Take command of your days

Have you ever felt that your days just get away from you? At the end of each day, you wonder where the time has gone, feeling nothing was accomplished? If you can relate to this happening, it's because your days are taking control of you.

Don't let your days rule over you.

Take command and authority over your days by determining how you will have efficient use of your time.

Questions to consider:

* What are your biggest time wasters?
* What are you currently doing to manage your time?
* What could you be doing better?

Ever heard the statement, Eat that frog?

When trying to take command over your days, tell yourself to just EAT THAT FROG.

Consider this: If the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long!

This means that your frog represents the task that will have the greatest impact on achieving your goals, and the task that you are most likely to procrastinate starting.

The other thing to consider is this: If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first! This is another way of saying that if you have two important tasks before you, start with the biggest, hardest, and most important task first.

Lastly, if you have to eat a live frog, it does not pay to sit and look at it for a very long time!

The key to reaching high levels of performance and productivity is for you to develop the lifelong habit of tackling your major task first thing each morning, when you're fresh and energetic.

Tips for taking more command over your days:

* Plan and prioritize each day’s activities in a more efficient, productive manner;
* Overcome procrastination quickly;
* Handle crises effectively and quickly; and
* Organize your workspace and workflow to make better use of time.

Instead of just taking your days as they come to you, plan your days; develop a routine or schedule that will help you manage your days. Having a schedule or plan doesn't mean that things won't come up. But having such a schedule, having a command of your day, will help you better access and deal with things when they do come up.

Access how you currently manage your time. Are your days filled with a lot of busy work, not yielding you the results you desire at the end of the day? Recalling my earlier questions, what are your biggest time wasters? What could you be doing better? Commit to commanding your days instead of allow your days to command you.

Your time is extremely valuable. Make sure you are using it wisely, efficiently and productively.

Until next time, think: Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.

With definiteness of purpose,
Gwen Thibeaux