Do it, do it, hurry up!

10^th November 2011

The fly cannot be driven away by getting angry at it. African proverb

Sat here yawning this morning, someone stole my night I think, it was 9pm about half hour ago, or that’s what it feels like anyway.  No doubt my cup of tea will soon be replaced with a coffee and I’ll be good to go.

Guilty of not tracking yesterday but I do remember what I had, tomatoes on toast for breakfast, jacket potato with chicken curry and chicken couscous and cottage cheese for tea, and I didn’t ProPoint any of it, sorry I could give you excuses but I have no good enough reason I just had a sod it day and couldn’t be bothered, at least I didn’t eat loads of junk.

I was feeling sorry for myself because I went running but my foot started hurting so I had to cut it short for fear of doing long term damage.  I never thought I see myself type these words but “I WANT TO RUN”, I’ve got to the point where I can run without wanting to die or cry and I’m actually enjoying it, it makes me feel good, it burns loads of calories and it’s quick and convenient.  So I need my foot to get better soon, I wanna get my trainers back on, and I want to run in Central Park when I go to New York in a weeks time.

Went to pick up the tickets yesterday, how disappointing, they’re not even proper tickets anymore, just etickets printed out on A4 sheets of white paper – not quite the same thing is it!  Oh well I’ll cope I’m sure, only 8 more sleeps and 18 more meetings. 

Time management appears to be a big problem for so many of us these days, It puzzles me and I can’t quite work it out.  Today, we have more time-saving, convenience creating, effort reducing resources than ever before and yet we seem to be busier, more stressed and time poor.

It might help if we try to understand what’s driving our ‘busy’.  Our actions are driven by an underlying cause that often isn’t connected to the activity or its outcome. This can include ‘a need to be needed’, a determination to be seen to be ‘on top of it all’ (superwoman/man syndrome – a common one for perfectionists and high achievers), or procrastination because we’re not sure what to do or how to do it. This can lead to aimless ‘fluffing’ and before you know it, you’ve blown hours or days and achieved little more than frustration.

Recognising the real cause of your lack of time helps you take steps to reclaim it. Think about it – if we valued time as much as we value money, wouldn’t we have more rather than less? Imagine how different it would be if you had plenty of time in the bank and were time rich rather than time poor.

So I don’t know about you but I’m going to start deciding what’s important!  The best way to get the ‘busy’ under control is to check in on what’s most important and ensure yourfocus is largely on your main priorities. Do you really need to go to that party that you know will be boring or is it just that you don’t want to miss out on something?

Know what matters most - check that your priorities will make a real difference. One of the best ways to identify this is to ask, “Of all the things I’ve got on my plate, which will make the most difference a hundred years from now?” Chances are not many, but it’s a sobering thought. If it doesn’t really matter – don’t do it! Choosing not to do something is surprisingly liberating.

Identify the best return on your time investment.  If there were no limits, what would you choose to be doing right now? Yes, you do have a choice as to how you spend your time, far more often than you realise. Which task is going to pay back far more than the time you’ll invest in it? This is a great way of stripping out the time wasters from your day.

We all have those days where you wake up in the morning and just feel overwhelmed because you have an ever growing list of things you need to do? You have way too many thoughts running through your mind and you are beginning to feel a little (or perhaps a lot) stretched.  If you think today might be yet another of those days think about the above and then take a deep breath and accept that you only have so many hours and you will do your best.
I didn’t have 50 minutes to sit writing this blog, but I enjoyed it and it’s done me good so I’ve made time and something else will have to give – toast it is for breakfast again then!
Almost the weekend xx