Your Self Improvement Blog

Do you have enough time to do all the things that you really should be doing today? Are you a slave to others’ demands at work? Trying to juggle job and family and finding that you’re getting neither done properly? Do you have to take home work at the weekend to “catch up”? Need a little help with time management?

One of the biggest problems with twenty-first century living is that we don’t seem to have enough hours in the day to get everything done. I’m ofent asked, when I propose that people slow down and give themselves the space to be inspired is “are you really suggesting that I slow down when there are already not enough hours in the day?” Yes, I am – you and I need to give ourselves more time to do the important things and let the things that we shouldn’t do just pass us by. How much time are you wasting on stuff that should never get your attention? How many emails do you read that you shouldn’t bother reading at all? Do you get a kick out of feeling important because of the number of emails that you have to deal with?

Many years ago before email, a good friend, a chief executive, went through a difficult divorce which left him with sole custody of two young children – he decided that the children were his Number One priority. He called up his Directors and told them that he wouldn’t be in for three months! Three months later, he came back to an office piled high with paper, left the office again, returned with a roll of trash bags and dumped every single thing! Of all the paper in that room, only one issue came back to bite! The moral of the story – he spent most of his time on things that did not require his attention.

So, we’re expert at allowing others waste our time, we’re experts at wasting our own time. How much time do you spend gossiping – the sort where you revel in others’ misfortune? OK, chit-chat is useful – we often learn important things at the water cooler that we’d otherwise never find out. But negative gossip wastes your time. How much time do you waste wallowing in the bad news in the newspapers? How much time do you waste surfing the ‘net? Do you channel-hop at night? Are you wasting time thinking negative thoughts, worrying, imagining the worst? How much time do you spend bitching about colleagues or jockeying for position in your job instead of doing the job you’re paid to do?

Cut out the crap and you’ll find that you’ve got lots of time to do the important things – with time left over to do some of the things that really turn you on. How will you know what’s crap and what isn’t? A clear and present mind is sharp as a razor’s edge – it knows the difference between something worth doing and all the other crap. A clear and present mind is the one sure way of ensuring that, not only do you cut out the crap, but that, while you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing, you’re wholeheartedly doing it.

Then when you’ve understood what needs doing, just do those things – one thing at a time, one moment at a time. Life is made up of moments – each moment a unique opportunity to fully do what you’re doing, to fully focus and to disregard the things and people that divert you from the opportunity of now. The opportunity? To live life to the full, be fully present, be more effective, more productive and more excited. When you do that, not only will you get all the important things done, you’ll discover that there are even more important things that the universe can do for you.

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