Our relationship with time is not much better than our relationship with money. While I have already addressed this issue in a prior blog, in this one I would like to give you some ideas for managing your time.

So much of our day is spent rushing from one activity to another, with little or no downtime. By the end of the day many people are exhausted and feel incomplete because they have not accomplished all they set out to do. To make matters worse, with today’s inability to escape from some form of communication, be it cell phone, email, texting, there seems to be no place to hide.

It’s time to take charge of your time!!

• Every evening take the time to write down all the things you want and/or need to do the following day. Include on this list down time and activities you enjoy.
• Then put the items on the list in order of priority from top to bottom.
• Allocate the approximate time it would take to complete every item.
• Add up the amount of hours it would take to complete everything on the list.
• If the total amount of  hours is greater than the hours in a waking day (and you know it will be:-) get rid of the items on the bottom of the list until you reach the right amount of hours.

Two things to watch out for:

1. Underestimating the time it would take you to complete an item on the list.
2. Squeaky wheels.

When estimating how long something will take you, you are better off padding the time a little since things always take longer than you think. In time, if you pay attention, you will notice that similar tasks take similar amounts of time and you can use this to refine your estimates.

The squeaky wheels require more discipline from you, because we all tend to be people pleasers. If someone interrupts your flow by either calling, texting or knocking on your office door, you need to consciously decide whether their issue is more important than what you are currently involved in. It generally is not, and you need to hold back on your wish to give someone what they want at the expense of the commitment you made to yourself.

In the event that the squeaky wheel is more important than whatever it is you are involved with, then make sure to remove something else from the bottom of the list so that you are not putting unnecessary pressure on yourself.

If you follow these guidelines, you will not only feel accomplished and relaxed at the end of the day, you will find that you can actually save time since you will not be bouncing around between tasks wondering what you should do next.

Time is on your side when you are in charge.  Take the time to choose how you want to spend your time.

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