Control Your Time

It’s been said that time is one of life’s most precious commodities. This truth is no truer to those who run businesses, meet with clients, and do the nearly impossible…have a life. The demands of your day to day work activity, partnered with the pressure to excel and be great don’t always pair well together. It is quite hard to manage.

Don’t mention the fact that you are trying to stay (get) healthy. So, you have to get in that gym or take a walk, but who has time for that? The goals we set often seem unattainable due to the simple fact that doesn’t have good control of our time.

Well, this year we are going to achieve those goals. We are going to excel in our careers and our personal lives. And we will do this by controlling our time. Let’s look at three simple ways we can better manage our time.

• Go To Sleep - Now you may be saying to yourself, ‘how does going to sleep help me manage my time better?’. Well, sleep and proper rest won’t actually give you more time on your calendar (it may actually take some), but going to sleep will allow you to be more productive in the hours you are awake, therefore allowing you to complete tasks promptly and hereby giving you more time to work with. And don’t trip, you know you loved my usage of the words therefore and hereby. I was trying to slip a ‘hereunto’ in there, but I figured that’s enough for the day. A sleep study in 2018, shows that there is a direct correlation between lack of sleep and sleep symptoms and work productivity loss. Check it out for yourself. Of course, it’s up to you to get to bed at a reasonable time, but may I suggest a couple of things: 1) Get a wind-down routine. A bath or shower. A glass of your favorite drink. A good book (or blog). It helps mentally prepare your body to rest. Also, 2) cut down on screen time when going to bed. Your body doesn’t shut down during sleep, nor does the subconscious. Often times bad sleep can be attributed to the scrolling you just did on Instagram or the show you just watched. So, get away from it. And lastly, I suggest 3) no large meals after 8pm. And I know that is hard, but your body has less and less time to break that food down and therefore that food sits and fights back. You know those dreams you have after ribs at 10pm. Yeah, you know. Cut it out.
• Use a Calendar App - Can you account for the time in your day? Do you often store the day’s activities in your head? Do you often get to the end of the day and say ‘what did I even do today?’ Well, if you do you could benefit from using a calendar app. Most phones (even android devices) have a calendar app. Most are very intuitive and very easy to use and can help you better manage your time. Not only does it help you manage your time, but most calendar apps allow you to share calendars so you and a friend or your loved one can be connected. Of course, there are many types of calendar apps, so I suggest taking the time to find one that works for you and your world.
• Learn to say no…TO YOURSELF - No, you do not need to do that right now. Nope, no need to have that convo at this moment. Nah, you are not going to die if you say no to that meeting. I’ve found in my career and in leading people that many people don’t like saying no. They make it seem as if it is a negative thing when in reality saying no to something usually gives allowance to something else. This ‘no’ syndrome as I just named it is even worse when it comes to how we handle and prioritize ourselves. Our failure to say to no to things or even to ourselves is what makes our time uncontrollable. And you can’t manage what you don’t have control of. Dr. F. Diane Barth L.C.S.W wrote, “Sometimes we do things that make others feel better, even if it’s not quite what we want to do.” I’m sure you want to accomplish your goals. You want to finish your tasks. Of course, you do. You want to do those things. Well, accomplishing those goals starts with managing your time, and that begins with saying ‘no’ to things, so you can make time for things that will help you achieve and become what you set out to become.

You’ve heard the adage ‘time got away from me.’ I’m sure you have. Don’t let those words be used this year. The only way anything can get away from you is if you don’t have control of it. And this year, we are going to control our time and accomplish the goals we’ve set out to accomplish.