Tag: Time

Do you manage your time? A topic that I will keep coming back too, while reading Jim Estill author of CEO Blog-Time Leadership http://www.jimestill.com/ the other day it reminded me to write another blog on my personal experience of time management. Have you ever gone on Time Management (TM) courses? Do you still have the fancy Time Manager folders and stationary? Do you continued to practice all of what you learnt on these courses? As the saying goes, “I have been there and done that”.  I have over many years come across lots of other individuals who would share the experience of going on a TM course and only improving their time management in the short term but has little long-term effect in their working or personal lives. The key difference for me was when I changed my focus from where I was spending my time to where I was wasting my time.  This started to highlight where I was wasting time in both my personal life and work life.  So concentrating on what I did not want to do or where and who I did not want to be around allow me to spend more of my time on what, where and with whom I want to be with.  I placed value on my time and therefore was very reluctant to allow myself and others to waste it.  Remember what gets measure gets done.  Do you value your time? Time management for me is a simple as this if you want to change your behaviour change your point of view towards your time.  The only one who is responsible and can manage your time is you – focus on where, on what and with whom you want to spend your time.  Don’t let others waste your time. Thanks for the image to Thom Allison – http://thomallison1.wordpress.com/2009/07/

I wrote on the 8th February this year about time and now important we must think about how we should use it and not waste it.  I strongly feel that we can all do with a reminder now and again, so here is a short piece that I thought I would share with you. Every morning you are handed 24 golden hours.  They are one of the few things in this world that you get free of charge.  If you had all the money in the world, you couldn’t buy an extra hour.  What will you do with this priceless treasure?  Remember, you must use it, as it is given only once.  Once wasted you cannot get it back.  – Unknown

Ask yourself the following five questions: How important is time to you? Do you know what you spend your time on? Do you waste your time? How much time have you got left on this earth? What will you do from this moment on with the time you have left? One thing that we all have that is equal in this life is there are 60 seconds in one minute and 60 minutes in one hour. This time measurement is given to us equally. It does not matter who or what you are, how clever you are, your colour, you religion or beliefs, if you have money or not, we all have the same measurement in time, 60 minutes in one hour. Yes some of us may spend a longer time on this earth than others and one could say you have received more time than others. It does not matter how long you have  – it is what you do with the time you are given that is important. Remember if you ask somebody for a lend of money say €50 euro, they can always repay you at some point in time and you will get your €50 back. If somebody asks you to spend time with them , say 20 minutes, you will never get this time back in your life. Only you can decide how you spend your time and with whom so don’t waste it. We enter this world with nothing  and we will all leave the same way – with nothing. Maybe we will be asked what did we do with the time we spend here? How will you respond? This may be the only measurement we will be judged against. So from today onward.  don’t let others steal and waste your time and don’t you waste other people’s time. Think of all those minutes that you sat waiting to meet somebody while they kept you waiting out side the office or waiting at other locations. Think about all those times you spend in wasted meetings or doing things that others want you to do,  and you were just to nice to say NO. Concentrate on what, where, and with whom do you want to spend your time? Find out now and just do it- because the majority of us can’t answer question number four. So use your time wisely and with goodness.