Archive for 'Time Priorities'
Finding Time for the Olympics-Yes You Can!
Posted on February 16, 2010 by Paula, under Time Boundaries, Time Choices, Time Priorities.
Finding time to enjoy cultural events like the Olympics can be a big challenge in your already-busy life, can’t it? These infrequent-and-thoroughly-engaging events bring up questions of time choices, time priorities, time boundaries, you name it!
The first thing to remember is that your time is finite. Adding something to your day means, realistically, that you’ll need to cut something out. This can be a challenging time choice – AND it can be very clarifying and empowering to make it consciously and proactively.
Ask yourself:
- What could I let go of temporarily, to make room for keeping up with this once-every-four-years event?
- Are there tools that I can use (like a video recorder or on-line access) to fit my Olympic time better with my day-to-day schedule?
- Are there tasks that I could delegate to make more room in my schedule?
The fascinating thing about asking these questions and making these adjustments is that in exploring temporary tweaks to your schedule, you may well discover some permanent changes that you’d like to make.
What a great bonus! Not only do you find yourself time to follow these exciting and inspiring Winter Games, but you also give yourself an opportunity to review and refresh your time priorities.
Have you found time to watch any of these Olympic Games yet? Do you plan to? Let me know how it goes for you and what you discover - I’d love to hear!
What if you could find another hour every day? You can! You are invited to sign up for your Finding Time Success Kit. It’s FREE, and it provides you with key tools for your time success! Grab it and see how you can recharge your energy, reduce overwhelm and frustration, and come to learn that 24 hours really ARE enough!
Let’s explore time together …
Other Posts You Might Enjoy!
Find Time to Set Goals – 3 Ways It Helps!
Posted on November 12, 2009 by Paula, under Time After Time, Time Priorities.
This week I’m having a great time putting the finishing touches on our next Finding Time E-zine. (It fires next Thursday at noontime, and if you’re not already a subscriber, you can grab your issue as a bonus for signing up for our FREE MP3 in the sidebar!) To give you a taste, here’s an article from our archive that asks: “Why set goals?”
Many people just assume that effective and successful people always set goals. If this is an assumption that you have made, please put it aside for a moment. Consider how such an assumption might sabotage your ability to realize your dreams. Too many people who set goals and begin to work on them do not complete them. For example, those who make New Year’s Resolutions – which are goals – often never attain them.
Setting goals is not a requirement for being an effective and successful person. If you feel driven to set goals because you ’should,’ then you diminish your view of yourself as an effective and successful person each time you don’t achieve your goals. Instead, we would like to recommend that you view goal-setting as a technique to assist you in 3 areas:
- Setting goals helps you define what you want in your life. It does so in clear, concrete, and simple language. Nothing is as useful in determining exactly what you want, and creating a picture of the outcomes in your mind, as the technique of setting goals.
- Once you have defined the outcomes you want, it’s much easier to design relevant action steps, through the technique of setting goals, to achieve those outcomes. Setting goals clearly defines your destination and enables you to design action steps that point you in the right direction. You can look at your desired outcomes and measure exactly how well each action step you devise moves you closer to what you want to accomplish.
- Setting goals introduces two states of mind that can improve your life, whether you achieve your objectives or not. These two states of mind are “awareness” and “flexibility”. We’ll explore “awareness” today.
Too many people seem to go through life never fully aware of what they want or could have achieved, until it’s too late. Setting goals provides a framework that encourages awareness. Daily, you can look at your goals and consider how you are living your life.
You can become aware of whether or not your life choices are bringing you closer to your objectives. Without that awareness, it is easy to settle for routine rather than choice. As you can see, if you think of setting goals as a technique rather than an obligation, the entire process changes.
Have you considered setting goals as a way of setting your course? Has it been clarifying for you? I’d love to hear what you think!
Want to learn how to set effective boundaries to honor yourself, your time, and your relationships? You can ask for the time and space you need, and get it, too! Claim your FREE MP3, “Honoring Your Time With Boundaries”, and discover tools to move you toward a stronger self and stronger relationships! So, take your next step, click HERE and grab your MP3! When you sign up you will also receive (if you don’t already) our weekly Finding Time Tips, our monthly Award-Winning Finding Time E-zine, and our Finding Time Personal Boundary Template! All FREE – our gifts to you!
Let’s explore time together …
Other Posts You Might Enjoy!
Finding Time and Focus Even When Internet Distractions Call!
Posted on September 15, 2009 by Paula, under Time Priorities, Time and Technology.
Finding time and finding focus can be difficult in our fast-paced, information-rich world. For anyone whose work day involves significant computer time, the call of the internet can be distracting and even overwhelming at times. How do you find focus and maintain it, with so much information at your fingertips, just clamoring to be viewed and shared?
My article Time Management Techniques – 7 Tips For the Internet to Trim Time on ezinearticles.com offers some very practical ideas that ought to help. The tip that I’d like to emphasize here is #5, which focuses on setting time parameters for your internet work – with some interesting, practical twists!
Set time parameters for your task, so you don’t get “Lost in (Cyber)Space.” It is very easy to lose time while you are on the computer. On many calendar systems, you can set an alarm. Use this to set a stop time for yourself. If you are at home and resist switching gears, set an alarm in another room to get you out of your chair and away from the temptation. If at work, try scheduling searches right before a meeting or lunch with a colleague.
