Rules of the Game in Battling the Time Monster

Some of us let circumstances rule our time. Take the kids to school, go by the dry cleaners, helping others do their work, or just answering the phone. These little things can eat up a lot of time and make it hard for you to get anything done.

But before we tackle these things lets get down the rules.

1. What is really important – you know the non-negotiable items that can't be put off or delayed. Such as family, health, education, career, spirituality. How do you rank these things?
2. Then come up with negotiable. The kids in soccer, baseball, football, the volunteer time at church, the group of friends that get together once a week to gab.

Once you know what things you are willing to change and those things that can’t. Then you can start carving out time to do the things you want to do.
Small bits of time like:

1. Watching commercial – most mother’s use these breaks to cook, clean, or do small chores around the house.
2. Daydreaming – now this one is important if you’re using this time to say plot out a scene, or decide on which direction you want the story to go. It can be very valuable for deciding what you want to do next.
3. Waiting for appointments – this can be use to catch up on articles that you need to read or work through the mail or write bills.
4. Riding in the car – this can be use to find out what the kids are doing, setting in your mind what has to be done, and what can wait.

It may sound like you’ve got to stay busy every second of the day. But no one can do that, just determine how much down time you need and work that into the schedule too.

For example if you can’t sit for a long time without getting bored or restless. Set up your breaks so that you go to bathroom, get a drink, eat, delivery items to other people, any thing that still gets a task done, but gives you a break too.

But I’m tired of thinking I want to rest!

Find the items that don’t require a lot of thought and spread them throughout your day to give yourself a break. If you don’t have any, give yourself a time-out. Two minutes to think about nothing. Set a timer and go. Then when it’s over remind yourself that you’ve had a break and you’re ready to face that next hurdle. (Important: the time-out has to be without interruption or you’re not going to feel like you got a break.)

Ride the wave or swim against the current. Both can be fun.