problem is the illusion of time. There really is no such thing. When did you ever live next week? Or experience next year? You didn’t, you only ever experience, ‘NOW’. Tomorrow never comes, its simply the eternal, rolling, ever present, constant moment of now. That’s all you experience, all you can experience. When this realisation is made the benefits are phenomenal. You are in control, you know that if you need to make a change the only time to make that change is now, for now is the only time it can happen. You must change now, so that your future experience of the ‘now’, is a better one.

If you have dreams start today, with a definiteness of purpose that you will achieve them, anything less will only reap lesser results. It was John Lennon who said ‘Life is what happens whilst we are making other plans’. Don’t let life pass you by, follow your plans through, take action now.

Decide! Fortune favours those who make decisions promptly.

Don’t wait until next week to start a diet and lose weight. Get down the gym now. It is only through lack of decision in exercise and disciplined eating that got you fat in the first place. 
The girl across the room at the party you want to talk to, just round up your shoulders and do it! Don’t be the guy who bottles it and ten minutes later watches her leaving with another guy, who did have the courage to make his mind up.

If you have an entrepreneurial idea, do not waver! Go right ahead put your idea into action. Or else run the risk of staying in that 9-5, job you hate, for the rest of your life.

This is not doom and gloom. I suppose my writing may have come across slightly more negative than usual but it is because I have been stung by this one. I am trying very hard now to master my time and be true decision maker, some missed opportunities have been because although I wanted them, I never quite truly decided, at least not enough for them to crystallize. But the mastery of decision making is a gift and so rewarding, it separates the men from the boys, the wheat from the chaff. Time taken advantage of and used correctly will profit you no end, and there is plenty of it too. Any endeavour you have in mind there is ample time to achieve it, but you must make a start today.

Choose today,

Hesitate and consign yourself to limited options, due to your neglect decisions will be made for you

or

Be the master of your own mind, make your own decisions, and be free.

By Joey Bushnell

Psychologist Eda LeShan said that middle-age occurs when you realize that you won’t live long enough to read all the books you want to read. According to LeShan’s definition, some of us were born middle-aged.

Finding the time to read isn’t just a problem of our busy, modern world. Back in the 14th Century, Italian poet Francesco Petrarca faced the same dilemma and solved his conflict this way: “Whether I am being shaved, or having my hair cut, whether I am riding on horseback or taking my meals, I either read myself or get someone to read to me.”

Doubling up on activities is, of course, one way of squeezing in more reading time. Here are several other tips gleaned from voracious readers.

1. Carry a book with you at all times. Paperbacks are wonderfully portable and make it easy to tuck a favorite into your purse or briefcase and use those unexpected free moments while your waiting to read a chapter or two. Some readers finish a number of books every year in those odd moments waiting for the dentist or lunch companion.

2. Eliminate something else that takes your time. What habitual time-users fill your days? Mind-numbing reality shows? Adjusting your schedule ever so slightly could open up reading space. Take a look.

3. Listen to audiobooks. Authors and actors now narrate both fiction and nonfiction titles-and the list of titles keeps growing. I’ve finished several books just running errands around town. I find them indispensable for longer road trips. Audiobooks are also great when housework is being done.

4. Travel by public transportation. If it’s possible to take a bus or train, rather than drive yourself, you can get lots of reading done in transit. My idea of a perfect vacation is a 3-day train trip with a stack of books.

5. Wear your iPod. Just don’t turn it on. If your reading time takes place in a noisy lunchroom or airplane, don a headset or earbuds. It will block outside noises and deter others from chatting with you when you’d rather be reading.

6. Don’t finish books that you don’t enjoy. Sounds obvious to me, but many folks think there’s something wrong with stopping midway through a book. Nonsense. Get on to another that brings more pleasure.

7. Learn to skim. Time expert Alan Lakein suggests, “When you pick up a book, start by reading the headlines on the book jacket. Then glance through the book quickly, looking for something of interest to you…Your job in reading a book is to find the key ideas and understand their application to your situation.” That only works for nonfiction, of course.

8. Have a regular reading time daily. Even reading for 15 minutes every day will yield big results over time. Tune into your own special body clock and discover the times when you feel less energetic, less creative. Take advantage of these lower energy times to schedule your reading. For many people, bedtime is still their favorite time to enjoy a good book.

9. Make reading a high priority. Books should feed your imagination as well as provide information. Be eclectic in your reading and clear about why it matters to you. Even in this high tech world, booklovers continue to delight at the smell and feel of a book in their hands telling a story that transports. Devoted readers smile in agreement at Anna Quindlen’s observation: “I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people whose idea of decorating is to add more bookshelves.”