More Time Please

People are always needing more time. No one has enough. We wish for more time and blame what we haven't done on not having enough time. The problem is we will never have more. As far as I know we will never have longer days and we will never have more than 24 hours in a day.

Managing time isn't so much about managing time - because you can't really do that - manage time. What you can do, however, is manage in time all of what you have to do. I've been working with one client for several months now and she went from feeling completely chaotic in managing all of the projects she needed to get done - to the point where almost none of it was getting done and she was completely exhausted all of the time - to now, where she is managing the projects in her day at specific times of the day rather than trying to do it all - all day long. She is being productive and completing those projects that were looming over her head as these huge things to do where she just couldn't see how to get it all done!

See for most of us, we live in a fantasy that we will be able to complete that endless to do list by the end of the day, end of the week or by the end of the month, etc. First you must get on paper that endless mental to do list. The endlessness of the mental list is what creates overwhelm in our lives. The overwhelm is what keeps us from taking action, when we are overwhelmed we often don't know where to start. Start with getting the list on paper. There is a finite amount of things to do. You can apply this to any area of your life -- projects, work, family life, etc. Next you would want to look at the list of things to do and look to see if you need to take any action before you can complete any of the items. For instance, if on your "to do" list is read a particular book, or paint the study, you may need to either buy the book or buy the paint. Even those "to dos" need to go on the "to do" list.

The next step - and this is freeing and confronting all at the same time -- is getting it all in your calendar as action items at specific times. If you don't put what there is to do in your calendar at a specific time on a specific day, then the chances of that happening will be slim, or will happen by chance but not because you planned on it.

Start getting your life in your calendar and then begin doing what is in your calendar. You'll be amazed at how much you accomplish and how the overwhelm disappears.