From the beginning mankind has endeavored to make better use of time as evidenced by the recording and tracking of time. Beginning with the sundial to the modern calendar, the need to manage time has been a matter of great concern, in the personal as well as the professional arenas of life, for thousands of years.

Time management today integrates diverse methods of recording time, helping to identify obstacles to the efficient use of time. Constructive use in making long and short term goals is the best and easiest way to manage time. There are numerous methods that can be used to help organize and prioritize the goals to be achieved.

The major element in the overall effective use of time is incorporating essentials of the goal setting process. By setting goals and implementing them, in your professional and personal life, you can effectively manage your time and, as a result, become more productive.

“Goals” is a term that includes many specific obligations that need to be accomplished by a certain time-frame; such as household chores on the personal side, and important professional proposals on the professional side. Depending on the amount of time you have to finish them, these obligations are either short-term, medium-term, or long-term.

Short term goals would be your daily goals such as household chores and projects that need to be finished immediately. Using effective management in short-term goals means that a list is created and each goal on that list is completed on a daily basis.

Medium-term goals are usually goals that need to be accomplished in one week to one month. Depending on the amount of time needed to complete these goals, they can be broken down in smaller segments, which you would complete on a daily basis. For example, if you have a project that needs 6 to 7 hours to complete over a one week period, you could break it down into one hour per day increments.

Long-term goals generally take months or years to complete. They would include such things as getting a college degree over a four year period or building your own house over a 6 month period. Long-term goals can and should be broken down into daily, weekly, monthly and even yearly segments.

Let’s take the example of a four year college degree. You will need to research your financial options, register for classes, take and pass required subjects, complete your homework, etc. Thus long-term goals are made easier and less daunting when broken down into smaller segments and completing them one step at a time until the final goal is reached — in this case, your college degree.

Effective time management skills include setting deadlines. Its important to set shorter deadlines for each phase of your long term goals by breaking them down into smaller, more manageable parts. This is the planning process and it requires that you make a commitment to yourself to meet your long term goals.

Imagine there is a bank that credits your account each morning with 86,400.

It carries over no balance from day to day.

Every evening deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day.

What would you do?
Draw out every cent, of course!!!!

Each of us has such a bank. Its name is TIME.
Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds.
Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose.
It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft.
Each day it opens a new account for you.
Each night it burns the remains of the day.
If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours.
There is no going back.
There is no drawing against the “tomorrow”.
You must live in the present on today’s deposits.
Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness, and success!

The clock is running.
Make the most of today.
To realize the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who failed a grade.
To realize the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who gave birth to a pre-mature baby.

To realize the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realize the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.
To realize the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who missed the train.
To realize the value of ONE SECOND, ask a person who just avoided an accident.
To realize the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal in the Olympics.

Treasure every moment that you have! And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time.

And remember that time waits for no one.
Yesterday is history
Tomorrow is mystery
Today is a gift
That’s why it’s called the present!!

Author Unknown

What is Procrastination?

Simply put procrastination is putting something off till later. It’s deciding not to do something at that given moment. Overtime people begin to procrastinate out of habit.

It’s interesting to note the origin of the word. It comes from the Latin words pro and cras, which can be translated as “Belong to Tomorrow“.

There are several reasons why people procrastinate. It could be fear of failure or success; lack of knowledge, time or resources; or we simply just don’t want to do it.

Don’t fool yourself that important things can be put off till tomorrow;
they can be put off forever, or not at all.
Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic’s Notebook, 1960

The Rationale Behind Our Procrastination …

* Difficult – We perceive it as difficult – such as losing weight, quitting smoking, exercising, or that major project …

* Overwhelming – We are overwhelmed – This is usually because of either the mental or physical clutter around the task. We think it’s going to take forever to complete.

* Boring – Yawnnn. We are not interested in doing it. We don’t’ want to do it. This could be menial tasks such as filing, housecleaning, maintenance on a vehicle, feeding the dog

I only mention feeding the dog, because when my son was about 6 or 7 he thought feeding the dogs was so boring. We’d send him outside to feed the dogs – he’d be gone for an hour, come back in the house, we’d ask “Did you feed the dogs?” He’d say “Ooops, I forgot.”

* Complex – The task is long term and has a lot of steps, such as a long complicated project like writing a book, building a house, building a business. You may begin this task with good intentions, but you soon lose focus, tire and give up – you’re putting it off, Why?

* Indecision – we just can’t make up our mind what we want to do. This can be good and bad – my husband likes to research all of the pros and cons before he makes a decision.

* Perfectionism – We put it off until we can do it perfectly. It’s time to stop trying to be perfect.  Once you do, you’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish! This used to be me …

I remember one Christmas when I was 6 years old that I had to sweep the floor for over an hour till it met my dad’s approval. Another time I vacuumed the living room for 3 solid hours under my dad’s critical eye. This gave me some weird cleaning quirks. My family calls it Cindy Clean. When I first got married, my house was either filthy or spotless, because I wouldn’t clean it unless I knew I had the time to do it perfectly. (Thank God, I’ve grown a lot since then!)

If you procrastinate it doesn’t mean you lazy, undisciplined, or irresponsible. Don’t let negative self talk get you down. If you’re in the habit of procrastinating You can Learn “How to Stop Procrastination” with this course written by one of the worlds leading experts.

12 Steps to Stop Procrastination

1. Get Organized – If you’re living with clutter get rid of it! It’s easy to let things pile up in today’s hectic world. For some quite tips on organization check out The Definitive Guide to Home Organization for Busy People written by one of the worlds leading experts.

2. Keep All Your Projects and Goals in One Place – You need to have a notebook or file on your computer where you keep these in. Make it something simple that you will and can refer to. List all your goals and projects i.e.: Lose 20 pounds, Remodel bathroom, write business plan, clean out your junk drawer or junk room.

