Time Management: Doing The Right Thing, At The Right Time, All The Time

Someone asked me what Time Management meant to me. I said that it was doing as many right things at the right time, as often as you could. It seemed as good as a definition as the others I have given. Managing our time is the most direct link there is between success and failure. The more times I have to look at how I manage my own time, the clearer that connection becomes. Time Management is the road we all must follow, if we hope to be happy and successful.

Doing The Right Thing

I wish this were as simple as it sounds. I look back at some of my decisions over the years and I wonder what the heck I was thinking. Even after spending the time to weigh the options, asking questions, doing the research, I still came up with the wrong choice. Can you imagine what I would have done if I had just jumped in without at least trying to make the right choice? Working with a Time Management System at least makes you go through the motions of trying to work out what is best for you.

These steps and processes are there to help us make as many easy right decisions as there are out there. When you look at how many easy ones there are, compared to the tough ones, if we get the easy ones out of the way, we are miles ahead of the pack. Being miles ahead of the pack is not such a high standard to aspire to, but it certainly is a good place to start.

I have to ask myself, if I can get almost all of the easy decisions sorted out, how far would I be ahead of where I am now? That is easy, about 95% better off than I am now. I consider that a great place to aspire to, or start from. The reality is this; doing the right thing is not a stationary target, it moves up and down daily; it is like trying to hit a moving target when you are standing on a moving platform. It's hit and miss.

Some days I am on my game, and I am making the right decisions, doing what I know I should be doing, and all is right with the world. Other days, well, we all know what the other days are like. For some help in finding out what are the right things, you want to use an effective Time Management system, one that helps you identify what your priorities are, then helping you accomplish them.

At The Right Time

First we have to wrestle with what things we should be doing, then when that decision is made, we need to make sure those activities are done when they should be. I strongly recommend that you Time Activate your priorities. This gives you a major boost in the likelihood that you will get your priorities accomplished in the allotted time slots. Time Activating is taking a priority, and then allocating a specific time slot when that activity is going to get done.

By Time Activating specific tasks, you are starting to use up what time you have on a daily basis, when the time slots are all used up; you are forced to move to the next day. This procedure of Time Activating is a fantastic way of making you take a hard look at what you want to do, compared to what you can realistically do. The number one reason we always seem to work really hard, but fall short, is our habit of over filling our plates.

All The Time

This is the last piece in the triple play: the right things, at the right time, all the time. I did say this was a definition of Time Management, not necessarily the reality of Time Management. Perhaps a little closer to the reality, at least the reality in my life, should be: the right things, at the right time, as often as humanly possible.

Sometimes I think if I could manage myself better, I would not have such a hard time with my personal Time Management. I hope you have found some interesting points here and they will help you on your personal Time Management journey.