The Importance Of Routines

 

Organization is like any other positive habit, it involves developing routines when it comes to cleaning out clutter, closets, and drawers as well as cleaning your home in general. You are better off to have a schedule or some sort of date in mind when it comes to cleaning or your work will never be done. If you get into a habit of cleaning and organizing on a regular basis, your home will not only look cleaner, but also you will feel much more relaxed. This is also true for the office, or at least your section of the office should you be in a cubical type setting.

 

Whether you are cleaning by yourself or with a partner (or partners), you should develop a routine as to when you do your cleaning. You can take one job a day to make it easier, or you can clean your entire house from top to bottom in one day.

 

I have found that the average house can get cleaned to the point where it looks pretty presentable within two to three hours. Start with the basics by dusting and sweeping. My room of choice to start in is always the kitchen, emptying things out of the refrigerator before they become science experiments, cleaning the counters, sink and wiping down the cabinets. Then I take the mop out and clean the floor last. The entire room can be done in a half an hour, usually.

 

After that, I go to the living room, straighten the couches, dust and vacuum. This is another project that only takes about a half hour. I , then, move to the bedrooms and then head off for the bathrooms last. The reason for this is that the bathrooms have to be scrubbed down and disinfected. With the use of proper cleaning supplies and doing this on a regular basis, the cleanliness will easily last a week.

 

I am often sorely tempted to clean my daughter’s room as she often leaves her room like a tornado whipped through it, but as this would not be teaching her anything, I bite my lip and my wife or I will go in and ‘help’ her do it. Never do it for them if you can help it. No matter how old they are, it they are at least helping in the efforts to clean their room, it develops independence as well as a sense of accomplishment.

 

The main thing is to have a routine. I know just how to get started and when it is over. By developing this routine and doing it in a repetitive way that I come to expect, it gives me a great satisfaction when it is all over, the house is clean for a while and I know that next time, I will do it again.

 

If I just cleaned whenever I felt that the house needed it, I could be cleaning all of the time and my work would never be done. I would find myself cleaning certain areas more than once while not touching other areas but every two to three months. The routine gives me a sense of accomplishment and also allows me to relax and not worry about cleaning again until the next week, unless something happens to interrupt the routine - like someone spilling something on the floor.

Routines are not just about cleaning your house, they are a way for you to maintain order and organization in your own life. In addition to cleaning, I also have a cooking routine. I plan out my meals when I go to the grocery store. By organizing your menu for the week and having an idea of what to cook, you not only save time, but save money. Eating out all of the time can be expensive and who wants to fret over what they are going to eat for dinner every night?

 

In addition to helping you with the house, routines will also help you when it comes to raising your children. Little kids thrive on routine. You know how important it is for babies to be fed regularly and changed. Babies thrive on routine as it gives them a sense of security. The same goes for children. I wouldn’t ever be too strict when it came to mapping out each second of their lives and never would them to live in an environment where they had no time to just play or be kids, but a healthy routine teaches them that there is a time and place for everything.

 

Set a bedtime early on for you and your kids. Before bed, have a routine for settling down. This was something that your children will look forward to every night. When they are younger, this is a good time to read to them and get them to enjoy reading. As they get older, begin to have them help read the books. This inspires a love of reading and allows a steady transition into them reading to you which then moves into them reading on their own. You are probably wondering how and why I moved on to this rabbit trail, but setting up routines that lead to your children being self efficient, will lead to you having more time to yourself later which leads to you having more time to organize your own thoughts and prepare for the next day.

 

People with dogs also know the value of routine. If you have a dog, the secret to getting it housebroken and becoming a well-behaved dog is routine. Dogs, like children, thrive on routine. Cats don’t care as they are in a world of their own, although it does matter to them that you regularly feed them, change their water and clean their litter box.

 

Kids and dogs, however, are not the only things that thrive on routine. Adults also feel a sense of comfort at enjoying routines. It does make them have a more organized life as well as a healthier life. If you go to bed the same time each night and wake in the morning at the same time, it is better for your body. If you watch a certain program on TV before you go to bed or read a certain amount of time, you will feel as though you have something to look forward to each night. Most of us all have an innate desire for some sort of structure in our lives.

Routines, however, are not etched in stone.

 

There are times when routines are broken. This happens now and then and you should not get anxious about it. Simply fall back into the routine when whatever situation drove you out of the routine has calmed down. For example, bedtime routine are going to get broken on many occasions such as holidays, parties, overnight trips and vacations. While you want to establish a routine that will make everyone feel more secure and yourself more organized, you also do not want to feel like you are running a boot camp. Becoming so rigid in your routine that you cannot alter it now and then will not make anyone feel more relaxed as you will be so worried about the routine that you skip things that break into your schedule.

