time management?

[Charlie]

Hi,

I know many of us are very busy people. I’d like to know how do you organize your life so that everything you want and need to do, gets done? Thanks!

[Coach Tran]

Charles,

I don't waste time. There are many time wasters like the TV, the net; etc. I make decisions on how to spend my time based on my principles and beliefs. If you follow your moral compass and clean up the junk, you will have plenty of time to do what brings you greater joy, peace, and happiness.

[Coach Gostnell]

Short and to-the-point advice, Brother Bao.

To expand a little, some activities aren't junk, but maybe aren't high priority either. If it's ordered in my own mind each day what is where on the scale of importance, it's easier to be sure to do the high priority stuff, while there's a better chance some of the bottom-of-the-list items may get done also.

Implementing "Effective efficiency" is another way, not only to exercise well, but also to "make" time, especially for those domestic things in your life that must be done, but perhaps aren't being accomplished in optimum fashion.

Can you do it in one trip instead of two? Say, having your list ready, and picking up groceries on the way home from work. It's a drag, but so is making that separate trip to the store. Do you have a list? That can save hours right there.

We found a funny old book at a yard sale about building outhouses. The guy wrote, "Always put the outhouse on the far side of the stovewood pile. There's not a housewife alive who will walk past a woodpile without bringing in a couple sticks, saving YOU many trips over time." Yep, housewives - the term is sounding somewhat archaic, even to me - used to be that way.

Look around for ways to be a "housewife" - no need to make separate trips to the outhouse AND the woodpile, when you can do both at once! :D

[Coach Tran]

Charles,

I forgot to ask. How is your own personal time management skills? Are you suffering because you do not have enough time to do what you want? What is your own time management tips? I have read a lot of business time management books. I read these books so I could learn to be a productive and successful person. (It appears to me that we're always feeling a state of lack but I have wondered if we started thinking the opposite, would our life any different???) I have also read biographies of success men and women that I have admired. Basically, the biggest tip in these book boil down to doing what needs to get done and not doing stuff do you don't need to do. Simple, but very hard to master. It is adding by subtraction. I look foward in reading your experience and insight on time management.

[Coach Flanagan]

Another point that can be useful - Cycling different personal projects you're working on. Just like you cannot succesfully address every fitness attribute and skill in one training cycle, many interests can also be cycled in this way. Another simple one - but one that can be effective for insuring you are enthusiastic about what you're working on as well as not overextending yourself on a daily basis.

[JasonE]

Coach Sonnon has been interrogated about his ability to complete so many disparate projects simultaneously while maintaining an amazingly high level of online writing and forum involvement. The key word mentioned in one of his responses was "synchronicity." In short, he said that he looks for ways to pursue multiple goals in a way that progress on one contributes towards progress on several others too.

I've thought much about this approach, and have been applying it to my dual careers as athletic trainer and bodyworker. My continuing ed, personal library, and choices regarding many off-work activities have much more in common than they used to, and I am getting a lot more done than I used to. I have also come to look at what I have in my home, and realized that many things had outlived their usefulness, so I am actively getting rid of belongings that no longer serve my needs. Aside from clearing much-needed shelf space, the shedding of useless objects is as much a relief as shedding useless pounds, making it easier to stay organized and focused, and thus more efficiently productive.

I still struggle with prioritizing projects, and have too many incomplete things on my back burner to be satisfied. But where I used to feel overwhelmed I now just feel busy... and much less stressed.

[David Nicol]

Another little tip thats helped me is planning. I'm quite a disorganised person by nature so if I have a lot to get through I'll plan things almost to the minute. For instance I had to do a lot of training last April and May for a trip to train with HC Wilson at the beginning of June. I also had law exams at the same time which required 85% of my time in the library doing work. All I did was to plan exactly when I would train in a time that would cause as little disruption as possible to my studies, and not even THINK about doing anything else. Coach Tran and the others have given you some fantastic advice, but the recurring theme is the mental element. Once you decide your goals are attainable and you're going to do them, you WILL achieve them!

Dave

[babyseal]

Take a look at http://zenhabits.net for some ideas.
Specifically http://zenhabits.net/2007/11/zen-to-done-the-simple-productivity-e-book/


Peace
Andrew

[rockky]

thanks for that....a message I needed to hear.

[Dan]

Great thread.

Choosing how we spend our time is pretty much as an important decision as we each get to make.

For me, this is a definitely an area where I still need to make lots of improvements.

Things that work well for me (when I'm doing them)...
big (important)things first
no excuses
no TV after 9 on weekdays, &
a bit of a system (i'm a big fan of Brian Tracy's Eat That Frog as a very simple, workable view of time management).

Things that don't work...
excuses
time wasters, &
no system.

What I still don't understand is why sometimes I stop doing what works... I'm still working on my diet and I suspect that when I get that dialed in, I'll be operating off a more stable platform.

Cheers

[Charlie]

Coach Tran -- I don't waste time on the TV, but I must admit that I easily spend far too much time on the internet, that could be spent more productively elsewhere

jeanne -- Prioritizing a list of things to do sounds good ... I need a method of how to not forget the little infrequent things though, those that are still important.

Coach Tran -- How are my personal time management skills, you ask? Pretty piss-poor actually; I have no tips to impart. Unfortunately I often procrastinate, sometimes by actually doing useful things ... but still hiding from the more-important stuff. Procrastinating is probably my biggest obstactle that I need to overcome.

How about the business time-managment book "Getting Things Done", do you know that one? It seems to be getting rave reviews.

Sean Flanagan -- I like your idea of cycling projects! I have a bunch that I would like to do, but its overwhelming to consider them all. Eg. I want to build recumbent bicycles for my boy and my wife, develop the habit of using Supermemo software, plan & implement a home-education program for my kids to supplement their public schooling, finish my degree, create a SM learning-set for first-aid & Japanese, learn to play guitar, finish some learning-packages for work, et cetera et cetera ... not enough time in a day or a week to do all that, plus the many others

Babyseal & Dan -- thanks for the tips, and I will look into those books!

[Ryan Murdock]

How about the business time-managment book "Getting Things Done", do you know that one? It seems to be getting rave reviews.

Highly recommended.

The system can be a bit of a pain to set up (that takes a bit of time), but once in place it works very well, with minimal fuss. There's a wiki summary (http://wikisummaries.org/Getting_things_done) of the book if you want more info.

It can also be adapted and tweaked so that it's more suited to specific endeavours. This guy (http://www.antonyjohnston.com/gtw/)tweaked a version to suit writers and freelancers.

We're going to address this whole question of Time Management in the "Ask the Faculty" section of the next issue of RMAX Magazine as well, so stay tuned for a couple of the faculty coaches takes on that.

[Ryan Murdock]

http://www.rmaxinternational.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16455

Ask and it shall be given...;)

And more on this topic in the Ask the Faculty column of the upcoming issue of RMAX Magazine.

Hope that's helpful! :)