Have you ever thought to yourself that there aren’t enough hours in the day, or felt overwhelmed at the tasks facing you? If you have, this article can help you!

• Clarify your goals and strategy. Be very clear about your aims and ambitions, both short and long term. Write them down. Once you know what you really want to achieve (and why) it’s easier to make decisions about what needs doing, and to plan accordingly.

• Focus on your top priorities. You’ll be more productive and profitable if you identify and.focus on the areas most important to your business. Work on the fundamentals first. The Latin word ‘fundamentum’ means foundation – so take action, build strong foundations and the rest should follow.

• Schedule time. Literally write an appointment in your work planner (you do have one of those, don’t you?) to set aside a realistic block of time for your priority actions. This reduces anxiety over not having enough time and keeps you focused.

• Say no! Consider Jim Rohn’s suggestion. “Learn how to say no. Don’t let your mouth overload your back.” Always check your schedule before committing to anything new. Don’t allow others to divert you from your objectives.

• Create supportive systems. This includes systems for filing, management information and communication.

• Take a reality check. Will your current activity have a positive outcome, or are you doing it to avoid something else? Ask yourself – will doing this take me towards my goal? As Peter F Drucker observed “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”

• Delegate! It’s tempting to do something yourself when you think you can do it faster and better. But consider the long term – delegation now will save time in the future, and if done appropriately can motivate your staff, boost their confidence and help them develop their skills.

• Repeat your success. Remember the last time you went away on holiday, and how you got so much done in those few days before you left? What strategies and techniques did you employ that made you so effective and focused? Can you repeat them? Alternatively, imagine you are going away tomorrow and work through today accordingly.

• Balance your life. Formally schedule personal activities too, so you make time for family, friends, your health and fun because having a balanced life reduces stress and increases energy levels. Time management is really about life management!

• End the day. At the end of the working day, tidy your desk, make notes about what needs doing tomorrow and prioritize those tasks. You’ll worry less that evening and be prepared and focused the next morning.

And a final thought. “Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein.”

And lastly remember all  directed activity produces results – its irrelevant whether the results are good or bad. Results are important.

Doing something is always better than thinking about doing something

• Clarify your goals and strategy. Be very clear about your aims and ambitions, both short and long term. Write them down. Once you know what you really want to achieve (and why) it’s easier to make decisions about what needs doing, and to plan accordingly.

• Focus on your top priorities. You’ll be more productive and profitable if you identify and.focus on the areas most important to your business. Work on the fundamentals first. The Latin word ‘fundamentum’ means foundation – so take action, build strong foundations and the rest should follow.

• Schedule time. Literally write an appointment in your work planner (you do have one of those, don’t you?) to set aside a realistic block of time for your priority actions. This reduces anxiety over not having enough time and keeps you focused.

• Say no! Consider Jim Rohn’s suggestion. “Learn how to say no. Don’t let your mouth overload your back.” Always check your schedule before committing to anything new. Don’t allow others to divert you from your objectives.

• Create supportive systems. This includes systems for filing, management information and communication.

• Take a reality check. Will your current activity have a positive outcome, or are you doing it to avoid something else? Ask yourself – will doing this take me towards my goal? As Peter F Drucker observed “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”

• Delegate! It’s tempting to do something yourself when you think you can do it faster and better. But consider the long term – delegation now will save time in the future, and if done appropriately can motivate your staff, boost their confidence and help them develop their skills.

• Repeat your success. Remember the last time you went away on holiday, and how you got so much done in those few days before you left? What strategies and techniques did you employ that made you so effective and focused? Can you repeat them? Alternatively, imagine you are going away tomorrow and work through today accordingly.

• Balance your life. Formally schedule personal activities too, so you make time for family, friends, your health and fun because having a balanced life reduces stress and increases energy levels. Time management is really about life management!

• End the day. At the end of the working day, tidy your desk, make notes about what needs doing tomorrow and prioritise those tasks. You’ll worry less that evening and be prepared and focused the next morning.

And a final thought. “Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein.”

More info here: -

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Or

“Do you value life? Then waste not time, for that is
the stuff of which life is made.”
Benjamin Franklin

Or

“The value of anything that you obtain or accomplish can be determined by how much
of your time, or your life, that you spent to acquire it.”

Great quotes. Wonderful.

Time doesn’t exist of course.

It’s a word we created to give the illusion we can control change.

We love the idea of control.

We hate change.

All life is change, all change is life.
(see http://www.martingover.com/taking-risks/changes-part-1

We cannot truly control or alter or affect change.’ Time’ is something we made up.

Digital clocks, quartz watches, atomic clocks don’t measure ‘time’ they are just
devices that exhibit change.

