The Art of Time Management

Not having enough time sure seems to be the prevalent complaint for a lot of people these days -- right after not making enough money. In this crazy world of blackberries, emails, cell phones, pagers, to-do lists, and demands placed on you from your job, your family, your finances and personal life -- managing to live a tranquil and peaceful life can be a challenge.

However, once in a while I meet people that despite the fact they have a lot happening and are very successful, still seem to have time enough for whatever they want. What do they know that most of us don't?

Well first of all, not having enough time comes from a mindset of scarcity (just like not having enough money by the way). If you think you don't have enough time, guess what -- you don't and won't. And secondly, most of us can use a few lessons in time management as well.

So here are a few thoughts. Oftentimes I hear that one should focus on balancing one's life. Well, I would assert that actually achieving balance in one's life is close to impossible. In nature, no body or substance is ever in balance. Everything is in various states of motion, growth or decay, expansion or contraction, etc.

With that said, what do we hope to accomplish by balancing our lives? Are we looking for fulfillment, happiness, less stress or more free time?

I would say that fulfillment and happiness in life comes with doing something that excites you, inspires you, or allows you to play to your strengths and to experience successes. From studying successful people I have often found them to be supremely happy and fulfilled in their lives despite the fact that they lead very busy lives. I believe the fact of working towards the fulfillment of a purpose, of achieving one's dreams, of being part of something greater than oneself and of leaving a legacy (giving back) is what causes one to feel fulfilled and happy. Time at that point becomes irrelevant. It is unimportant when you are engaged in the process of actively creating life you love! The knowledge that your time will have been well-spent leaves you calm, satisfied and fulfilled.

Now let's talk about some day-to-day approaches to Time Management. Here are a few specific actions you can take to maximize your time and efforts.

Create a system
Do you have a flexible, efficient and easy to use system where you can structure and schedule your daily, weekly and monthly to-do's and priorities? Keeping track of what needs to get done is half the battle. You want to have your mind free from all those little things you need to remember and transfer them into an accountability system. When your meetings, deadlines, projects and promises are kept in a system that will remind you when they come up, you won't have to worry about forgetting anything or getting to meetings late. Systems such as Outlook or a PDA are options but there a many others as well. I personally use a combination of a PDA (which I have with me at all times) that can be synched with Outlook and an Excel spreadsheet that allows me to record and prioritize daily, weekly and monthly to-do's and easily edit, update and expand them.

Prioritize
Make it a daily habit of writing down what needs to get done. Then prioritize it based on things that need to get done today, within the next 2-3 days, within the next 2 weeks or within this month. Schedule time for the top priorities first and then if there are time slots left, enter secondary priorities. Also, don't make the mistake of scheduling everything back to back. You must leave room for unexpected phone calls, meetings or other emergencies within your schedule that will come up. Check off completed tasks on your accountability system. Like this you can keep track of what you have accomplished that day.

What are priorities? It is easy for entrepreneurs and self-employed people to fill up our day with busy work, random tasks, etc. without ever actually moving our business forward. You should be very clear on which activities will actually produce results for you and your business and make a difference to your bottom line. Focus on those activities first and more often than not the other activities will have a way of working themselves out.

I would also strongly suggest scheduling time off, lunch, sports, time with family etc. just like appointments. It happens all too often that those things are cut short which creates dissatisfaction and stress.

Another useful practice from the book "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill suggests to spend 30-60 minutes on Sunday afternoon to think about what you accomplished during the past week, how you moved your business forward and how you spent your time. Then think about what you want to accomplish in the coming week, set yourself goals and deadlines and live into that as you get your week started and plan out your day. This practice prepares you mentally for what's to come and keeps the big picture of where you are trying to go in your mind.

Manage your time
Who doesn't have friends or clients who call at the most inopportune moments and keep you on the phone forever? During your day it is important to manage how, where and with whom you spend your time. No one wants to offend their friends, colleagues or clients but if you don't value your time no one else will either. So consider telling your chatty callers that you are currently in the middle of something and reschedule the call for another time (actually schedule it in your accountability system) or tell them that you have exactly 5 minutes to speak with them and stop them when the time is up. You will find that either the call wasn't that important anyway and they won't reschedule or they will get to the point much faster because you asked them to stick to a set time frame. Also, if you are busy with something you don't have to pick up the phone every time it rings.

Another thing that I find a lot of people struggling with is to powerfully say no when requests are made of them. Many times I had found myself being "suckered" into doing something I really didn't want to or didn't even have time for, only to kick myself later for the mess I had created. This is not about never helping other people or doing favors for your mom. This is about being clear what you are committed to in your life and within your day and managing your activities accordingly. If something doesn't fit with your priorities or goals, it is OK to say NO to people. Be honest and clear with them why you won't accept their request so they know it has nothing to do with them personally. They will understand.

On another note, choose who you decide to spend your time with. Negative people that complain about life to others or gossip are a waste of your time beyond their conversation with you. Their negativity and gossip will occupy your thoughts more than you might expect.

Free your mind
As I had mentioned earlier, you will be able to be more productive the less stuff clogs up your mind. This could be anything from meetings, little things you can't forget, promises you've made but didn't keep, stress in your relationship, financial troubles, health concerns etc. It is imperative for you to clean those things up in your life one by one. Get into communications about broken promises and make new ones (make sure to schedule them), resolve relationship friction with the other party, take responsibility for financial or health troubles and work out arrangements to complete them. In other words, being effective with time doesn't just apply to your job but to your entire life as well.


If you follow these steps and put them together on a regular basis they will make a difference in your time management and the quality of your life. Find what works for you, experiment with different systems and make these steps work for you.

Best of luck.

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