Procrastinating, Mismanaged Time, Etc.

[Christopher]

I cannot manage my time effectively. I put too much effort into things that are not important and little into what is. As you can see I've been posting less lately, another victim of my erratic schedule. What about you? Do you have these problems, and if so, what are you doing to help yourself? I'd love some tips.

[Fat Tires]

There are a lot of tips that you can follow for better time management and productivity. I've found that I needed to write every appointment down, and I've created certain time brackets for daily routine items. I use a combination of Outlook and my PDA to keep my schedule straight. I also use a hybrid of the Steven Covey and David Allen time management philosophies.

I'd recommend looking into the Covey book, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People," I've read it, I'd mail it to you now if it wasn't in storage where I can't get to it for a month or two. Allen has written some books too, but I can't comment on them, I just leech tips from his site. There's a Yahoo group dedicated to Allen's philosophy of time management.

Here are a couple of links to tips that have been useful to me.

Ways to make a PDA useful as a time management tool

David Allen's Getting Things Done site

I hope that some of this helps you out.

[MusicBringer]

This is similar to the question people ask about where does my money go. You are asking where does your time goes. The problem is we ALL have the same amount of hours in the day. To some it's too much to others it's not enough. You cannot buy any if you are short, you cannot sell time if you have too much (like sitting in a hospital bed all day). You are stuck with 24/7 whether you like it or not.

Anyway, my advise to you is the same advise I give to folk who cannot budget their cash. Write It Down. Make a note of what you do. Break it up into 15min slots, put it into categories. Record *everything* for a week. Then look back on what you have spent time (or money) doing.

From that you can say yes that was good use of time/money, or NO. I shall nor spend my time doing so and so again. You choose How you spend Your time.

And if others are demanding your own time, try saying yes ok - but not now. I've this to finish first. It is good to finish what you have started.

That reminds me I just started a beer. I think I'll apply myself to the task in hand and finish my beer. Cheers!

Edited March 10, 2005 by MusicBringer

[Mikami]

Yeah, I had and still have that problem from time to time. I think if you want to use time effectively know who you are, and knowing that will help to define what you are to do. So:

(1)Think about what is most important to you.

(2)Think what your short term and long term goals are.

(3)Then make a to do list for the next day(with the above in mind), And always make sure that you make time for rest! and time for play!That should be on the to do list.

In general get your obligations and responsiblites out of the way as fast as possible each day. Enless, your obligations are things that you enjoy doing. Like Relationships! They are an enjoyable obligation. So, make sure to make plenty of time for nuturing your important relationships. Because, how your important relationships are going can effect your emotions and in turn effect everything else.

And, finally allways make sure you are clear about your true goals, then nothing and no one can ever side track your off of your clear path. But make sure it is a tenitive and felixible path.

GOOD LUCK,

Mikami

[Fat Tires]

Mikami, those tips are very much inline with the Steven Covey ideas.

[Mikami]

Mikami, those tips are very much inline with the Steven Covey ideas.

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Really? I will have to read his books sometime. I am sure I might be able to find something he has written on the Japanese version of Amazon.com. I think I will check that out soon.

till next time,

Mikami