There’s no denying that time is a precious thing and that for most people there is just never enough of it. Even the most organised person seldom finds time to do the little – yet important – tasks on their unwritten ‘to do list’.
If I had an extra hour a day, there are so many things I could get round to doing. Some of these would still be ‘chores’, like getting my wardrobe sorted out and clearing out the clutter in the bedroom. Some of them would be much more enjoyable and quite important on a personal level, such as sorting out our family photographs and organising them into photo albums to browse through with the children – an activity they love very much, yet don’t get to do very often. Other activities would be enriching to my soul and body, such as taking up dancing or getting stuck into the novel that I have wanted to write since I was ten years old.
One way of creating more time to do things that truly matter is to learn the basics of good time management, using the classic time management grid, which helps you to prioritise tasks into “urgent and important; important, but not urgent; urgent, but not important; and neither important nor urgent” . Another simple rule to follow is what is known as the ‘pareto principle’ or the 80/20 rule, which means that results gained from a number of activities are usually a result of a relatively small percentage of the total activities. What are the most productive activities in your daily routine, if you think about the ‘big picture’ of what you want to achieve in your job, your career or even in life?
Now we are getting into the serious questions – when was the last time you sat down and just thought about what you really want out of life? It is so easy to get stuck in the rut of our daily routines that we sometimes forget to take stock of what we have achieved so far and where we are going – and as the saying goes – if you don’t know where you are going, how will you ever know when you get there?
According to the famous self-help guru, Jack Canfield (author of Chicken Soup for the Soul) “there are only two words that will always lead you to success. Those words are yes and no. Undoubtedly, you’ve mastered saying yes. So start practicing saying no”. This means delegating and if you need someone trustworthy to delegate some of your daily tasks to there’s no-one better to ‘unload on’ than a lifestyle management professional.
Perhaps you are one of the lucky few who manage to find time for everything you want to do, but have someone special in your life who could really use such a gift. Perhaps the gift they would treasure most of all is some of your time….
What would you do if someone were to give you the gift of time? Please share your thoughts here, or send us an email, if you prefer.