5 Tips to Create Time for What Matters
1. Get Your Priorities Straight
Get Your Priorities StraightMost of us have one clear priority—get
through the day. Sure, no one will deny the importance of that,
but it’s simply not enough. Most of us rarely stop long
enough to consider how we spend our time and energy. Yet, without
determining whether your priorities match your picture of yourself
and your values you will continually be out of synch with yourself.
At the heart of making the most of life today is the ability
to treasure and protect your connections to what you care most
about, people, places, activities, pets, those things that are
dear to you.
Unless you consciously and deliberately preserve time to connect
with what matters most to you, your connections will erode.
What You Can Do
The first step in creating more time for what matters is to
spend as little as five minutes a day considering how you choose
to spend your time. Most of us are driven by what we think we
have to do. We are slaves to our to do lists. Yet in order to
live your best life you have to take control of your time and
decide what it is you choose to do.
Before you write down any other plans or think about your schedule
decide the single most important thing you can do that day for
your family, for yourself and for your work. List one “choose-to-do”
in each of these areas before you list any have-to-do’s.
The solution to creating a life you love is selectivity--it’s
about choosing. It’s not about getting more done, but being
more selective about what you do. Remember choose quality rather
than quantity.
2. Set Limits
Set LimitMany of us say “yes” when you want to say
“no.” Do you say, “yes” because you feel
guilty if you turn someone down? Are you concerned with what they’ll
think of you? Do you say “yes because you don’t want
to disappoint the other person, but who do you end up disappointing
over and over again? Yourself.
We waste so much of our precious time and energy trying to prove
ourselves and please other people.
Yet highly successful people say no all the time-to
projects, to crazy deadlines, to questionable priorities, and
to other people’s crises. In fact they view the decision
to say no as equally acceptable as saying yes.
What You Can Do
Most of us pressure ourselves to give an immediate response
when asked a question. But if truth be told, very few things require
an immediate answer. Why not say, “let me get back to you,”
and take the time you need to decide if this is really right for
you or if you’re being seduced by the 'I can do it all'
syndrome?"
If someone asks you to do something you don’t want to
do you can simply say, Thanks for asking, but that’s just
not going to work for me.
We have to be willing to say “no” to certain things
in order to make room to say “yes” to others. Saying
“no” is a way of caring for and honoring your authentic
self. It’s a way to keep in touch with what’s most
essential in your life.
Put do not disturb sign on your door if you are
working on a project and need uninterrupted time. Just don’t
keep your door open to everyone.
3. Have Realistic Expectations
Have Realistic ExpectationsSet limits on what you commit to
and reserve time for what maters most to you. If you feel guilty
that you’re not serving others when you are attending to
your priorities, remind yourself that you would be much less use
to others if you didn’t do what’s important to you
at least some of the time. You’d become depressed, frazzled,
impatient, resentful and inefficient. Not a pretty picture!
Don’t’ by into the belief that you should
do everything you’re asked to do or could do. The truth
is you can only do what you can do. And you will do what you can
do more effectively if you’re not frantically squeezing
in more than what’s reasonable. Remember, you have to have
realistic expectations.
What You Can Do
Make an “I Won’t Do” list and then make a
Policy List.
For Example, make a policy that you will only serve on one volunteer
committee at a time. Or you can make it a policy that you will
take on only a certain number of projects or customers at one
time. Don’t take calls during dinner or while on vacation
or at the gym. Set a regular time to call your mother so you don’t
feel guilty the rest of the time and so that she can depend on
your call. Develop a system for dealing with demands on your time
that come up regularly so you don’t have to decide on the
spot each time.
Accept the fact that you can’t do everything
for everyone or even do as much for others as you might like to
do.
4. Eliminate Time and Energy Suckers
Eliminate Time & Energy SuckersHave you ever counted the
number of messages you get in a day, including email, voice mail
or messages others take for you or that you leave? We allow ourselves
to feel obligated to respond to all of these demands and as a
result we’re worn out. We have to be selective.
We have to choose what information we’re going
to take in from the endless number of TV shows, to internet blogs,
to radio and magazines, books, etc. We have to be more selective
than people have ever had to be. We have to regulate what we’re
going to respond to, what we’re going to take in and how
much time we’re going to devote to these activities or we’ll
be consumed by them.
What You Can Do
Eliminate projects and people that drain you while cultivating
those that recharge you.
No one needs to read three newspapers, every day, check email
every 15 minutes, make scores of phone calls every day. These
are habits that many of us fall into because they make us feel
important and charged up as if doing a lot of things fast puts
us on the cutting edge of life. But what price do we pay?
We spend too much time on what I call “Junk Time.”
This is the equivalent of Fritos or marshmallows. This is the
time we waste on activities before we get to the main task, leaving
little room for it.
For example, a person can sit down at his computer
fully intending to compose the important memo that needs to be
sent out soon. When the computer boots up instead of going straight
to the word processing program he checks his email and ends up
spending 45 minutes. Email is a classic consumer of junk time.
Other dangerous consumers of time include your cell phone, instant
messaging, newspapers, magazines, TV, Blackberries, or colleagues
who stick their head in your door to say, I don’t mean to
interrupt you, but…”
5. Reduce Multitasking
Reduce MultitaskingThere is a myth that you can get more accomplished
by doing several things at once. But think about what happens
when you’re driving and you get lost. What’s the first
thing you do? You turn off the radio so that you can focus all
your attention on finding your way. Or think about playing tennis.
You hit the ball and you immediately get ready for the next shot.
You’re focus is single-mindedly on the ball. The better
player you are the more focused you become. Now imaging that you’re
playing with two balls. You have to keep track of both, running
each down, watching your opponent do the same and frantically
try to keep two balls in play at once. There’s no way your
game with two balls will be as good as if you just play with one.
Multitasking is like playing tennis with two balls, or three
or four for that matter. When you do more than one thing at a
time you can’t fully engage. It may be necessary to multitask
like talking on the phone while answering an email, but you won’t
be doing those tasks as effectively as if you did one at a time.
Have you ever had the experience of talking on the phone with
someone and all of a sudden it feels like they’ve disappeared.
Most likely they’re multitasking. It’s not very satisfying
to either you or the other person.
Some times none of your tasks require your full
attention. In this case it’s fine to multitask, but when
deep work is required you need to devote your full attention.
But when you jump to a second task rather than wrestle with a
difficult task by the end of the day you probably have done a
lot of mediocre work and it’s not very satisfying.
What You Can Do
Make time during the day when you focus on one specific task.
Give ityour full, undivided attention and you will experience
a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that rarely comes when
multitasking.
Maximize Your High Energy Periods. There is a time
of day when you are mentally at your freshest, most able to concentrate
and think clearly. This is your peak energy period. For most people
this is the morning, but for my friend Celeste she works best
in the middle of the night. Figure out when your peak time is.
It’s important to know when your energy peak comes and to
make sure you use this time to your full advantage doing your
most important and demanding work during this time.
Learn how you
can have a balanced life
and create a life you will love!
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