Taking Control of Your Time

Time is a precious and limited commodity

Photo by Luke Chesser on Unsplash

Take Control of Your Time by Setting Boundaries

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. – Steve Jobs

Poor time management can cause stress you don’t need in your life.

If people at work or within your family and friends are taking advantage of you by requesting or demanding precious time – it’s time to set boundaries for yourself.

Part of the problem with letting people steal your time from you could be you.

If you allow people to interrupt you at work, let friends call when you’re trying to interact with your family or if a person in a relationship disrespects you by taking advantage of your good nature, you may need to rethink the boundaries you already have in place and create boundaries which would help you regain your time.

Most people who don’t set restrictions on their time become frustrated and feel abused and angry. They may be afraid of hurting someone’s feelings and don’t trust themselves to set and enforce time boundaries.

If you find your time being stolen time and again by people in your life, think about how each instance comes about where your time is stolen by someone else.

There may be a coworker who interrupts you when you’ve got a full workload and can’t spare the time to hear about the travails with her boyfriend or husband. After you set the boundary of not letting anything interrupt you until your work is finished, you should respond clearly and firmly that you are very busy and you’ll call to set another time to talk.

When you’re in a relationship or married to a spouse who does far less than his/her fair share of work around the house or with the kids, the issue should be immediately addressed and you should be clear about needing more time to yourself rather than doing the work of two people.

Families may abuse your time by expecting you to come to all dinners and events – even if the time may be inconvenient to you. Politely and firmly turn down the invitations, but always appreciate them asking you.

Your self-esteem can take a huge spiral downward if you continue to let people take advantage of your time. Many people have a very difficult time saying “No,” for fear they won’t feel appreciated and useful.

The truth is that people will respect you more and you’ll feel much more useful when you take control of your time and put some personal boundaries in place that will improve your health, self-confidence and happiness.

According to studies, only 10% of people feel “in control” of how they spend their time each day.

TIME  MANAGEMENT TIPS

Be aware of where your time goes

For one week keep a record of where your time is spent. There are plenty of phone apps to help you do this if that’s the best solution for you. Make a note of things like time spent on Social Media; reading emails; completing necessary tasks; ‘vegging out’ in front of the TV .. and so on.

Review where your time is being spent

Are you happy with your use of time? Think of YOUR time as a resource, as something that has value and then reflect on where you feel the time is being wasted!

Create a weekly action plan

Use a good old-fashioned diary to keep a note of tasks that need to be done; things you want to do and things you can do for yourself.

After trying various To Do computer and phone apps I have gone back to the good old fashioned diary. I have found the ActionDay planners really useful in focussing on business and personal time management.

Manage Your Technology!

Avoid becoming a slave to your technology. Do you have to check your emails, social media messages and phone calls as regularly as you do? Do you need to ALWAYS be available to respond IMMEDIATELY to the calls of others?

Why not consider the following…

Mobile Phones – set a ringtone for those people in your life that are personally important to you and after a set time each evening ONLY respond to those you want to! Maybe turn your phone OFF at a certain time and everyone know that’s what you do?

My phone is nearly always on silent. I can notice a call, recognise the number and choose whether or not I want to answer it. There’s nothing wrong with expecting people to leave a message WHEN you are actually focusing your time on something you want/need to do!

Facebook/Social Media – consider the real value of scrolling through notifications from everyone who is on your ‘friendship’ list. Social Media is a time-vacuum. Would a phone call to the people you want to stay in touch with be a better serve you and them?

TV, NETFLIX, AMAZON and other such distractions – we all have so many TV channels to choose from and the temptation is to channel-surf. Which in and of itself is not a problem. But are you really engaging with and choosing what you watch? Perhaps be more proactive in what you are exposing yourself to. If you want to watch a movie or a TV programme then watch it. We have the ability to watch most things on demand these days – great. But I know I am guilty of ‘binge-watching’ ‘boxed sets’ of TV programmes.

Have YOU TIME – ensure you have time to enjoy what you’ve been working for; to smell the roses that you have been nurturing!

“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot” - Michael Altshuler

Manage Your Technology!

Avoid becoming a slave to your technology. Do you have to check your emails, social media messages and phone calls as regularly as you do? Do you need to ALWAYS be available to respond IMMEDIATELY to the calls of others?

Why not consider the following…

Mobile Phones – set a ringtone for those people in your life that are personally important to you and after a set time each evening ONLY respond to those you want to! Maybe turn your phone OFF at a certain time and everyone know that’s what you do?

My phone is nearly always on silent. I can notice a call, recognise the number and choose whether or not I want to answer it. There’s nothing wrong with expecting people to leave a message WHEN you are actually focusing your time on something you want/need to do!

Facebook/Social Media – consider the real value of scrolling through notifications from everyone who is on your ‘friendship’ list. Social Media is a time vacuum. Would a phone call to the people you want to stay in touch with be a better serve you and them?

Have YOU TIME – ensure you have time to enjoy what you’ve been working for; to smell the roses that you have been nurturing!

“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four-hour days.” - Zig Ziglar

In Summary…

These 7 Time Management Skills That Will Improve Your Life

• 1 Do a time audit. ...

• 2 Block out distractions.

• 3 Schedule yourself.

• 4 Avoid multitasking.

• 5 Insist that others respect your time.

• 6 Keep your “call to action” in mind.

• 7 Get enough downtime and rest.

Alan /|\