 

So, while the secret of good organization is routine, it should not be one that is so rigid that it defeats the purpose and actually causes anxiety. Learn to try to stick with a routine as much as possible, but do not pop a vessel if something happens to upset the schedule. Just go with the flow and get back into the groove when you can. The routine should be a tool you use to stay organized, not a prison that confines you to a rigid schedule.

 

The purpose of these blog posts is to help you strive to be more successful and to create a life worth living, so I never want to end a post without giving your some sort of “power question” to ponder over. Answering these questions will help you to take action.

 

Power Question for the day:.

What’s one thing that you would love to do before you die?

Cleaning Out Your Closets

 

OK, we’ve already talked in the last chapter a bit about cleaning out our closets. The two-boxes in the garage method is a good way to get rid of things that can be donated and those things that need to be tossed out. I have found that the same rules apply when you are getting rid of things in other closets, like utility closets or coat closets, etc.

 

The best way to clean out your closets for organization is to make sure that you are maximizing all of the space in your closet. If you have a basement, you can put up shelves and use containers for storage. If you have a small home, however, you may not have a lot of closet space and have to trim down what you decide to keep even further.

 

There are closet organizers that can help you keep your closets, not only more organized, but also give you more use of the space. When you look at the inside of an empty closet, you see that there is a lot more space than a traditional closet allots for. The shelves at the top, for example, are often used to toss up different items like sweaters and shirts. The poles hang clothes. Closet organizers can make more use of this space by installing shelves and even baskets in your closets so that they look neater. However you still have to clean out these spaces on a periodic basis otherwise you will find that the closet is filled with clutter, no matter how you hide it in drawers and baskets.

 

Cleaning out a traditional closet should take you about two hours. I have found that the easiest way to do this is to toss everything out of the closet and put it on the bed or the middle of the floor. Make sure that the closet is completely empty. Then start going through the items that you want and those that you no longer use. If you have clothes that you have not worn for two years or more, guess what? You’re probably not going to wear them again. The exception would be evening clothes that are still in style; these still fit you and you might be able to wear them again if you are invited to a wedding or a fancy occasion. Sentimental items should also be kept as well, but preserve it somehow. Don’t have it intermingled with the everyday items, making it so that you have to move it around to get what you want to wear.

 

Get rid of shoes that you no longer wear, have holes in them or are missing a mate. Once you are finished with your clothes and have sorted out what you want and what you want to get rid of, use the two boxes method to separate the good from the trash and then dispose of them accordingly.

 

You can do the same thing with any closet in your home. Once you have cleared out the items that you are keeping and place those back in the closet, you are then left with only the items that you are getting rid of. So you can then easily put those items that you are not keeping out without having to dig through it multiple times. I would try to do this twice a year, usually when the weather changes. The proverbial ‘Spring Cleaning’ and a Fall cleaning schedule is always good to have and get the entire family in on the act if possible. Even small children can help organize their toy chest and closet.

 

The same goes for the utility closet. Go through it once in a while and get rid of things that you no longer need. Think of your garage as a large utility closet. Again, I have found that the easiest way to get rid of clutter and junk in the closets is to empty them and then put everything back in, discarding things that you no longer want or will use. It makes it easier to find things that you really do need when you need them.

 

With your garage, pull the cars out to the curb or low enough in the driveway that you have space to pull things out. Don’t be surprised if you get total strangers walking up and rummaging because they think that you are having a garage sale though.

 

In addition to cleaning out closets, also go through your drawers. We all have at least one drawer in our house that holds a variety of all sorts of items. From batteries to coupons to instruction guides, we have everything stuffed in these drawers. Holding on to coupons that expired three years ago is a waste of space.

In the kitchen, think of the pantry as another closet you want to organize. Try to do this once a month or every time that you purchase new food items and make sure that everything is neat and all the empty boxes get tossed into the recycling bin.

 

Organizing your house is much more than just getting rid of the things that can be seen by visitors, it’s also the things that are hidden away in closets that are jammed with items that you haven’t worn in years or things you no longer need or can use. The hidden parts of the home, like under the bed, under the sinks and anywhere else things have an ability to accumulate if left unchecked must also be organized in order for you to have a truly organized home.

 

By doing this, you make more room for when you acquire new things and you also feel better when you need to open your closets or drawers as everything is much more neatly displayed. It gives you a more relaxed feeling, not to mention much more space and a greater ability to find items that you may want to wear or use with much greater ease. Some may refer to this as home making zen.

