Time Management Program: If You Want to Be Time Rich, Pay Yourself First
Have you come to realize the true value of time from past time management programs you’ve tried? Simply speaking time is more valuable than money because it’s a non-replenishable resource. The great thing is that time is available to everyone, and anyone can have more free time.
To get started with some good time management habits schedule at least one thing each week that is really important and rewarding to you. Emphasize important and rewarding to you. Don’t think about or worry about the things you must do or should do here. If you wanted to purchase a new home and you had zero dollars for a down payment you understand the concept in the financial arena that you have to pay yourself first, or set aside even a small amount of money each week until you reach your target. The same concept works here. If you want to be time rich you have to start by giving yourself a little bit of just plain old free time to do what you want now, or you never will and you’ll never be time rich.
The next step is a common time management practice. Fill in all the must do’s for the week in your calendar. But only fill in things that are absolute requirements, not things that you just think are absolute requirements. For example, you have to go to work or you’ll be cash poor, but you only think you have to do some of the chores you have on your calendar for the week. If there aren’t immediate negative consequences for not doing something it isn’t really a must to.
Don’t forget the hidden time sappers, this is an often overlooked item in your time management training. It takes time to drive to and from work. It takes time to get ready for work. Don’t forget to allocate time in your scheduling to allow for all these little time sappers that seem to slip through the cracks of accountability, and cause all sorts of problems with your scheduling.
Now evaluate everything that didn’t fit in. When you start planning based on how you will spend your time rather how you are spending your time, you quickly realize that you can’t possibly fit everything in. That means if you want to implement an effective time management program that some things are going to have to: get dumped, get delegated, or get moved to a later time. Just evaluate each remaining thing with the objective of first seeing if you can dump it and never do it, be ruthless here. Then identify what someone else can do and get them doing it. Finally, only focus on the things that must be done this week and move other things to a later more appropriate time.
Time management is a battle you can win. As you start to reward yourself by allocating free time for yourself first your incentive to guard your time against the things that are time sappers strengthens. It gets easier to say no to those things because you just don’t have time for them. As you get more ruthless in your dumping and delegating, and more committed to paying yourself in time first you develop the skills and habits you need to be time rich.
To get started with some good time management habits schedule at least one thing each week that is really important and rewarding to you. Emphasize important and rewarding to you. Don’t think about or worry about the things you must do or should do here. If you wanted to purchase a new home and you had zero dollars for a down payment you understand the concept in the financial arena that you have to pay yourself first, or set aside even a small amount of money each week until you reach your target. The same concept works here. If you want to be time rich you have to start by giving yourself a little bit of just plain old free time to do what you want now, or you never will and you’ll never be time rich.
The next step is a common time management practice. Fill in all the must do’s for the week in your calendar. But only fill in things that are absolute requirements, not things that you just think are absolute requirements. For example, you have to go to work or you’ll be cash poor, but you only think you have to do some of the chores you have on your calendar for the week. If there aren’t immediate negative consequences for not doing something it isn’t really a must to.
Don’t forget the hidden time sappers, this is an often overlooked item in your time management training. It takes time to drive to and from work. It takes time to get ready for work. Don’t forget to allocate time in your scheduling to allow for all these little time sappers that seem to slip through the cracks of accountability, and cause all sorts of problems with your scheduling.
Now evaluate everything that didn’t fit in. When you start planning based on how you will spend your time rather how you are spending your time, you quickly realize that you can’t possibly fit everything in. That means if you want to implement an effective time management program that some things are going to have to: get dumped, get delegated, or get moved to a later time. Just evaluate each remaining thing with the objective of first seeing if you can dump it and never do it, be ruthless here. Then identify what someone else can do and get them doing it. Finally, only focus on the things that must be done this week and move other things to a later more appropriate time.
Time management is a battle you can win. As you start to reward yourself by allocating free time for yourself first your incentive to guard your time against the things that are time sappers strengthens. It gets easier to say no to those things because you just don’t have time for them. As you get more ruthless in your dumping and delegating, and more committed to paying yourself in time first you develop the skills and habits you need to be time rich.