Manage Your Time and Change Your Life
We all have the same twenty-four hours each day, so why do some people manage time more effectively than others? Let’s explore this concept more fully to understand how it works and to make a plan of action that will work. Once you are able to manage your time it will change your life forever.
I find that as I get older I have become much more patient when it comes to my time. If I have to wait in line I use that time to check email on my phone, to email someone waiting to hear back from me, or to engage in conversation with another person waiting in line with me. I might even use those minutes to daydream about some aspect of my life I have been pondering.
In the mornings, I begin writing as early as possible, which is typically around six-thirty or seven. I maintain what I have always referred to as a “dynamic” to-do list, which means that on an ongoing basis I am completing, deleting, or delegating tasks that I have decided to work on. There may even be more personal items on this to-do list than one associated with my business because it works best if I keep everything together. As an item on the list is completed I make a check mark next to it, when it is delegated to someone else I draw an arrow, and if I change my mind about a task or it no longer is needed I simply draw a line through it. All of this is kept on a mini legal pad, about five by seven inches. When I finish a page I tear it off and add it to the back of the notepad so that I may look back at any date and see what I was doing.
I also keep a wall calendar with my most important appointments written in red, blue, or green. I won’t explain too much about the need for color coding, but I do like to manage time by planning out activities with family and friends before I add any business appointments. You will find that you can better manage your time when you get your priorities straight first. This also adds joy to my life and that is always an excellent thing.
In the late afternoon and evening my energy level is much lower than it is during the morning hours, so that’s the time I schedule activities and tasks that require less alertness and brain power on my part. Medical appointments, seeing movies and play, shopping, and time relaxing with family and friends all take precedence during these hours.
After maintaining this type of time management schedule for several years I am confident that it is the most effective way for you to manage your time. I’ve said for a long time that I always feel like I have plenty of time to exactly what I want and need to do both personally and professionally, and I would love for you to feel this way as well.
I’m Connie Ragen Green, online marketing strategist, bestselling author, and international speaker on the topics of entrepreneurship and inner game mind shifts. Let’s connect to see how I may best serve you in the near future. Be sure to take a look at my Really Simple Content Marketing training course to help get you started on how to think like a publisher.
