THERE IS NEVER ENOUGH TIME if you ask most people of busy people. There are always things to do and when you’ve finished your ‘to-do’ list, there are usually a host of other ‘things’ waiting for you to figure them out. So many things to do. So many potential problems to consider with our time.
Time is something that everyone receives in equal proportion; We all have the same 24 hours in our day. Some days we feel like we’ve accomplished a lot and some days we haven’t. When we use our time wisely, we gain a sense of peace. However, we often feel cut off from our core selves when we pursue other people’s priorities, or simply don’t have time to do the things that are most important to us. Time for things like planning, preparation, and recreation is key to our overall happiness and well-being.
Stress Time is a key issue for some. When we succumb to fear of the unknown and are left wondering, “What comes next?” And we often find that our thoughts turn toward anticipating the immediate future, this can be stressful; some, in fact, have mild or even major phobias about time in this way. Create all kinds of short and long term effects. A potential remedy worth considering could be to exercise mind control and have something else to occupy our thoughts to distract us from this kind of convincing reaction.
We must strive to balance time with our motivations; what drives us. We want to do many things that we may not have time for; the things that are most important to us. This will inevitably create dissonance within us as mentioned above.
So how do we optimize our time? How can we make the most of it? Well, one thing we don’t want to do is waste time. I recently learned of four possible time wasters. Simply put, they’re email, voicemail, interruptions, and procrastination, and they’re certainly relevant. This is not to say that none of these activities is a full Waste of time, but we must exercise caution, that’s all.
We often get caught up in these things. Either we get lazy, or we want to please people, or we struggle to have the courage to do the right thing. It is worth the effort to find the causes to succumb to these wastes of time, so the changes have a better chance of “staying”. Change itself is difficult: you have to decide and then persist for many weeks before it takes root in our lives.
Email is generally considered a not urgent communication way. Urgent communication really requires other forms of contact, for example face-to-face meetings or phone calls. Answer emails only a couple of times a day; We should not spend more than 30 minutes a day answering email, unless we have allocated additional time or have it up our sleeves.
Voicemail it is a great innovation if used efficiently. To protect your accessibility, be sure to allow certain calls (especially from strangers) to go to voicemail, and then delay responding to people, unless it is urgent. Sometimes people will be able to figure things out without you having to get involved. When leaving messages, be courteous to the caller. Leave your details clearly and don’t leave long messages unless you are going to help the receiver-in any case, please leave messages no more than 60 seconds long. Limit your time to answer voicemail.
Interruptions that are counterproductive are unnecessary and untimely. Reduce them by politely challenging situations and the people who create them. Some interruptions are necessary but inconvenient, as they could distract you from your focus on a high-priority task. Considering that interruptions can cost you double time(the time of the interruption and the time required to re-focus on the original task), it is advisable to quickly plan a later response and agree on it with the person in question. The “double time” effect of interruptions is even worse when it comes to projects. Once interrupted, a project’s sequence, progress, and chances of success can be seriously undermined, unless there is a strong focus to get back on track. The effort required to get the project back on track can also contribute to procrastination; it may just be “too difficult”. Lastly, don’t succumb to “urge addiction” and treat interruptions as the first priority; This would be a good way to stress yourself out and reward people for sometimes doing the wrong thing, that is, exaggerating your day.
Delay it’s tragic. We all suffer from procrastination. It comes from the Latin word procrastination: Pro- (forward) and crastinus (of tomorrow) and has links to avoidance behavior, particularly task avoidance. Avoiding doing things is usually caused by psychological factors such as fear of failure possibly based, for example, on lack of clarity, or simply because the task may seem overwhelming, and for other reasons. Overcoming procrastination is the key. Do things that might be late early in the day or set a deadline and then reward yourself for sticking to it.
So what do we do with the information? One thing I have learned: FAD. 1) Archive, 2) Act on the information or 3) Delete it. When you ‘act’ be sure to respond, forward, or delegate the information. It is a great relief when one gets to the point of ‘managing’ information efficiently and not allowing it (or the circumstances surrounding it) to confuse, retain it.
Like time, the information should be “for you” and not “against you”: the information is your friend, not your enemy.
(C) 2007 Steve Wickham
FranklinCovey Recognition (2002) Focus | Achieve your highest priorities: course literature, Keeping your focus.