Want to Get More Out of Life? Focus on Time Management!
We all at one point in our lives have had this same thought “I don’t have enough time!” Why is that, when we all get the same 24 hours? Why is it that some people achieve so much more with their time than others? The answer lies in good time management.
“Time management” refers to the way that you organize and plan how long you spend on specific activities. It is the ability to utilize one’s time efficiently to be more productive and organized. Self-discipline is the key to manage your time well. When you practice good time management, you leave no room for procrastination. The better you get at it, the more self-discipline you learn. This is a valuable skill that will begin to impact other areas of your life where a lack of discipline has kept you from achieving a goal.
Laura Vanderkam who is the author of many time management and productivity books shared a very useful idea about how we can be good at time management in her TedTalk titled “How to Gain Control of Your Free Time”. She says, “It’s not that we don’t have time to do things, it’s just that it’s not a priority for us.” When we consider something to be a priority, we would jump right in and try and accomplish the task as soon as possible.
She says that we should make a list of goals that we need to accomplish and note them down according to our priorities. This Priority list should consist of three sections namely, Career, Relationships and Self. This inadvertently makes us realise that we should have goals in all these sections and not just focus on our career goals.
“If you want to make good use of your time, you’ve got to know what’s most important and then give it all you’ve got.” – Lee Iacocca. We live in a culture obsessed with personal productivity. Attention management is the art of focusing on getting things done for the right reasons, in the right places and at the right moments. By using this method of attention management we: Prioritize the people and projects that matter, and it won’t matter how long anything takes.
You need time to get what you want out of life. If you wait for extra time to appear, you might lose the game of life. Through right time management, you can “create” the time you need, and not just wait for it to come. By planning your time wisely, you will have more time to do more things. It helps you make conscious choices, so you can spend more of your time doing things that are important and valuable to you. Even a small amount of time once a day, or even once a week, will take you closer to your goals, and you will be surprised at the progress you make.
Accept the fact that you are not Superman or Superwoman. Find time to relax, including the time to do absolutely nothing. The result of having adequate “downtime” is a brain that works better during both professional and personal time. The implementation of realistic time management plans can improve productivity and quality of life.