The Term Time Management is a Misnomer .. We Must Manage Ourselves

How can we manage that over which we have absolutely no control? Had there been such a thing as time management, we all would have had the ability to control it. Think of the chaos that would be! Would it be made to stand still, would it be turned back, or would it be pushed on? It is much more appropriate to think in terms of the management of ourselves through self improvement, and adjust our schedule to fall in line; that is to say, we can organize our schedule of work through self help to fall within a certain time span, making every effort to abide by our own rules.

So, I would like it to be firmly etched in everyone's mind that in order to make the greatest possible use of your hours, you must learn the management of yourself. It is a matter of self management.

Life is a challenge and you have to work within the boundaries of the amount of time allocated. If you must succeed, you must plan your goals based upon your aims in life which means that you have to make a real effort to practise personal management. A very imporant factor is having things organized; it will save you a world of frustration. Take control of your life; start now to get organized.

In today's technology, knowledge is increasing exponentially and to be a success in life you must keep up with the pace. This means that self management is a steady ongoing process which makes it imperative for you to do your utmost to keep up with time or be left behind.

Make an honest Assessment of Yourself.
For effective self management, you must *know* yourself. Make an honest assessment of your life - your thoughts, your fears, your likes and dislikes, what you really want out of life and how you intend to achieve it, your attitude towards others, your self control, your inhibitions, what excites you, your past mistakes, lost opportunities, your sleep pattern, what particular self reformation you desire, and any other aspect of your life you can think of that you can positively work on to ensure the proper management of yourself, not forgetting to make goal setting a part of your plans.

Believe in Yourself.
You must first have belief in yourself and develop skills for self management. Try to see yourself as others see you. It might be a good idea to ask those close to you to give you their honest opinion on what qualities they admire about you, and what aspects they honestly dislike. It may be much easier for them to give you that assessment in writing. But remember that you must not hold against them whatever adverse things they may write about you, because you asked for it! Take their observations in good faith, believe that you are able to improve, and act upon them.

In your attempt to manage yourself effectively you first have to make that all important decision of changing your habits and setting goals. Then having the appropriate plans, make every effort to implement and stick to them.

Correct Your Mistakes.
If you make a mistake, do not despair; everybody makes mistakes at some time or other in life. Just analyze what you have done to determine where you went wrong with your application of 'time management' skills, and try to correct the mistake to make sure that it does not happen again. Get into the habit of reading to discover the key principles of success.

Remember that we all learn from our mistakes (at least, wise people do). The problem is when we ignore them and allow them to recur. Most of us do not practise self management in order to achieve our goals; we tend to do the unimportant things first because very often they are easier to accomplish than the more important ones and so we tend to put off the harder things that we just hate to do. First concentrate on the things that are truly important instead of leaving them to be done later only to find that there is not sufficient time to do them.

Why do we tend to leave the important matters for later? Mostly because we think that we have enough time and are hesitant to tackle them for fear that we will not be able to manage them adequately. Then by the time we finally decide to deal with those important matters, it is almost too late. It is much better to make a decision to do them as quickly as possible and get rid of them in due time. Start now to organize your life.

You must decide what things are more important to you and how your can manage to keep your mind focussed on them. It would be a good idea if you start thinking in terms of setting goals for what you want to accomplish.

If you feel that you cannot manage this properly, help is available from Goal Pro , a wonderful goal setting software package that is designed for setting personal goals and how to make a success of them. Are you serious about achieving skills in self management? This software id just what you need. GoalPro offers a free trial so, if you wish, you can try it for free and then decide if you would like to buy it.

Do not procrastinate
One of the worst factors that contribute to most of our failures in life is procrastination. It is a thief of opportunities. Many of us lose out on a good thing because we lack personal management and fail to grasp an opportunity as it presents itself; then we say, "If I had only ...," but by that time it is too late.

If you feel that you have not yet come to the true realizaton of what you wish to accomplish in life, and find that you keep on changing your mind ever so often with neither an aim nor a goal you can, with a little self management and dedication, discover what YOU would like to achieve.

