Dr Kem Thompson

Your time is one asset that you can't afford to mess with -- once it's gone, it's gone. Learn to respect your time, and your use of it will be wiser. It is important for you to educate those around you to value your time as well.

Truth be told, you can't 'manage time'. What you can do however, is manage and discipline yourself to use it wisely. That's why, even though we each have 24 hours in a day, some people accomplish more than others within the same time frame. The ones who do more in 24 hours are those who've learnt how to manage themselves in their use of time. This can be you, you know.

Even though it sometimes seems as though there's not enough time to get everything done, you can get everything done if you manage yourself well enough in the way you use your time.

Here's a hint: you have to be ruthless about this. Your time is yours to protect and value. Nobody can waste your time unless you permit them to. So it's up to you to permit (or not) distractions to happen.

The following tips will help you use your available time better.

1. Create to-do lists.
   For these to make sense, you've got to have a goal that you're working towards. Once you've got your goal in place, begin making lists of things to do. Start with a master  list of as many things you can think of, things you need to do or want to do.  Then begin to prune it down to things that need to be done monthly, weekly, daily.
   
    
   
   
2. Prioritize the items on your list and start working on them one at a time, starting with the ones with highest priority. Once you start a task, see it through to completion before you start the next one. Have specific time for doing things like chatting online and such. If you don't consciously decide when you'll do these things, they'll 'just happen' and will eat up your valuable time. Be sure to include time for important things like regular exercise, family time, spiritual time (daily devotion, quiet time), personal development. You want to make sure you attain balance in your activities, to avoid burn out.
   
   
   
   
3. Check your email at most twice a day and no more than that.
   Everything else will have to wait until the next day. Half the time it's junk mail anyway. When checking your email, if you open a letter and it needs you to respond, reply immediately and move on. Otherwise delete it.
   
   
   
4. Minimize distractions, interruptions and unplanned events:
   Take control of your phone: don't answer it if you're in the middle of a task. Don't answer the door when you're in the middle of a task (avoid distractions) -- do this often enough and people will learn to respect your time. Sure they  may call you rude and such, but your time is too precious to spend worrying about that. Tell people in advance that this is how you work, so they know what to expect.
   
   

5. Join the so-called '6a.m. club':
   Wake up an hour earlier each day so you can fit in more things into the day. There's also a sense of accomplishment that comes with doing this. It encourages you to continue along these lines, thus enhancing your productivity even more.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
 
Dr Kem Thompson is a Peak Performance & Success Trainer, Speaker, Coach and author of 'The Seven Beliefs of Highly Successful People', due out in late 2007. She inspire and teaches women to release the greatness, beauty and power within themselves and achieve total success in their business and personal life.

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