 

The purpose of these blog posts is to help you strive to be more successful and to create a life worth living, so I never want to end a post without giving your some sort of “power question” to ponder over. Answering these questions will help you to take action.

 

Power Question for the day:

Ok, I have asked you what your really loved, now I ask; what do you hate? What thing out there is it that makes your blood boil just thinking about it (or him/her)? How can you change that emotion? Ok, so that was two questions in this one, but they go together and I know you can handle it.

How To De-clutter

Let me start by saying that there are good ways to get rid of clutter and there are bad ways to get rid of clutter. The bad way is the route we usually take when we get disgusted with the fact that we have too many things all over the place, usually after we have stubbed our toe in the middle of the night on something that the kids or the dog left out, and then decide to get rid of everything. I know this because we have all been there more than once.

 

What happens is that we end up getting rid of things that cannot be replaced and are gone forever. Like everything else, clutter has to be evaluated before you get rid of it. And you should also make sure to keep good stewardship in mind, and not discarding things that other people can use, even if you no longer want them.

 

The good way to get rid of clutter is the way that I now use. I keep give away boxes in my garage and then I go through my home periodically and get rid of clutter in the places that is most likely collects such as closets, storage rooms and that all of the other cubby holes things end up getting tucked if not being used for awhile. Once the giveaway boxes are full, I donate them to one of the many charity organizations in our area.

 

There are some things, however, that are not meant for charity as they are too worn , stained or have something broken, like a zipper. If it is too bad off to donate, and if I can’t salvage it for another purpose (old shirts into garage rags, etc.) then off to the landfill they go.

 

Clutter can consist of many different things in your home that you have no use for and you have been accumulating for long time. A reality television show that has grown in popularity is called “Hoarders” and deals with people who have an addiction to collecting clutter. I’ve seen people who have had houses filled with old magazines and newspapers, dolls, empty food containers. Homes where you had to walk a narrow path to get through the house in order to get from one room to the next. This is the result of clutter piling up to the point where it got overwhelming for the person.

 

There are two reasons why people tend to collect a lot of clutter. One reason is that they feel that they have something of value and continue to hang onto items that, in reality, usually have very little or no value. These types of people are those who are afraid to throw anything out because they will find that they need it later. There is also an obsessive/compulsive disorder that compels people to keep everything that they receive.  Including junk mail, newspapers and other items that people normally throw out, just in case they may want to look at them later. Some people just like to hold onto junk. These are disorders that need to be professionally treated and that is not what I am talking about here.

 

The other reason people keep clutter is because they are too overwhelmed to know where to begin when it comes to getting rid of the clutter and this is the reason that I want to address in this post. Cleaning out an overstuffed closet seems to be a monumental task that one cannot bear to undertake. So the clutter builds and builds. Until they get to the point where they decide to chuck it all and end up getting rid of their yearbooks, wedding dress, old baby pictures that there are no copies of, etc. Most people fall into this second category.

 

The easiest way to get rid of clutter in your home is to decide what you want to keep and why. Obviously, things that have sentimental value or those that are collectible are kept. Clothes that you wear are kept. Other things, however, such as the kids toys that they no longer play with because they’re now teenagers, clothes that you haven’t worn in years and cannot wear even if you wanted to as well as knick knacks, old videos, music and books can be given to many different charities.

 

Electronic equipment also falls into this category. Do you really need that analog TV sitting on the floor of your bedroom when you just bought yourself a flat screen? Many charities will not take electronics, so it is best to advertise them for free on a site like Craig’s List or just to give them to a neighbor or friend who can use it. If you know someone who collects all types of junk, you can make their day by giving them stuff you no longer want and save yourself the trouble of having to advertise to get rid of it. A word of caution here though, if the person cannot get any value out of it or if they are suffering from a hoarding disorder, then you are perpetuating there problem and adding to their situation by pawning off your clutter situation to them.

 

Take your time when you are getting rid of clutter. If it seems daunting, give yourself an hour to work on the project and then stop until the next day. Even if you spend a half an hour a day working on what to keep and what to give away or toss, you will start making headway. You do not have to feel as though you need to get rid of clutter all in one day.

 

Once every month, I go through the books that are keepers and those that I will never read again and send them to the Goodwill. Subscriptions to magazines, you can take to the doctor’s office after removing the address and name label. Newspapers get bundled up and recycled. If you want to really get industrious and you have the time, EPA now requires newspapers to use soy based inks that are biodegradable so you can shred them and use them in a compost bin for your next gardening project.