3. Prioritize – Now that you have ALL your projects in one place, you need to prioritize them. What’s the most important thing for you to do first, second etc. While prioritizing you may want to keep in mind how long the task might take. If something is going to take one day, you may want to place that above and item that will take a month.

4. Schedule Blocks of Time to Work – this must be a time that you can focus 100% on the task at hand.

5. Know Your Desired Outcome – What is your objective? What are you trying to achieve? How will it benefit you? What will it look/feel/taste like?

6. Be Realistic – Any goal you set for yourself needs to be realistic. If you don’t believe it can be done, then you’ll not be able to do it – because your subconscious will not allow you to.

7. Give Yourself a Deadline – Don’t expect to lose 30 pounds in a month, build a business in a week, or remodel your kitchen in a weekend. Realistically determine how long it should take you and set your deadline. If absolutely needed, you can always extend it, but you’ll discover with proper scheduling this will be rare.

8. One Bite at a Time – Anything can be accomplished when you focus on one small bite at a time. Create a list of everything single action needed to accomplish your goal. Then begin working on one little thing at a time.

9. Complete Unpleasant Tasks First – Many people find that once they do the unpleasant it’s much easier to focus on the rest. Brian Tracy explains this concept clearly in his book Eat That Frog.

10. Discipline Yourself – Complete one task before going on to the next. Don’t let anything or anyone distract you. Like the phone, the TV, the computer, Email, YouTube, or surfing the web.

11. Its Finished – Once it’s done it’s done. Don’t obsess over it. Don’t spend time trying to tweak it or perfect it. Let it be. If absolutely necessary you can always change it later.

12. Just Do It – Get started now! – Ok I know this could’ve/should’ve been #1, but so many people will plan – plan -plan and never get started. So now that you know the steps GET BUSY.

Reward yourself after you complete a task. This could be something as simple as a warm cinnamon roll and a cup of coffee, to a long soak in the tub, or watching your favorite TV show or game. The most menial tasks are more bearable when you have something to look forward to.

First off let me explain why you need an effective to-do list:

Imagine you’re at the grocery store.  You reach into your pocket for your shopping list and it’s not there!  Frantically your start rummaging through your purse – it’s not there either.  So what do you do?  Normally we just wing it and will most likely forget something that we needed.

Have you ever forgotten an appointment, or to pick up the dry cleaning, or make the car payment?

Many of us will write little notes and lists – maybe on those little sticky pads – and then we lose them. This results in us purchasing unneeded items and forgetting to do something important.

If you’re anything like me you dislike the traditional to-do lists – where everything you need to do is listed on one long big list.  Just looking at it would make me tired!  It definitely didn’t motivate me to accomplish anything because it was overwhelming and appeared unmanageable.

The number one key to creating an effective to-do list is to decide on a system you can live with …
- If it fits your lifestyle it will save you time and energy
- If it doesn’t it will  add unneeded stress to your life

• If you like to cross things off use a date book, calendar or spiral bound notebook that travels with you
• If you like stickies then organize them on a wall calendar – or stick them in your date book
• Get a PDA and use it for all your lists, and contacts
• Create a checklist on your computer with a spreadsheet like Excel or use Google Calendar

Tips on writing Effective To-Do Lists:

1. Get all the scraps of paper you have laying around and put them in one place
2. Next you’ll transfer the information into your newly developed system
3. Think of any and everything that you want to accomplish and things you’ve been putting off – Add them to your list
4. Be sure to list your personal and family goals – this will help you stay focused and on track
5. Separate the to-do list into categories: Calls to make, Things to buy, Appointments, Errands, Goals etc
6. List each to-do item in its category
7. Prioritize to-do items by giving them a time limit – Does it need to be done within a day, a week, a month, 3 months or a year?
8. Check off items once completed.  You may want to highlight them, for easy reference of all that you have accomplished.

Revisit your to-do list regularly; be sure to continually update the time limit.  Don’t put it under a year and then leave itthere forever.  You’ll want to keep it active by placing it under 3 months then 1 month and finally on your weekly list.

On a weekly basis, you’ll want to create a general list stating what items you would like to accomplish in the upcoming week. Be sure to include some long term items on your list.

Every night you’ll want to develop a to-do list for the next day.  Be sure to make time for daily tasks such as taking the kids to school or cooking dinner. Writing your to-do list the night before helps you go to sleep with a clear mind.

Nightly, mark off the items you completed that day from your weekly list.

Here are some additional tips for creating effective to-do lists:

• Keep a running list of groceries needed by putting a clipboard or magnetic board on your refrigerator.  Have family members write down items that are needed.
• Get a cork-board or magnetic calendar and put it in a place that the entire family can access.  Write down family outings, chores, and things that need to be done such as changing the light bulbs or the smoke alarm.
• Keep a list of continuous activities on your to-do list – such as losing weight, staying organized or saving for your family vacation.  Refer to it often and keep working towards your goals.
• Know that “life happens”.  There will be times that you are unable to accomplish everything on your list – perhaps even nothing.
• Don’t make your daily schedule so tight that you can’t add in a phone call from a loved one, or take time to play with your kids – or listen to them excitedly chatting about their day, or going on a spontaneous date with your spouse.
• Be sure to make time for yourself on a daily basis.  Taking time out will keep you going and give you the energy needed to accomplish everything that needs to be done.

Try to get out of the habit of writing things down on bits of paper.  Once lost, you’ll be hard pressed to remember what you wrote down.

Writing effective to-do lists are vital tools which, when used properly, can allow you to accomplish tasks you have schedule for the day, remove the stress, and keep everything on track.