Are You A Time User Or A Time Waster?

If you are like me, you've often wished there were more hours in a day instead of just 24. There never seems to be enough time to get everything done that you want. Since we just have about 16 hours a day not counting sleep time, it's important how we use the time we have.

On average, people waste about 2 hours a day. This is mainly from poor planning. If a person is unorganized, they waste time trying to find things, they miss appointments, they try to multi task, doing multiple things inefficiently.

Good time management is a major building block to success. Oftentimes, it's not how much time we spend working but how efficiently we do the work. The key to successful time management is careful planning and setting priorities.

Plan your day, your week, and your month in advance. Know when things need to be done. A great way to buy time is to prioritize your task. Don't do more than one thing at a time. There are some things that do not require concentrated mental effort. These are more easily combined should you truly need to multi task. Still prioritize the work.

"Failing to plan is planning to fail."

- unknown

Even though I am a big pro football fan, I can't justify sitting down and spending three hours watching a game. I have to be doing other things while I do it. Thank goodness for instant replay! I've found this is a good time to spend planning for the upcoming week or some other busy work. I love reading. I exercise about 50 minutes a day so during my workout I listen to audiobooks or podcasts. You can listen to books to help you hone your craft or podcast related to your field.

When you run errands try to do as many as you can on one trip. If you are self-employed, you can combine personal errands that are on the way to a business errand and have the mileage written off as a business expense.

I've been fortunate to have been able to work at home for the past ten years. It's been great because I hate to waste time commuting. If you must commute, you can use the time to listen to audio books or anything educational.

If you are a regular exerciser and belong to a gym, you may think about working out at home if you are committed to saving time and getting a full 8 hrs of sleep. If you lack the space and money for exercise equipment, try traditional body weight exercises. A little research on the Internet can show you websites devoted to this subject. Even though I lifted weights for 20 years, I still enjoy going to a gym. I listen to my audio book or podcast and get in a great workout.It's actuall my fun time y. Of course, if you go to the gym to socialize or network, that's okay. You're doing more than one thing at a time. You can go walking with your wife. That way you're getting exercise and husband/wife interaction at the same time.

Setting priorities enables you to get the most important things done. Keep you eye on the big picture. Don't let low priority things bump off the higher priority tasks from your schedule. If you've only got so much time, it's imperative you spend your time doing the things that bring you the most benefit.

"Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least."

 -Goethe

Time is so precious. If you want to be successful in life you need to be spending more time being productive and doing things that are moving you forward. Spending hours a day watching TV, playing computer games, or surfing the Internet is not productive time usage. We all need downtime but you need to determine how much is really necessary. If you use your productive time efficiently then you will have more time to relax and do the fun things.