When Time Is Of The Essence

Time is something that none of us ever seem to have enough of.
Yet, with the help of some simple time management techniques, it
is possible to get a lot more done in less time, and thereby
enhance the quality of your life. As Tony Robbins puts it, time
management is really life management.

One excellent way to get more out of the time you have is to
actually do some time planning. For instance, you can spend 15-30
minutes every evening planning the next day. Doing so will enable
you to get far more done than you ever have bfore. You can
do the same thing every weekend to plan out the next week, and
determine all that you want to achieve within that time frame. At
the start of one month, or the end of another, you can sketch out
the coming month in similar fashion.

If you put all of these timescales into active practice, you will
truly propel yourself into the fast lane of achievers. Planning
is the key to getting to where you wish to go. How do you
actually use this time? Simply listing the things you want to get
done is a good start. If you do this, and then cross off items as
they are done, you will probably have doubled your productivity.

An even better way is to grade the activities in order of
importance. You can give a grade A to items that are both urgènt
and important: they absolutely must get done. Grade B items are
those that are important but not urgènt. Grade C items are things
that do need to be done, but are neither urgènt not important.
Grade D activities are those that would be nice to do, but are
neither urgènt, important, and do not even need to be done. Grade
E are all others that do not fit into the above.

An example of a grade A item is making sure your tax forms are
submitted when today is the deadline date! It is both important
and urgènt, and the consequences are severe if you do not do it.
Another grade A item might be fleeing to the hills in the face of
an imminent and massive tornado. Examples of grade B activities -
important but not urgènt – might be pruning the fruit tree so
that it produces good fruit this season, or listening to a
motivational tape seminar. Grade C items – neither important nor
urgènt – might be things like bùying a new dishwasher, or fixing
a loose shelf. Grade D items – nice to do, but not necessary -
are things like going to a movie, chatting to work colleagues, or
watching the World Series on TV.

Here is what you do with this system. Create your list, and then
make sure you get all grade A items done first. Do them ALL
before you move onto grade B. Do all of these before moving onto
grade C. Indeed, grade C items are the sort of thing you should
be looking to delegate to someone else, especially if you are in
business. Your time should be focused on high priority matters;
not things that really do not matter at all.

Grade D items get done once you have frèed up the time and
cleared your list of all grade A, B, and C items. Yet, here is
the interesting and important point. What grade activity do you
think most people spend the majority of their frèe time on?
Actually, it's grade D! If you think how much time people spend
watching TV, going to movies, playing computer games or whatever,
you will realize how true this is. In comparison, how many people
really focus on high priority activities, even at work? Isn't it
so much more interesting to chat to work colleagues than to
actually get the job at hand done? Don't we prefer to watch TV
rather than plan our goals and entire life direction? What grade
activity do YOU spend much of your time on? If the answer is
grade D, might there just be a correlation with the life results
you are getting?

Another way to manage time better is to do two things at once
wherever possible! For example, you could exercise AND listen to
instructional tapes at the same time. In this way, you improve
both body and mind and use the time twice over. Some people like
to subscribe to tape digests of top books, and thus get a lot of
their essential reading done in this way. If you do not feel like
listening whilst exercising, how about doing it in the car while
you are on the way to work? Another example might be travelling
in a coach or train, and doing work on your còmputer, or holding
an important conversation with someone on your mobile phone. Yes,
it is important to simply sit and watch the world go by at times,
and you should make for time for that too. However, if you
actually used some of these spare minutes and hours every so
often, think how much it adds ùp to in a year. I used to read
books on my train journey to and from work every day; a total
time of about an hour and twenty minutes or so. Whilst I would
get through a book or two in a week, it amazed me how many people
just sat there and stared blankly ahead of them.

Yet another way to create more time for yourself is to get up
earlier in the morning! If you get up just half an hour earlier
each day, you create for yourself and extra 3.5 hours per wèek,
14 hours per mònth, and 182 hours per yèar! It may be hard to do
at first, but it is definitely worth it.

In summary, there are many ways to revolutionize your use of
every hour of your day. What is needed now is the will to do it.
You can create a positive spiral for yourself by taking even one
of these ideas and working with it for a while. Imagine what
could happen if you used them all. You might just become
unstoppable!

Copyright 2002, Asoka Selvarajah. All Rights Reserved.

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Asoka Selvarajah is a writer on personal growth and spirituality, and the author of "The 7 Golden Secrets To Knowing Your Higher Self". His work helps people achieve their full potential, deepen their understanding of mystical truth, and discover their soul's purpose. You can subscribe to his FREE ezine, and get his FREE ebook "Inner Light Outer Wealth" at:
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