8 Weeks to Better Living: Manage Your Time

Friday, April 06, 2012

Candita Clayton, GoLocal Lifestyle Expert

Get time on your side with this step-by-step plan to manage it better.

Welcome to week 6 of the 8 Weeks to Better Living Challenge. How’s it going so far? I have heard from many of you with positive feedback on how the past few weeks have changed you. Congratulations and keep that feedback coming. Pat, Amy Bronwyn and I are really proud of you.

This week we take on Time Management. From my direct conversations with many of you this is clearly an area where you need help. I have identified the direct relationship between managing my time well and

my overall business and life success. This is always a work in progress as I, like many people struggle to keep distractions at bay while I attend to the most pressing projects of the day.

Here are my top five suggestions for managing your time well.

Write it down

Make a daily list of your 5 must-complete projects. Figure out the approximate amount of time you need to accomplish these tasks and plan accordingly.

Turn off notifications

I have said it before but it bears repeating, your smart phone or computer email ding are keeping you from being your most productive. Example: you are deep into a sales letter to xyz, ding, your computer signals that you have a new email. You switch from the letter to the new email stopping your productivity right in its tracks. Sound familiar? Attend to the task at hand with zero distractions and you will start to get the hang of time management.

Reward yourself with Social Media

We all love Facebook, Twitter, etc… Unfortunately, social media can suck up hours in a day. So unless your work is directly related to posting on Facebook or Twitter you should be scheduling your time to connect as a reward for must do tasks that are completed. This is why many large companies have blocked Facebook and Twitter sites to keep employees on track.

Don’t procrastinate on tasks that bring in business

We are all in the business of sales, no matter what our actual job is. This means if you are spending time on busy work and not working to attract new customers you are wasting time. Plan your business goals into your daily tasks. Successful people make time to do the things that unsuccessful people don’t want to do.

Plan your week

When you know what is on the agenda for week you can best plan your time. This means scheduling appointments around must do tasks and being where you need to be on time. If you struggle with timeliness this is a telltale sign that your planning is falling short.

For more tips and videos on Time Management and other good stuff please visit www.CanditaClaytonLiveBetter.com