 

People with little children have to be especially vigilant when it comes to toys, stuffed animals and clothes as children outgrow these quickly. Instead of letting all of these items pile up and clutter up closets and playrooms, it is much better to give those that are in good shape to organizations that can sell them for a low price to people who will be grateful to have them. This is a good way for you to teach your children a little bit about good stewardship and how to not want to hoard everything that they receive. Of course, there are some things that are sentimental to your children that they will not want to get rid of and those should be kept.

 

If you are uncertain about getting rid of stuff, such as old files, clothes that you want to try to get back into, etc. Then put them in a box, seal it up, properly mark what is in it and keep that in the closet, nook, or where ever. Make sure to write the date that you packed the box. If, after a year, the box is still there un-opened, move it to the garage. If you find after another year has passed, that you still haven’t opened it up to retrieve anything out of it, then get rid of it. At that point, the chances of you actually needing something out of it are very slim.

 

In a nutshell, clutter is anything that makes your house look like a mess and consists of items that you do not need and may have accumulated over the years. When you are ready to let go, make sure that you give them to someone who may be able to use them. The items that you keep should be stored in a place where they are unobtrusive and do not make the house look cluttered.

 

You can look for traditional storage for these items or get creative. Once you get rid of the clutter and have, as they used to say “a place for everything and everything in its place,” you will not only find it easier to clean your home and office, but you will feel more organized. You will know where to find things when you need them and not have to worry about inadvertently throwing something out by mistake, like your high school yearbook.

 

The purpose of these blog posts is to help you strive to be more successful and to create a life worth living, so I never want to end a post without giving your some sort of “power question” to ponder over. Answering these questions will help you to take action.

 

Power Question for the day:

What do you love? Not flippant, but actually have a deep heart-felt endearing love for?

Why Get Organized?

If you are like most of us today, you are probably feeling that you have too little time and too much to do. As a result, you try to ‘multitask and often end up not getting the things done that are needed. Even little things grow into mountains of work that you feel you can never quite reach the summit on.

 

I spent years being very unorganized. I had a desk that was a mess at school and a room that was a mess at home. As I grew older, I found myself with a messy desk at work and a messy car in the driveway and multiple messy rooms in my house.

 

It wasn’t until I came to the conclusion that I needed to change the direction that my life was going that I realized how things as little as a cluttered desk could be keeping me from reaching my goals and having a better life. It was then that I determined that I had to get organized, why it was so important and how to teach this to my child so she would know how to stay organized as well in order to give her a head start advantage that I didn’t have.

 

The purpose of this series is not just to tell you how to clean your home or desk so that everything is where you can find it, but also how to organize your life so that it is easier to manage and alleviates overwhelm. Although I eventually realized that it was much easier to have my important papers in a place that I could have easy access to as well as the value of having a home that didn’t look like a pigsty, I found that my mind was still unorganized throughout much of my life. I often felt like a hamster on a wheel. It wasn’t until much later when I learned not only how to organize my home and work place, but also my mind.

 

This series, I hope, will teach you how to organize every aspect of your life - from your home, your work and even your entire lifestyle. It will also teach you some valuable tips and teaching secrets that you can pass on to your children so that they can learn the value of organization as well. You will learn valuable lessons on organization that you can use to keep your life in order and avoid feeling overwhelmed all of the time as well as read some anecdotes that perhaps you can relate to.

 

It will also teach you how you can stay organized even when things occur that throw you off your routine. We are not robots, we’re humans. And as everyone knows, we have things that come up that are unpredictable that can throw us off. You want to be organized, but you do not want to be so rigid that you can’t handle a break in the routine without being able to adjust.

 

Organization is essential for you to live a healthier life in both mind and body. When you feel as though you are well organized, you also feel as though you have more control in your every day life. It makes those around you more comfortable and can also lead to more harmony with those around you. Why get a little organization in your life? The answer is simple - to keep your sanity, make you more efficient and to also give some sort of structure to your life and those around you.

 

No matter how unorganized you are, you can become the epitome of organization by taking the tips from this series. The first step is to realize that you did not get overwhelmed all at once, it took months, years or even a lifetime for you to get to the state you are in now. However, even if your house is a total wreck, your kids are sapping all of your energy, your dog is constantly having ‘accidents’ and leaving your ‘presents’ around the house and your work life is a mess because you keep skipping from one project to another or you spend part of your day just looking for stuff, you can get it all back on track. It is important to know the first step in the process is to remember the old question, “how do you eat an elephant?” The answer…One bite at a time.

 

Remember that you have to train your organization skills “one bite at a time” and start with small goals that will eventually lead up to the big goal, which is having organization in your life, work and home. Trust me, if I can do this, so can you.

 

The purpose of these blog posts is to help you strive to be more successful and to create a life worth living, so I never want to end a post without giving your some sort of “power question” to ponder over. Answering these questions will help you to take action.

