Time Flies

by C. LaRene Hall

            Last week I spaced posting - Sorry, I'll try to remember what I'm doing and get back on track.

Last month in Ephraim I taught a class called, Time Flies - The Art of Making the Clock Work For You.
            Time is not on your side. It’s your time to not waste time.

There's so much to do in a day, and so little time!

Does it seem that no matter how much you do, you're always behind? Do you suffer from distractions? Are you bored? Do you forget things? Is it hard to follow through? Are you overwhelmed? Do you have trouble planning your next project? Or your next book?

Just because a time management plan works for someone else doesn’t necessarily mean it will work for you. I cannot tell you what will work for you. REMEMBER – What works for me will probably not work for you. My way isn’t the best way for you. No two people have the same problems, and no two people do things exactly the same way.

No one is more aware of the problems of time management than busy people.

My story started 30 years ago when I attended a Time Management seminar in Arizona. I heard many things that day, and learned management of your time can change the course of your life. I felt if I didn’t make an effort to change habits I had just wasted an entire day, and the time and money it took me to go to the meeting. I hate wasting time. I have always believed if you don’t use your time you lose it forever. You can’t save it for another day; every hour and minute counts.

           There was TWO IMPORTANT key word in what I just said. Can you tell me what that is? CHANGE HABITS. If you are not willing to do this one thing you may as well leave the class right now because nothing I say will make a difference to your life. We each need to learn to identify bad habits and get rid of them. Learn to say NO to those things that do not require immediate attention.

I began to use the things taught that day and I found I was in control of my own life. The number one thing I learned is, “If you don’t spend time planning your day and deciding on your priorities, somebody who is less organized will disrupt your life.”

I began to take a few minutes to plan each day and I now feel that I have power over the remainder of my day. I put my energies into the things that can make a difference in my life. You have enough time to accomplish anything you want in life, but until you learn to manage your time, you will probably always be one step behind. You can become the master of your life. You can manage time so it doesn’t manage you. Controlling time means more time to enjoy your life.

Most busy people are into a thousand different things, giving freely of themselves to everybody. The list of places where you give away pieces of your life is endless. Have you ever felt pulled in too many directions? Few of us save anything for ourselves. Time management can help you arrange the pieces of your life more efficiently and more effectively. You can learn to save some space for yourself.

Now my efforts go into things that make a difference to me. I still help people, but I do it when it’s convenient for me. Yes, sometimes there’s an emergency that you can’t avoid and things don’t always go as planned, but that isn’t every day.

Next week I will continue with a list of things that I do to manage my own time.