It doesn’t matter how much time management training you’ve had, until you recognize that time is never free, you will always fight the time management battle. When you think your time is free you give it freely. You don’t recognize that time is an extremely valuable resource that can’t be replenished. Once your time is gone it’s gone never to return. Are you living each hour in a way that you are willing to pay for. You have 168 hours each week. As you look back over the last week are you happy with how you spent each of those hours?
Time is never ever free. Each hour each minute of each day you are making a decision about how you will spend that very valuable non-replenishable commodity. When you waste your valuable time it’s much worse than throwing money away because you can always get more money but you can never get more time. Assign a value to your time. Think about it, given that you only have a finite number of hours in your lifetime how do want to spend those precious hours?
Time management training gets you thinking about the trade offs your making. Weigh the value of your time against the option to spend that time that you choose throughout the day. The value of your time should be measured against the long-term satisfaction and reward each option offers.
If you wanted to buy something and you didn’t have the money today and you couldn’t use credit the only way to get it would be to start saving. Start thinking about your time like it was gold. Pay yourself first in terms of allowing yourself at least some free time each week to rejuvenate, and then fit in all the rest. When you don’t pay yourself first you run the risk of becoming so time stressed that it leads to physical illness. When you pay yourself first with some much needed free time you are better able to handle and tolerate the daily stresses.
Hopefully you will take this time management training idea and put it to use immediately. As you wait and think about it the clock is ticking and you will never be able to relive that time again. Time isn’t free so spend it with care and ensure you build free time into each week.
Would you like to learn more about your time behaviors? Try this Time Management Analysis and find out where your opportunities for improvement are.
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