Time is life’s biggest and richest resource, available to all of us daily. It is what we do with it that is important. So often our days are shortened and muddled by numerous time wasters that we don’t realize are there.

Managing your time more effectively is easy once you’ve identified your own time wasters. With this accomplished, you will have taken first step to eliminating those time wasters and getting on path to rewarding yourself with a precious gift – two hours you have been losing every day.

Start slowly and remember, you gotta have fun doing it; so look out time wasters – this is your time!!

Your Home

The answer is in your home, where your day begins and ends. Starting with your bedroom. As simple as it sounds, an unmade bed is clutter. If you launch your day in a cluttered room, your entire day will feel cluttered and unclear. Your bedroom should be a tranquil place, like your mind on cruise ship. When your bedroom, closet, bathroom and dresser drawers are organized, you have achieved first step in taking control of your time. This personal space is model and sets tone to organize and manage your home and workplace. When you have accomplished this you are TIME READY. Ready, organized, and prepared to take advantage of opportunities. There is no greater feeling than returning to an organized space at end of each day, one that is calm and relaxing, and gives you that cruise-ship moment.

Planning and Storing Time When your home and workplace are organized you are ready to plan. Failing to plan is planning to fail. TIME AWARENESS – a skill that evolves from managing your time. Being aware of what you can realistically accomplish in one hour or one day. A task list is a time-management tool. A daily task list is like a road map. Driving without one in unfamiliar territory causes time loss. The result of planning and managing your daily task is time control, having time on your side. When you do this you have extra time, two hours of wasted time before you had time under control.

Productive Hours

We all have in us what I call TIME EFFICIENCY. These are peak periods in our morning, afternoon, or evening. When you discover this source—your peak period— you will find that your mind and body will perform with more clarity, and that your coordination and energy level will feel like that of an athlete. Plan your personal and work activities during these hours. If you have a difficult decision to make, a challenging meeting, a document, presentation to create or an important conversation on personal matters, do them when you are at your best and you will experience pleasure of success and relief. This use of your most productive hours will provide you with additional confidence to make your rhythm work in speed around you.

Procrastination

How does procrastination play a roll in organizing and taking control of time? It delays progress. Why does it exist? Fear. Putting things off because they are too difficult, too overwhelming. Why does this happen? Mostly because of overload, taking on too much, resulting in too many pending and incomplete tasks. Procrastination contributes to time loss. A good way to manage procrastination is by prioritizing. When you have identified your most productive hours of your day, schedule challenging tasks in that period.

Clutter

Let’s talk more about clutter. It’s everywhere. Clutter can take control of your life. It mutates, changes and appears differently. It exists in your fridge, pantry, closets, drawers, bathrooms, purse, wallet, briefcase, pockets, file folders, desk, and car. It can have an exhausting effect. Clutter causes VISUAL OVERLOAD. It's a mind clogger. How do you control it? By stopping it before assault. Simple examples of daily infiltrators are mail, magazines, newspapers, packages, shopping bags, groceries, grocery bags, cleaning, new clothes, athletic items, and toys. The only way to fend off onslaught is to stop it upon entry. Go on offensive. Mail that has built-in categories is easy to deal with—catalogs, junk mail, magazines, important. If you pick up your mail at post office, sort it there. Saves time and stops clutter building. If it is delivered to your home, sort it upon entry. Evaluate magazines you really read, not what you think you like or may read. Magazines are an expense. If you add up your annual subscription fees, which you probably don't even know, they could be between $600.00 and $1000.00. Magazines, junk mail, catalogs, and newspapers are biggest clutter builders. If you are not buying from catalog companies, call them and ask for your name to be removed from their list. If you are not reading your daily newspapers, you don't need them. If you find that you are keeping several magazines partially read, it means that your interest level is not high enough. If you don't have a recycling area to collect what has been read, you need one.

Clarity and Clear Mind

When you have your life organized, you have clarity, which allows your mind to roam free and think thoughts other than: “Now where did I leave that remote?” By clearing clutter, you’re also freeing mind, relieving stress and things that add to our frustrations. Suddenly your mind is clear of negative thinking “Boy this house is a mess.” And in its place are more serene thoughts, those cruise ship moments that, by way, can add up to a full cruise.

Happy Sailing!