Clocks are navigational devices that we morphed into devices that somehow
allow us to control time.

However no matter how you ‘change’ a clock or a watch – you can make a
clock slower or faster, put it ahead or back – it doesn’t affect the sunrise, or the
galaxy speed, or death (or taxes). It’s just a game.

Change is a constant. Whatever you do – change happens.

After all – they say we change our complete cell structure every seven years,
and though no-one has proved that exact time frame, it has been shown our
cells renew at varying rates throughout our body so at least every 12 years we
are (bodily) completely renewed. Completely different. Completely changed.
(though strangely the built in message about who you ‘think you are’ stays the
same.)

And how we hate change

And how we cling to the hope of control

Thus the invented term ‘time control’.

So there you go.

It’s a myth.

But

We can absolutely control one thing, one very important thing. One thing that is in fact a Game Changer

Our actions and  Our response:

To events…to change…to outcomes…to effort…

see the free ebook available on this site for more detailed info

Meanwhile back at this post: -

One of the best ways to control ‘time’ that is manage you effort is by creating A List

Not just a list of things to do, but a prioritized list

Classify the things that are on your ‘to do’ list

Create a list that is do-able.

You already know how to not get things done, just making a list wont help.

You need to classify and prioritize and yes in many cases just damm ignore things

First thing on the list – make a list.

Second thing – spend a lot of time and thought – clasifying your ‘to- dos’

The point of a list or an effective list is to manage your effort

Sort things out in terms of priority. It may take a bit of figuring at first – but soon
you get very good at allocating what to where.

For Instance

A) things: – vital and must be done by the end of the day. They move your life
forward, to the goal, to your relationship, to your family. They must be
completed

B) things: – important but not vital. They should be done if there is time:

Cleaning the house, paying the bills, going to the gym. Cleaning the house or
the car can be put off if it means you get an A thing done. B things can be put
on tomorrows B list. But nothing in the B list is sacrificed to C things
(another way to make sure you do the ‘chores’. Schedule them on a vital list.
And when they come up – do them. Right then, don’t put them off and hope
that someday

C) things: – everything else.

Eating ice cream, having a nap, watching tv,goofing off, indulging in a hobby or sport that is not a goal, etc.

Spend time prioritizing. That’s where the work is.

Then your life is simple (not easy – simple) – do the A things and as much of the B things as possible.

And your done.

Have extra time or energy – relax. No guilt.(?)

Final Thoughts

When there’s a choice of activity – always do the most difficult fist.

When you are unsure of which actions will be better – choose the most difficult

Free Time Control e-book available here

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Vital:

If you have a long term goal; -then anything that helps you move to that goal is a  Vital Action, everything else is at this time,is not vital. Of course life must go on, there are things have to be attended to.

But from a filling a calendar with activity perspective -prioritize the Vital – the things that make a difference long term, things that help you move to your goal.

Urgent

The challenge is of course the Urgent things that fill our lives. Urgent things are activities that clamor for our attention – NOW.

The cell phone ringing, the email that pops up, the ice cream that must be eaten before it melts, the neighbors barbecue you must go to right now, the… (well you get the idea)
Those activities that have immediate obvious return or reward – and make you feel like you are accomplishing things, when in fact you are , to coin a phrase, ‘merely wasting time’
And energy
Universal energy may be infinite – ours is not.

Focus on the vital with your energy

Think about this – All systems that survive function on Vital activities first and then worry about everything else.
When there is a challenge to your bodies’ systems, injury, virus etc, the body shuts down everything it doesn’t need to fight the attack, and then only when health is back does it relax its grip on the rest of its systems.

You sleep a lot when you are sick because the body shuts down all non essential activities, like- staying awake and blundering around using vital energy.The body needs that energy to fight.

That’s how you achieve anything in your life.  Athletes call it going into ‘the zone’– focus on the vital only, all else is ignored.
A great athlete tends to be one who can summon tremendous powers of concentration to complete the race or the tennis match or the golf swing. Focus on the Vital, first.

Now you are not an athlete (lets say) this is not an Olympic event you set as goal (lets say) so you have to fit things around your priority work.

That’s why you use a calendar and day planner. Create spaces where you only focus on the work at hand.

And done even worry about the next step, or the next week, or the challenge coming up when…

Focus only on what has to be done NOW.

Everything else may be urgent or important– get to the dry cleaners, pick up milk, answer the phone, fix the dent on the car – but none are Vital.

However its not an excuse to leave your spouse or partner with all the work suddenly (or is that always?) – learn to Prioritize.

Make sure that the Vital tasks in your calendar and DONE. Then cope with the rest.

for more details see – ebook Time Control