Value your Time

Do you ever find yourself wishing there were more hours in the day? Is overtime becoming the norm for you? Do you wish you had more time to spend doing the things that you really want to do?

Most likely you answered yes to one or more of these questions and feel like you are not really where you want to be in life. Maybe work is not going how you would like. Or you could be feeling guilty because you are not spending enough time at home with your family.

There is a solution to this problem and it is far easier than you might think. It only takes a few small adjustments in the way you use your time to change your life forever. This is not only about managing your time effectively, it can change your life fundamentally and for the better.

Practice the following techniques to become the master of your own time:

1. Carry a schedule and record all your thoughts, conversations and activities for a week. This will help you understand how much you can get done during the course of a day and where your precious moments are going. You'll see how much time is spent producing result and how much time is wasted on unproductive thoughts, conversations and actions.
2. Any activity or conversation that's important to your success should have a time assigned to it. Schedule when they will begin and end. Be disciplined to keep these appointments.
3. Plan to spend at least 50 percent of your time engaged in the thoughts, activities and conversations that produce most of your results.
4. Schedule time for interruptions. Plan time to be pulled away from what you're doing. Take breaks in between. 
5. Take the first 30 minutes of every day to plan your day. The most important time of your day is the time you schedule to schedule time.
6. Take five minutes before every call and task to decide what result you want to attain. This will help you know what success looks like before you start. And it will also slow time down. Take five minutes after each call and activity to determine whether your desired result was achieved. If not, what was missing? How do you put what's missing in your next call or activity?
7. Practice not answering the phone just because it's ringing and e-mails just because they show up. Disconnect instant messaging. Don't instantly give people your attention unless it's absolutely crucial in your business to offer an immediate human response. Instead, schedule a time to answer email and return phone calls.
8. Block out other distractions like Facebook and other forms of social media unless you use these tools to generate business.

Remember that 20 percent of your thoughts, conversations and activities produce 80 percent of your results.

You’re writing the story of your life one moment at a time.