Time Can Be Your Friend

We all have a love / hate relationship with time. Sometimes we want the day to go faster so it will end, and other times we want it to slow down so we can get more done.

Understanding that you are responsible for your time, and how you use it will make you better at managing your time.

There are three qualities that will help you stay in charge of your time:

Awareness - When you are aware of what needs to be done and the time you have to work on those needs, you will have more control and flexibility. The more awareness you have the more you will experience.

Understanding - With awareness comes understanding, but only if you are curious. Asking questions with curiosity leads to expanded understanding. Ask why and how instead of judging and disapproving the things around you. Making time to understand things happening around, will make you more conscience about your time.

Choice - You have the choice to choose the skills and tools that will move you forward one step at a time. Personal choice is your ultimate control. The choices you make will be the result of how you spend your time.

So when you are in situations that you feel are out of your control, stop and become of aware of  what's happening around you, make an effort to understand the situation, and make a choice that is right for you and your time.

Time management is one of those struggles that we all have to deal with during our work day. Adapting these three qualities into your decisions about your time will help you accomplish more each day.

How do you feel about your relationship with time?

Share this time management tip with your social circle.

Your Relationship with Time

Time.

I talk about it a lot on this blog, because it is one of the thing I struggle with most. In this post I shared how this summer my plan is to create a routine, so I can better manage my time.

I have been reading a lot about time management lately, so I can learn new skills to use my time more wisely.

Is time something you struggle with?

Here are three question to ask yourself to evaluate your relationship with time.

How do you feel when you are not managing your time effectively?
What results do you expect when you are managing your time more effectively?
What has to happen in your work day for you to feel good about your productivity?

Your answers should help you figure out how to use your time more effectively. Knowing how you feel, the results you get, and your productivity process, will make a difference in your relationship with time. You will know what to look for and how to implement those techniques on a daily basis.

Do you feel productive everyday?

8 Strategies For Getting Things Done

Procrastination is the main reason we don't get thing done.  We like to blame not getting things done on not having enough time, but in reality we are not always using our time wisely.

You can train yourself to procrastinate less and get more done. 

Here are 8 strategies to motivate you when you need to get things done.

Get Fired Up - This strategy works well when your at the end of your rope and have to get something done. Start by thinking about the consequences that can result from putting things off, and then kick yourself in to action.

Get Organized - getting rid of unnecessary clutter makes it easy to stay on task. There is nothing to distract you and keep you from being productive.

Prioritize - When you declare your project a priority you will be more motivated to get it done.

Find Freedom in Routine - It can be liberating to not have to worry about what you are going to do next. Create your to-do list, set time limits, and stick to it.

Get Comfortable - Wear clothes that are comfortable, and have a comfortable work space. Both great motivators for staying on task.

Use Positive Self-Talk - The messages in our head have a great deal of power over our behavior. When negative thoughts pop in your head, change them to a positive thought. The more you do it the easier it will become.

Focus on Dates, not Due Dates -Think of the day your project will end, not as a deadline but as a day you send it, turn it in, or just stop working on your project. Having a due date or deadline will make you feel rushed and unmotivated.

Break Down Your Big Projects - Chipping away at a project with mini action steps will keep you motivated as you work towards your bigger goal.

Breaking the procrastination habit only takes applying this common sense habits to your everyday life. We know they are important to incorporate into our workday, but until you apply them you will struggle with procrastination.

Start small work on one thing at a time until you have mastered it, and then try another idea.

Need a little help keeping track of all the things you need to do daily, print out this to-do list to make planning your day a little easier.

Printable to-do list

These are all steps I need to work on, but I need to put more effort into creating and keeping a routine.

Which strategy do you struggle with?

Get More From Your Time

It's so easy to go through your day working on projects and crossing things off our lists, but are you connecting to your future in the form of your vision, dreams, and intentions?

Expanding your awareness of time can make your life more fulfilling, and let you experience everything as you work towards your dream.

Here are some simple ideas for expanding your awareness of time.

For a moment you really want to remember take a moment and check in with all your senses. What do you see, smell, hear, taste, and feel?

As you move through your moments throughout your day, stop and ask yourself, "How might I experience this moment a little deeper? Accept the moment a little more fully?"

It is easy to split your focus and think about other things while you are working on something else. Be in the moment. As you walk in a room take a moment to notice where you are and then begin your task.