 

Power Question for the day:

Make a list of negatives in your life; now, how can you make those into positives?

100 Ways To Be A Better Time Manager

Want a quick list of tips to be a better time manager? Then read, apply and develop these 100 great hints and your effectiveness as a time manager will zoom overnight.

 

 

I promised you that there would be something special in this. Here are 100 ways to be a better time manager. Practice them all and you'll discover that you'll get more done, improve the quality of your time with others, and have a better balance between all the demands on your work and life.

 

1. Value your time.

2. Treat time as a resource to be managed.

3. Measure your time.

4. Assess how much time you have to manage.

5. Negotiate more control over your working time.

6. Decide the best work pattern for yourself.

7. Get control of your tasks.

8. Have the freedom to balance your tasks.

9. Work at an even pace.

10. Plan ahead.

11. Balance the demands on your time.

12. Don't work more than you need.

13. Be a pearl diver: look for the gifts that time brings.

14. Use time to get results not just fulfill duties.

15. Do something productive and enjoyable each day.

16. Ask "what is the best use of my time now?" questions.

17. Identify your time robbers.

18. Have a purpose to your life.

19. Be effective...

20. ...and then efficient.

21. Don't rush or overwork.

22. Inject variety into your daily tasks.

23. Spend up to a quarter of your day on routine tasks.

24. Do routine tasks in the shortest time possible.

25. Develop good time habits.

26. Experiment with different methods for doing routine tasks.

27. Use the Shoeshine principle of doubling-up routine tasks.

28. Make the most of shortcuts.

29. Prepare your materials in advance.

30. Tidy up as you go.

31. Question every bit of paper you use.

32. Automate.

33. Identify bottlenecks and eliminate them.

34. Create easy work flows.

35. Use systems that minimize clutter.

36. Bunch similar tasks together.

37. Identify the quickest work methods and then train everyone.

38. Know which jobs can be speeded up and which can't.

39. Have a regular time slot for chores.

40. Put aside time for maintenance tasks.

41. Don't encourage unnecessary paperwork.

42. Organize your filing systems.

43. Back up your computer records at fixed times.

44. Clear your files out regularly.

45. Keep your desk clear.

46. Handle every piece of paper just once.

47. Eliminate junk mail and spam.

48. Phone rather than write.

49. Don't photocopy anything unless it is essential.

50. Send replies on the same piece of paper.

51. Keep your communications sweet and short.

52. Manage your projects with time, cost and quality estimates.

53. Run projects with detailed time plans.

54. Add on 20% to your initial project plans.

55. Have detailed lists of your project tasks.

56. Create a series of deadlines for your projects.

57. Look for weak links in your project and have back-up plans.

58. Streamline low-priority project tasks.

59. Keep on top of what's going on in your project.

60. Track and monitor your project progress.

61. Spend up to a quarter of your day on progress work.

62. Have a clear vision of your goals.

63. Align your goals with your values.

64. Be certain of achieving all your goals.

65. Write down your goals.

66. Plan your key result areas.

67. Set SMART goals for short-term tasks.

68. Identify jobs you hate and delegate them.

69. Break down big jobs into smaller chunks.

70. Prioritize your tasks according to their importance.

71. When you're overwhelmed, write out to-do lists and prioritise.

72. Leave loose ends so you can come back easily.

73. Use little scraps of unused time for itsy-bitsy jobs.

74. Plan 60% of your day; leave the rest for what comes up.

75. Put big jobs in your diary first, then the little ones.

76. Celebrate reaching your goals.

77. Spend up to a quarter of your day on non-doing tasks.

78. Take time out to sit and think.

79. Look after your health.

80. Get a sense of the times.

81. Take time to enjoy and appreciate.

82. Use the energy of the moment.

83. Occasionally just do what you want to do.

84. Take breaks at least every 90 minutes.

85. Review your day or week.

86. Spend up to a quarter of your day with others.

87. Always turn up to meetings on time.

88. Be courteous and brisk with others.

89. Only hold meetings that have a clear purpose.

90. Let people know when you're not free.

91. Minimize unnecessary interruptions.

92. Learn to say No to jobs that aren't yours.

93. Avoid time-wasters.

94. Control your phone.

95. Screen all incoming calls.

96. Devise a team time policy.

97. Keep a clock on the wall.

98. Know your time manager personality.

99. Check whether you have a tendency to overwork or underwork and adjust.

100. Enjoy your time.

 

No, the list wasn’t the special deal that I mentioned. This is:

 

Get a Grip on Life is 31 pages of great read. $12.96 value, yours f r e e. it’s helped me out and I know it will help you.