Make an effort to change your ways.
Changing your ways could be one of the most challenging decisions you will ever make in life. It may seem very simple until you actually try to put it into effect. When one has grown accustomed to a certain way of doing things, it becomes somewhat of a task to change that attitude to something else; and embarking on so-called time management is certainly no different. You must practise self management if you are to keep within a certain time span. Managing yourself is managing your way of life.

Do not let a bad habit ruin your life.
Habit is a very stubborn factor in our lives even though we may not be getting any reward by encouraging it.

You have to be determined to manage yourself if you want to kick the habit even though it may hurt. You are well aware of whatever wrongs you do, no matter how simple. Make a firm decision to change by your effort of self-management, and change you will. When you succeed in changing some of your not-so-good habits, that will inspire you to improve and manage other aspects of your life.

Your Thoughts can Make you Miserable - Manage them.
Think of this scenario for a moment. You live alone and you have a very important appointment to be interviewed for an opportunity that you have been waiting on for years and it is imperative that you get there for a particular time. You have tried to make sure that everything connected to your appointment is in order as you try to put your time management skills to work. You must hurry because it is getting late and you must catch your flight in order to get to your appointment on time.

You are now travelling away from home when suddenly, you get a sickening feeling that, in your anxiety to keep up with time, you forgot to lock your house properly before you left home and anyone can have access; furthermore, you also believe that you have left on your stove.

Wild imaginations begin racing through your head and you start to imagine that someone is breaking into your house; or maybe it is on fire? The more you think about it, the more real it seems and the more convinced you are that something is just not right at home. There is no one you can get in touch with to check on this for you.

You have tried so hard to implement the skills that you have read about time management but now your imagination is getting the upper hand of you.

In your mind's eye, on one hand you can see an intruder going through your personal belongings and moving out with your most valuable assets; on the other hand, you are thinking of a possible fire. You cannot manage your thoughts now! Anxiety sets in; it is running very late and you cannot afford to miss your appointment.

To do ... or not to do?
Here you are, struggling with 'time management' or should we say, managing your thoughts. You are on your way to that very important appointment, hoping to be successful at your one chance for an opportunity that you have so patiently waited on for so long. You are now a bundle of nerves and must quickly decide what to do. You ask yourself, "Should I take a chance and leave it alone and hope for the best?" Or, "should I ..... what if ......?"

Finally, with a very heavy heart, you turn around and head back towards your home, even at the peril of losing that all so important appointment, just to make sure that everything is O.K. at home. Time management is no longer a factor; making sure that your house is locked and safe is all that matters at this time.

At last you have reached back home. You dash to the door as fast as you can, only to find that your house is securely locked and everything is in order.

What happens next? Your wild imagination now calms down as you realize that there really was no cause for concern after all. This shows that you have to learn to manage whatever you have to do, and make sure it is done well, then those thoughts cannot control you. See what time you have lost in rushing back home only to find a locked door and your stove turned off!

Little things mean a lot.
Wouldn't it have been better if you had practised self-management and just taken the time beforehand to add to your special list, those seemingly unimportant things that were not directly connected to your interview but were part of things you should have done before you left home?

Things like checking to make sure that every door was locked, that all water taps properly turned off, no unnecessary lights were burning, the iron was not left on, the cooker, the TV, the microwave and water heater were all turned off, the alarm turned on, and everything else that should to be attended to was done before you left home. That would have been a case of self-management.

One quick glance at your list and you would have been reminded just what you needed to do and would have had no need for concern later. Just when you thought that you had time management under your control, your mind began to control you instead. Remember, practice self management if you want to keep up with time.

Time did not Stand Still.
Have you noticed? Good old Mr. Time marches on, he is fully on schedule, and you are left behind. One thing, you did not lack time management, you lacked self-management. Had you managed your self and actions, all your wasted energy and anxiety would have been avoided. Such is the result when self management is not developed or properly applied. You cannot manage time, but you can think ahead of time and with a little organisation and self management you can avoid chaos and confusion.

A word to the wise.
If your cell phone rings while you are driving yourself in the middle of high traffic, this is a good time to manage your impulses. Do not get carried away with a conversation that may very well cost lives. Take a brief message and let the caller know that you are on the road and you will get back to him/her when it is more convenient. Even though you may have a hands-off phone, the distraction could be disastrous. Learn to manage your impulses and avoid accidents.