There are ways to be creative in everything you do, from doing laundry to cleaning the bathroom. Allow yourself to create in everything you do, and feel gratitude for your creative abilities and all the ways they can be expressed.

The easiest way to experience your time fully is to just stop and take a breath. Simply breathing deeply enhances your perception and grounds you in the moment.

Remember that the time you put into the work is the same no matter what the results. Inserting yourself into the moments will let you experience life, your business, and your art in new ways, and create lasting memories.

How will you expand your time?

Your Perfect Chunk of Time

I am guilty of filling my to-do list with simple projects that I know I can complete, but may not be beneficial to helping me creatively or growing my business.

With all these simple tasks over time I may accomplish one of my goals, but I am not really making the progress I want to achieve in the time frame I want for success.

Instead of just doing a bunch of little tasks why not try the SAP method.

S - Smallest
A - Achievable
P - Perfection

With this method you choose one technique or skill you want to achieve (not just improve, but make part of your life) and give it a chunk of time to master.

Let's say you want to create a website. Using the SAP technique you can schedule a block of time for action steps everyday, until your website is up and running. That will become your daily perfect chunk of time.

This technique is perfect for those big long term goals you want to achieve, because a real goal isn't practice; it's progress.

"Don't look for the big, quick improvement. Seek the small improvement one day at a time. That's the only way it happens - and when it happens, it lasts" -John Wooden

Do you have big goal you are working towards this year?

Nightly Ritual

I have a nightly ritual I created for myself to help me wake up less stressed and ready to start my day.

Every night I get in the bed with my notebook and I make a list of all the things I want to get done the next day, and any ideas that came to me throughout out the day.  

This process helps me sleep peacefully, because my mind is clear and I know I have a good plan for the next day. 

I recently added a couple extra steps to my process, a few drops lavender to my pillow to help my mind relax and some quite music to sooth my spirit.

These rituals have really made me a morning person, and when I wake up I am ready to get my day started.

Do you have an evening or morning ritual that inspires you?

You and Your Time

Time is passing regardless of how we think about it, and it's a very personal thing that is part of who we are. Time can never be a "thing" that we measure, stop, save, chase, or kill.

What is your relationship with time?

The three states of time - past, present, and future - affect our feelings about time. Our childhood experiences play a large part of how we feel about time today.

For example when I was young my parents were late all the time, and made my sister, brother, and I late for everything. When I was in the second grade I was the lead of our school play and my Mom got me their so late they had to sneak me on stage.

When I became in control of my own time I did not want to be late for anything, so I spent years arriving to everything early. I have become more relaxed about time as I have gotten older, and taken on some of my parents habits of being late, but only sometimes.

The ideas we place on our future time, in forms of our goals, hopes, and dreams effect our present time. When working towards a goal you want to reach it quickly, and you feel like time is passing to slowly. When you spend your time thinking like this, it makes it challenging to fully experience the present moment.

By understanding your relationship with time, and identifying your needs, you become aware of what you need and how you manage your time.

Remember when you are scheduling your time to include:

• Family time
• Dream time
• Creative time
• Nothing time
• Self-care time
• Relationship time
• Private time
• Planning and prep time

Time is personal to each of us, and yet we are all expected  to keep and follow the same chronological time. Releasing our old thinking about time allows us to personalize our time and make it truly our own.

What is your relationship with time?

New Ways to Think About Time

We measure time with numbers on a clock and squares on a calendar, but what if you measured time not by how long it takes to do something but by how much we learn from doing it.

We know how long something takes, when we have deadlines, and what time to show up at appointments, but what if you allowed yourself to open up opportunities to measure time by something less arbitrary and far more meaningful.

For example:
How much can  you learn
How much joy you feel
How relaxed you feel
How connected are you to what you love to do

If you think about it you have experienced this kind of time before. Think about all the special moments in your life, you remember the intensity of the experience, how it made you feel emotionally, the quality of the color, or even the scents, but rarely how long it took. Our minds seem to automatically assign non-arbitrary time to these moments, but more meaningful experiences about the time spent.

Incorporating these new measurements of time will help you become less aware of the time and more aware of the present moment, unearthing new uplifting beliefs and ideas about time and life.

Do you have another suggestions for measuring time?