Friday, January 11, 2008

How Do I Learn Time Management

It has been a busy week. I was in Fremont, California for a board meeting (SYNNEX quarterly release was great) followed by Vegas for the the CES show.

Although I have not blogged in a week, perhaps I do not feel the stress that I should. The New York Times had an article entitled "Some Brand-Name Bloggers Say Stress of Posting Is a Hazard to Their Health". Perhaps there are bigger things to stress about in life.

We allow our minds to cause our own stress. Of course this is easy for me to say and not as easy to do. I often let the world cause me stress. One of my New Years Resolutions is to be more Zen; in the moment and less stressed.

One of my friends asked me "How do I learn Time Management?". For starters, I would say it is not learning it that you want it is practising it. And furthermore, it is a skill that will never be perfect.

Some tips for those who want to practise time management:

1 - Study it. Read every book (including my eBook of course). Listen to every CD (including mine of course). Take every course.

2 - Set clear goals. Proper time use has more to do with working on the right things than anything else. How will you know what the right things are if you do not have goals.

3 - Set Time Management Goals. From the studying you have done, what are the time management tips you want to start. Then start them now.

4 - We are the product of what we repeatedly do so what you really want to do is implement success habits. Choose a few success habits you can do today.

5 - Be persistent. No one is perfect all the time. If you did not practise what you want to yesterday, no problem, today is the first day of the rest of your life. You always have a choice now.

Good luck with it.

3 Comments:

At 4:21 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good Tips - Most people get stuck on No. 1 and forget to move on to the other steps.

 
At 6:46 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good to read that you continue to become less “hard” on yourself. Don’t let the world give you stress. You are doing your best and the world is going to unfold, as it does. Depending on your beliefs (or philosophy) it unfolds according to the “master plan”.



Regarding your tips on “how to learn time management?”, you are bang on with the “practice it” part. As for reading EVERY book and listening to EVERY CD, well, I don’t agree with it. For one, there is just too much information “out there”. Then, there is too much repetition. Then, there is just too much not so good advice “out there”. Then, not every type or style of recommendation is good for everybody. Getting organized and learning time (and task) management requires a personalized approach.



So, yes, read, listen, learn, adopt, personalize and DO and…of course, practice (i.e. develop the good habits).



Have great week!

Alex

http://www.productivity-solutions.com/

 
At 3:51 PM, Blogger Matthew Cornell said...

Well said, Jim. I think folks get side-tracked assuming there's one single tip, trick, or approach that'll solve all their problems. Instead, it should be a life-long process of discovery, trial, and evaluation. And that can be either in small steps (Kaizen-style) or the "one big push."

 

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