Do not get in the habit of putting on lipstick while you are at the wheel. Make it a point of duty to do that before you start driving your car, or after you have stopped - but not at the red lights. (This is one sure time to prove that time management is impracticable - you cannot control the timing of those lights! No ma'am. Pay attention, practice personal management and avoid crashes.

Do not Eat or Drink while Driving
Are you too hungry to wait until you can stop at a convenient place to eat? Practise self-management and control that appetite of yours. Eat before you start driving, or stop are at a safe spot and gorge yourself if you will. Did you say that you are not the driver? Hey, have some consideration; do not tantalize the driver with food. Wait until it is convenient for everyone to sit comfortably and safely to enjoy food.

Here's a suggestion to you drivers (no offence to your passengers). Install a clearly visible sticker in your vehicle - NO EATING OR DRINKING, PLEASE!!!. That should do it, just remember to obey your own rule! This is also another strategy of time management since it can be a wise avenue for preventing accidents and allowing everyone to get to their destination safely and on time.

Don't give yourself unnecessry heartaches, learn to manage yourself and prevent the possibility of raising your blood pressure, or even having road accidents.

Whether you wish to call it time management or personal management, you cannot control or manage time - You have to manage yourself!

You may put on paper everything that you have to do; allocate a certain amount of time for each item and plan all you want, if you do not learn personal management and implement your new skills, all your plans would just be a useless waste of time.

A simple method to apply what is called time management.
You can begin by using this simple method - or maybe not so simple after all. You are comfortably relaxing in your favorite chair. Suddenly you remember that you have a certain job to do. It is important, but you just don't feel like lifting an ankle to move from where you are.

Just spring up right away, don't let another moment pass by. Get going, do that job now! Manage yourself, don't let laziness manage you! When you have put it all behind you, your mind will be at ease and the task would have been completed. Now you can relax, and I bet that you feel better for it. Try to apply this to whatever you have to do. Just do it! It works for me and it can work for you too. You will be amazed at how much you can do within a certain time. Manage yourself.

Time is common to everyone.
Time is a factor that is equally divided between all persons. Have you ever wondered why some people can get through so much within a certain time and you just can't seem to cope? What you do with your time and how you manage yourself makes all the difference. We seem to waste too much time on things that are not that important to us and neglect what are really important only to realize that we do not have enough time to devote to them. The result - failure. If you learn personal management, you will organize your plans to use time effectively. This is why you must make plans.

There are simple rules you can adopt for personal improvement in managing yourself. Here's one. Whenever you have to travel, anytime you remember things that you need to take with you, put them in your travelling case. Whatever you may be doing at that time, as long as it is convenient, go straight away and put those articles in your case. This is a simple aspect of self-management and will ensure that you have everything that you would like to take along with you. When you are ready to pack they will all be there, just empty the case and repack it for travelling. This advice is especially directed to ladies who always have lots of knicks knacks to take along with them.

One thing that some people forget to pack is their toothbrush. I like to buy a new one and put it in my travelling case. Even a simple item as your pen, it is possible for your to forget to carry one with you. It is not too small to put one in your case until you are ready to pack properly.

The same principle goes for your ideas. Keep a special scrap note book and whenever an idea comes to you, take a little time to jot it down. This is one way in which you can manage to recall your ideas. We all know too well that an original thought when lost hardly ever returns to mind the same as before.

The principles of time management as set out in many books and articles are none other than good advice about the management of yourself. They are mostly suggestions and proven ways by which you can work within the framework of time and succeed. It is quite in order to read suggestions set out in those writings as you would find much useful information in them; but apply only those techniques that are relative to your particular circumstances. Plan your own time table according to what you wish to achieve.

Keep in mind that only you alone know what you really want, but do not sell yourself short and believe that you are not capable of trying something new. Have faith in yourself and believe that with self management you can achieve personal improvement.

Always bear in mind that time seems to move faster than you are aware of.

When organizing your schedule, make sure that you allow a few minutes between each activity. You can never be able to keep it up to the minute because for every moment you delay, time marches on. Just remember that it is not a question of time management, but rather personal management. Time will keep on going while it leaves your work behind.

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