I have spent most of the last twenty years researching, studying, writing and speaking about Time Management and Personal Productivity. I have learned a whole lot and my full-time mission now is to share that knowledge through my writings, seminars, consulting and keynotes with people who want to get more done in less time in their business and personal lives.
One important lesson I learned is that there are three simple, yet powerful Time Management Secrets. Knowing these will go a long way to helping you to better manage your time each and every day and get more done in less time and with less stress.
1.We all have too much to do.Almost everyone I speak with tells me they have more to do than time permits. This says a lot of good things about you. That you have too much to do means many have entrusted a lot to you. People who seldom have enough to keep them busy and are always looking for things to do may not have earned this level of confidence from others.
2.There is never enough time for everything. If you have too much to do, by definition, you will not have enough time for everything. In fact you will only accomplish but a tiny fraction of what you will want to accomplish in your lifetime. You will leave undone far more than you ever get done in this world. Your life is going to be like a sandy beach. Take one grain of sand and let that represent all that you accomplish in your lifetime. The other billions of grains of sand will represent all of the other things you might have done.
3.While there’s never enough time for everything, there’s always enough time for the important things.
Early in our marriage, my wife and I were both working, our social life was packed and we didn’t seem to have a spare five-minute block of time in our days. Soon we were to receive our first daughter and a few weeks before she came to us my wife and I were agonizing over how to find the time to take care of this new addition to our family. Babies, they take a lot of time!
But what happened? Jennifer came along and we made the time for her. Did we still have a social life? Sure, but it was different.
Three years later, our second child Pam arrived, and once again, we found the time to attend to this new responsibility and still have time for other things.
While there is never time for everything, there always seems to be time for the most important things in life. “Necessity is the mother of invention.”
But you don’t have to wait until circumstances come upon you forcing you to attend to the most important things in your life. You can do it now. Each day in Daily Planning, identify the most important things you want to get done in your day. Place a high priority of those items and leave undone the less important things.
You won’t get it all done but you will get the most important things done.
The secret’s finally out.