 

Click here for your absolutely F R E E download.

 

P.S. I appreciate your feedback, so let me know if this series has helped you. Also, we all have friends, family and associates that could benefit from this information, so don’t hesitate to forward this to them.

 

 

The purpose of these blog posts is to help you strive to be more successful and to create a life worth living, so I never want to end a post without giving your some sort of “power question” to ponder over. Answering these questions will help you to take action.

 

Power Question for the day:

What one thing would you try right now if you knew you could not fail.

 

Blessings,

F.W. Haynes

Time Management - Time Is Money

Putting in 16-hour days trying to figure out how to develop and launch a new ministry, product or service is not uncommon for most people when first starting out. But do you really understand the value of your time? I initially didn’t, that’s for sure!

 

Ask any on the clock employee and they will tell you their time is worth $8.00, $12.00, $15.00 or whatever per hour. Hourly workers know the value of their time. Those who are successful commissioned sales personnel, know the value of their time, and successful salaried workers know the value of their time as well.

 

What about you? It's a different story for the minister! You definitely work more than eight hours, day and night, weekends, and holidays and then there is the occasional counseling thrown in just to make sure that you don’t have too much down time. If it's a passion of yours then it is even more challenging to figure out the value of your time. This isn’t even getting into the whole feeling guilty because you are contemplating actually placing a value to your time because you are minister.

 

Maybe you don't know the value of your time. Trust me, many people in your position don't, so you are not alone. But knowing the value of your time will help you manage your scheduled and make better decisions.

 

To figure this out take your monthly salary and divide it into your total hours worked. It's not a perfect calculation because it doesn't account for the hours that you spend thinking and it doesn't account for your personal expenses, but you are busy enough that a general estimated calculation should provide you with enough information. Now that you have the hourly wage, divide that by 60 to give you an approximate idea of what your minute is worth.

 

For most new ministers the value of their time will be just a few dollars an hour, or even less. Don't feel bad if that is the case with you, it will rise quickly once you learn what works and does not work.

 

Now you have a baseline from which you can measure your progress. Improvement in time value will be more objective and less subjective. Time Management is the key for improving your bottom line, and spending more time with people you love and not the book keeping and mundane that is often connected with heading up a ministry.

 

When the bible speaks about stewardship, money is just one thing that we are to be good stewards with, yet most people stop there when talking about stewardship. Time is our greatest and most precious asset.  Time is the great equalizer of all us human beings.  Why then do we not recognize and treat it with the respect it deserves?

 

Whether you are rich, poor, healthy, ill, or just humming along in your life somewhere in between, we all have only 24 hours in each and every day to invest wisely.  We often spend a great deal of time and energy thinking and worrying about, or working to earn and pursuing the more trivial things in life.  However, while we are doing that, sometimes we are missing the greatest gift of all - our time to experience the life that we are each given.  A wise teacher once said to me, "You can always get more money but you can never buy more time."   Good point!

 

We constantly take note of how we invest our money, but how often do we consciously think about how we invest our time?  I consciously use the word invest because the way we choose to spend out time is truly an investment in our lives and ourselves. 

 

Based on my observations over the last several decades, however, you would never guess the true value of this time commodity by the way people act and speak.

 

First, let's look at the common ways people dishonor time with their actions.  Do any of these choices look familiar?

- Spending ‘hours’ in front of the TV.

- Sacrificing a healthy amount of regular sleep in an attempt to steal more time. (You may be awake for more hours, however being in a fog and loaded up on caffeine does not translate into quality or "more time".)

- Working ineffectively and/or spending so much time at a job that you have in effect handed over your life to someone else. 

- Existing in a state of stressed out or burned out.

- Spending hours aimlessly surfing the internet or endlessly communicating on social media sites for the sake of doing it, which leads me to the next one.

- Participating in gossip or the rumor mill.

 

Now, let's take a look at the language we use when we discuss our precious friend, time.  Do any of these comments look familiar?

 

- I wish it were Friday already! (Usually spoken from a Monday through Thursday point of view)

- I'm just wasting time; or, this is a waste of time.

- I have some time to ‘kill’

- I'll get to enjoy my time when I retire.

- I'm just counting the hours until the end of the day, or the days until the weekend, retirement, etc.

 

So, how often do you wish away your life? How often do you let time simply pass you by?

 

While it may sound cliché, the phrase Carpe Diem has a great deal of merit.  It means, seize the day. I can still remember my first real experience with this term when Robin Williams challenged his young students in the movie Dead Poet's Society to do just that - seize the day.  He used it as a call to arms where every student in his class should make each day a day that was truly explored and lived to it’s fullest.

