"Love the moment. Flowers grow out of dark moments. Therefore, each moment is vital. It affects the whole. Life is a succession of such moments and to live each, is to succeed."Corita Kent
Use time wisely.Time is time and there is only so much we get each day. How we manage our time will determine many things. Our success or lack of will be determined by how we spend our time. Too many individuals waste time on activities that do not move them ahead. As you look at how you manage your time, start asking yourself the question. "Is this the best use of my time?" and "Is this moving me toward my dreams?" As we begin to analyze how we spend our time and take control over it - we can begin to manage our time to produce the greatest return on the least investment.
Use a planner or time management system.To have a good organizational system will save us hundreds of hours in a year. If we follow a system - no matter what it is, we create space each day by not having to think of how to organize our meetings, notes, etc...
Learn from others.Read books or listen to tapes on time management. There are lots of great ideas out there. Make it a habit to read, listen to tapes or talk to wise people every day. The more we put into our life and our mind – the more rewards we will see.
Take down time.This is where many of us fail. We think we need to work all the time. We are addicted to our blackberries, spend too much time in the office and put off taking the much needed vacation. In order to be at the top of our game we NEED to take downtime! If we do not take time to recharge we eventually have nothing left to give, our creativity is lost and our life can begin to feel out of control. Self management is sometimes about saying NO to the world and saying YES to yourself.
Schedule creative time.This may sound weird but it work. No matter what the creative outlet - we all need one. Taking time to exercise the right side of our brain increases our effectiveness.
Sleep on it.Before adding any significant commitments to your life - take 24 hours to think about it. We often realize that after we have slept on a decision - the answer comes without much effort. This simple process has saved hundreds of hours of stress and regret.
Say 'NO'.It is okay to say know. Saying no opens up space for something else. if our calendars are booked solid from dawn til dusk - we have no time to be creative, to listen or to grow. Saying 'NO' to outside things can really be saying 'YES' to ourselves.
Stop multitasking - SINGLE TASK!Multitasking is a productivity killer. FOCUS on one thing at a time until its done.
STOP.Take time each day to stop and truly be in the moment. Look around, breathe, pay attention to your thoughts and feelings. Taking time to stop and check in with our self each day can lead to more effective leadership and better decision making.
Breathe.When we get too busy we forget to breathe or we breathe very shallowly. When we don't inhale life, we miss out and run ourselves ragged.
Touch things only once.Once you have created a good organizational system, you should not need to tough a piece of paper, an email or your daily mail more than once. Taking action immediately and having a place for things to go helps maximize your time.
NEVER EVER say you are so busy again.One of the easiest ways to get yourself stressed out immediately is to tell yourself or others that you are stressed. This is a tough one – we all like to tell others how busy we are. But when we do this we focus on the busyness and not on being productive. Remove all stress producing language from your vocabulary – you will notice a difference immediately.
