Since we’re now in the silly season, it seems very appropriate that I focus on the one thing that seems to be a major challenge in the holiday season – time management. I mentioned some basics in the last post. In this post, I want to really emphasize what’s important. As in knowing what’s important to you is absolutely critical to managing your time.
Have you noticed when you or someone you know is dealing with a crisis, major illness or emergency – things seem to get done quickly and with amazing clarity. All of a sudden, time is an absolutely precious commodity and it must be spent on only the most important and critical of things. It becomes very easy to prioritize your time at that point because the consequences are dire and immediate.
It’s when we lose that sense of urgency and go back to the everyday that we start being unable to manage our time and priorities get lost or mixed up in the moment.
What if you could manage your time as if you were critically ill or in crisis without the crisis? What would be different if you were aware of how valuable your time was every moment and spent it accordingly? Would you work out every day? Eat right? Not watch so much TV?
We all tend to get lost in the moment at work, at home or when managing our businesses. If you can keep what’s really important to you present at all times, you will be able to gain a great deal of productivity and effectiveness – not to mention seriously lowering your stress level.
Your assignment this week is to really lay out the top 5 (no more) most important things in your business and life in writing. Evaluate every hour you spend your time based on that list – and see how it goes.