 

Where Does the Time Go?

A Challenge for You

 

Do you know where all your time goes each day? What parts of your life are most important to you?  Are those the parts of your life that receive the greatest amount of your time and attention?  Or, do you find yourself doing the same things today that you did yesterday simply because that is what you did the day before that?

 

For the next month, take stock of where your time and your life go.  At the end of each day, write down the number of hours spent in each of the main areas of your life.  An example of what those main categories might look like could be:

 

Areas of My Life     

Physical Health & Well-Being              

Primary Relationship, Spouse, Significant Other              

Friends, Family, Children, Relationships               

Career/Work               

Finances and Money            

Physical Surroundings (home, work, etc.)                

Spirituality (connecting with a power greater than yourself)                      

Fun and Relaxation                   

Making a Difference in your Community and the World                    

 

 

After the month passes, total up the hours spent in each category and take the calculation that you came up with earlier and multiply the number you came up with to the number in each category. Now reflect back on how you spent your time.  Did "reality" surprise you? Or, was it what you expected? Did you spend or invest? How does the way you invest your time on a daily basis make you feel?  Is it in alignment with your values and what you really want from your life?

 

Take some time to take stock in how you invest your most precious asset - time.  Remember, tomorrow is promised to no one. Carpe Diem.

 

I have one more for you in this short series on time management. Keep an eye out for it, I will have something special for you.

 

The purpose of these blog posts is to help you strive to be more successful and to create a life worth living, so I never want to end a post without giving your some sort of “power question” to ponder over. Answering these questions will help you to take action.

 

Power Question for the day:

What would be the biggest impact from achieving your goals?

 

Time Management - Pareto’s Law

Time management is an efficient tool of performing the tasks within a given time limit. In this context, Vilfredo Pareto found a law i.e., 80-20 law.

 

The origin of the 80/20 rule

 

The law finds its roots in the year 1906. Vilfredo Pareto was working on finding the explanation to the economic disparities in the world. His theory had many takers and backed by various experts of that era.

 

Meaning:

This 80-20 rule lays emphasis on the lesser of anything. It says that the greater portion of anything is usually the least important. As Pareto’s findings state, there is a small group (20%) who owns a major share (80%) of world’s wealth. As per the law, the most significant are less in quantity. And what is in ample amount is generally the least significant.

 

Detailed Analysis

The time and the task management ensure that this theory fits perfectly in any condition. The stress is on the need to manage the few. This significant part would ensure the attainment of the larger part. This could be well interpretive in the super star theory. According to which efforts must be directed to manage the 20% to achieve 80%.

 

Obviously, this is in overly intellectual speak, so in layman’s terms, if you concentrate most of your efforts on the 20% and spend less time on the 80% then the 20% will lead to the 80% getting taken care of.

 

Steps To Adopt the Theory

This law, as it pertains to time management, can be applied in day-to-day life. You do have to take these points into account though for it to work:

 

1: Avoiding Useless Tasks.

 

The most important part of time management is to avoid tasks that take up a lot of time with little to show for it. This is general chat on social media sites when you have a project with a deadline due, surfing the internet while supposedly typing up a proposal, etc.

 

2: Foresight.

 

While planning, the tasks must be selected diligently so as to ensure secure future returns. As today’s solutions have definite impact on tomorrow’s outcome.

 

3: Keep an Eye on Highly Valued Task.

 

The overall efforts must be streamlined in order to concentrate on the most important 20%. If you work in this way over a period of time, the outcome can’t help but become beneficial.

 

Time management works on this 80-20 principle. Maybe not exactly, but close enough that if you try to concentrate on the most important actions first, you will find that things are getting done and you are having more time in the day to work on the other 80%.

 

Keep an eye out for my next installment in this series when we discuss time and money.

 

The purpose of these blog posts is to help you strive to be more successful and to create a life worth living, so I never want to end a post without giving your some sort of “power question” to ponder over. Answering these questions will help you to take action.

 

Power Question for the day:

 

By now, you have at least one goal that you are working on for the new year, so in what way could you make this goal (or all of your goals for that matter) more specific or measurable?

Organize, Organize, Organize!

When you go on a diet, are you “good” every single day?  If you blow your diet by going out one night, do you give up on your goal?  The answer (hopefully) is ‘no.’ Likewise, if your goal is to get a master’s degree in theology and you haven’t done anything about it today, do you give up on your goal?  The answer (again, hopefully) is ‘no.’ Most people focus too much on the long-term goals or too much time on the day-to-day tasks and ignoring the long term all together. They expect the long term things in their life to work themselves out.  The truth is that you must focus most of your concentrations on the in-between, look past the day-to-day tasks, but not get overwhelmed with the long-term goal. Concentrate on the intermediate goals that need to take place in order to accomplish the long-term goals.

