Do you worry about your time management? When it comes to creating a schedule, the first and foremost rule is that this is YOUR life; comparing yourself to anyone else is only going to serve to take you out of balance.
People often come up to me and say, ‘I don’t know how you do it,’ or ‘I could never do what you do.’ Either way, it is irrelevant because we lead different lives.
Having a healthy curiosity about someone else’s schedule – or their time management – is an extremely positive approach to first contemplating your own schedule.
Conversely, being jealous of someone else’s results will only serve to take us away from our goals.
We can learn a great deal from observing those who have achieved success in an area of life we desire. If you know someone who has accomplished a goal that is on your list, such as better time management, then ask them how they spend their day.
What do they make a priority?
How do they quantify their results?
What do they read?
How do they schedule their time?
We will never learn anything by jealousy; we will learn everything by curiosity.
Essential and Non-Essential
In our day we have several things that are essential – sleeping, bathing, exercising, generating income, and perhaps we have children or adult family members living with us that are reliant upon us to a degree.
Within these areas, there are sub-areas – for example, if you have a business, then perhaps social media is an essential activity.
If you have children, you may have to take them to and from school and also to lessons, practice, or other activities.
My observation has been that the wealthy have disciplined schedules, and those that struggle financially do not – they ebb and ow as the wind blows, so to speak, and are what some would refer to as ‘all over the map.’
Whatever your objectives are you’ve got to have a schedule. Period!
I teach my students that if it isn’t written down – it isn’t happening. That’s a big key to improving time management!
My students are taught to schedule everything…yes, I mean absolutely everything. From date nights with their partner to individual time with kids, production time, admin, and even time to dream – it is all written down in a paper day planner.
Planning is the key to success, and the better our schedule is laid out, the more likely we are to create results.
Make Your list.
Once you have your list, and have allocated the amount of time it takes to do each thing weekly, then ask yourself – where can I delegate or delete five of these items to free up more time?
We all do things that are not essential to daily life.
Susan Sly is a best-selling author, speaker, trainer and entrepreneur. She specializes in helping individuals, and organizations, become more productive. She resides in Scottsdale, Arizona with her husband, Chris. Susan is the mother of four children and loves her life! To connect with Susan, visit www.SusanSly.comÂ