 

Think about how you walk.  If you can physically do this exercise, then try it. If not, then just imagine yourself walking. Only walk by looking down at each step you take.  You have been walking for so long now that you may not stumble, but you will certainly lose track of exactly where you’re headed.  Now, try to walk by looking at a destination far off; you might reach your goal if you don’t fall down the stairs or get hit by a car as you cross the street!  To walk effectively, you must look forward – not a mile forward, but just a few steps ahead. It is vital that you treat your goals and the effective use of your time the same way that you walk.

 

To effectively achieve your long-term goals, you must first break them down into intermediate goals, goals that can be reasonably achieved in a week, couple of weeks, a month, etc.

 

You will want to keep a detailed monthly calendar. This will allow you to see your goals in print. Day Timer has a two page calendar system that you can get that allows you to keep track of goals, journal your progress and break down tasks. I like physically applying my goals to paper; something about writing it down makes it more solid in my mind. I also can physically mark a line through it, so that I can still see it, but I know it is finished, which gives me a since of accomplishment. If you are, however, so inclined to be a part of the modern world and take things digital, there are numerous digital calendars out there. I personally like Google Calendar myself. You will also want to keep track of appointments, meetings, and other business action items on this monthly calendar as well; this will enable you to quickly see how packed or free any specific week will be.

 

Daily Planning

 

Having long-term and intermediate goals are the first two steps to “managing time.”  The third step is to ACT!  As the saying goes, “The longest journey begins with the first step.”

 

Many people – all with good intentions – ignore the realities of the day when they first start integrating their intermediate goals in their daily regimen.  They forget that they have meetings they’re supposed to attend, job commitments they’re expected to fulfill, and other things that pull at their available time.  As a result, they become frustrated with their lack of progress on their goals and become angry about the things like work and/or family obligations that are taking up all their time.

 

Here are 3 steps to take that will help you to organize your schedule better, so take a few minutes each morning to plan your day like this:

 

1. Identify your appointments, meetings, and other business action items.

 

Your first step in planning your day is to transfer appointments and other business action items from the monthly calendar into the daily calendar (most digital calendars will do this for you automatically).  These are the non-discretionary things that  you have already made commitments to do. 

 

2. Plan your daily duties.

 

Your second step is to plan your daily duties such as phone calls, mail, inbox items, etc.  These are activities that are less defined than action items but still require a portion of your day.  By planning these duties, you allot time for them without letting them drive your entire day. Many people find themselves answering emails up to 4 and 5 times a day. Let’s not even get to how much time is sucked away by social media sites.

 

3. Make appointments with yourself.

 

Your third step is to ‘make appointments with yourself’ by identifying which intermediate steps you wish to tackle today.  Transfer these discretionary activities (intermediate steps) from your Goal Planning page.  This makes discretionary items non-discretionary by the simple act of recording the item in the daily plan.  You move the future into the present so you can act upon it now!

 

By simply taking more control of your daily schedule, you will find that you have gained more control over your time. Here are just a few more tips to help you “manage time” and achieve long-term success:

 

• Limit the number of activities you plan for a day.  Commit to, and complete, a few activities rather than over committing yourself. This will lead to frustration, irritation, and self-deprecation when you miss a targeted goal.

 

• Make a habit of planning for 15 minutes every day. I generally suggest that you take 15 minutes the night before to plan the next day’s activities.

 

• Do your priority items first.  Period.  Include a quiet time with absolutely no distractions in order to accomplish your top priority for the day.

 

• Take a long-range view of your commitments.  Does your calendar fill up quickly?  Should it?  Space your non-discretionary time carefully week to week. Just because you can squeeze another project in, doesn’t always mean that you should.

 

• Take a medium-range view when planning time for your intermediate steps. “What is the number one thing that I can do THIS WEEK that would have significant and positive results in my department, career, and/or personal life?”

 

• Use your time management system to keep important information such as your department, career, and personal goals and intermediate steps; your appointments, business action items, and other commitments; as well as your contacts; this will give you your entire day at your fingertips.

 

Next time I want to discuss Pareto’s law (the 80/20 rule) as it applies to time management. Talk to you then.

 

The purpose of these blog posts is to help you strive to be more successful and to create a life worth living, so I never want to end a post without giving your some sort of “power question” to ponder over. Answering these questions will help you to take action.

 

Power Question for the day:

What are three things that you are doing regularly that doesn’t support or serve you? In other words, what are three things that you selflessly do for others on a regular basis?