The use of time parameters, timers and other such tools is key in managing time – and especially on-line time. I’ll be discussing lots of time strategies tomorrow night when my friend and colleague Heather Dominick interviews me about The Twitter Time Trap: 5 Keys to Unlock the Twitter Time Trap to Keep It from Devouring Your Time.
In this FREE teleclass we’ll explore Twitter through the lens of Time! I am very excited about this class – and the wonderful tools it’ll be putting into your hands!
You can click this link to sign up for a FREE Trial Membership in Heather’s Marketing Mastery Program. Once you register for Heather’s Program, you’ll receive information (via e-mail) about the Twitter Trap Teleclass before the call on 09/16!
Here are the basics!
- Call Date: Wednesday September 16, 2009
- Call Time: 6:00pm – 7:00pm, EASTERN
I look forward to “seeing” you in class! And in the meantime, here’s to your time success!
What if you could find another hour every day? You can! You are invited to sign up and download The New Finding Time Boundary Template. It’s FREE, and when you sign up you will also receive (if you don’t already) my FREE, weekly Finding Time Tips and my FREE, monthly Award-Winning Finding Time E-zine!
Let’s explore time together …
Other Posts You Might Enjoy!
Find Time to Manage Multiple Priorities
Posted on September 10, 2009 by Paula, under Time Management Skills, Time Priorities.
Finding time when you’ve got lots of balls in the air can be a big challenge, can’t it? At times, you can feel so busy that you don’t know where to begin.
It has been that kind of a week here at The Time Finder! I’ve been doing the final preparation for my Twitter Trap Teleclass next Wednesday with my friend and colleague Heather Dominick, along with putting next week’s Finding Time E-zine to bed, blogging, adding the finishing touches to a new product and bonuses, seeing my coaching clients, appreciating some beautiful September days, and just living life!
When you are managing multiple time priorities you are definitely going to feel busy – but the process doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. One of the keys, for me, is to pause from time to time and get my bearings.
As I become distracted by multiple pressing tasks, I use those pauses to briefly relax, re-prioritize, and refocus! Each pause is a touchstone with myself, offering some quick “refreshment” and an opportunity to re-establish clarity and make a new beginning.
With each pause I assess my time boundaries and shore them up, if I need to.
- Will it help to use a timer?
- Are there things distracting me that I need to pay brief attention to in order to be able to fully set them aside?
- Do I need to find time to clean up and re-prioritize my to do list?
Finding time up front to get organized, and then taking time to assess along the way will help you a lot as you juggle your multiple priorities. Try it – and then please drop me a line, I’d love to hear how it works for you!
What if you could find another hour every day? You can! You are invited to sign up and download The New Finding Time Boundary Template. It’s FREE, and when you sign up you will also receive (if you don’t already) my FREE, weekly Finding Time Tips and my FREE, monthly Award-Winning Finding Time E-zine!
Let’s explore time together …
Other Posts You Might Enjoy!
Find Time For Your To Do List-Prioritizing
Posted on August 18, 2009 by Paula, under Time Priorities.
Finding time to set your time priorities is a key time management skill – and one that we often don’t actually get to in the rush of daily life! Last week we introduced a Time Finder series about some of the challenges of managing and following through on to-do lists. Finding time for planning was our focus on Friday, and you can read that post here.
Next up? Setting priorities! This is a huge topic, and we certainly won’t be exploring all of it here. But if you want to be in charge of your time choices and avoid falling into the trap of responding reactively to time challenges, you’ll want to look at how and what you prioritize.
A key step in setting priorities is, first and foremost, to set aside time to do it! That may seem very obvious, but without the time to do it, you will never make a start on setting priorities for yourself. And the time you invest in this up front will stand you in good stead as you navigate the challenges of your day!
In our planning post, we talked about how planning is like scanning the landscape from up in the air. Prioritizing is a further refinement of this tool. As you work through your list of tasks for the day, list them in order of importance. Things you may want to consider will be questions like: What will happen if I don’t get this done today? How many people will be affected? Am I responding to others’ urgency or is this a priority for me, too?
It may also be helpful for you to work on your priorities using a computer. It will be easier to move things around as you juggle your priorities. You can certainly do the same by hand, but the computer makes it much easier.
I like to work with categories, as I prioritize. Think about the large categories of activities and responsibilities that you have in your life, and be sure to include self care as one of your categories! You will learn a lot as you prioritize these shorter lists and survey the busy landscape of your life. You may note the need to introduce more balance, for example.
Do you already prioritize tasks in your daily life? Is it something you’d like to start doing? I’d love to hear how it goes for you … so please feel invited to drop me a line!
What if you could find another hour every day? You can! You are invited to sign up and download The New Finding Time Boundary Template. It’s FREE, and when you sign up you will also receive (if you don’t already) my FREE, weekly Finding Time Tips and my FREE, monthly Award-Winning Finding Time E-zine!
Let’s explore time together …
Other Posts You Might Enjoy!
Finding Time by De-Cluttering and Letting Go
Posted on August 13, 2009 by Paula, under Time Priorities.
Finding time is a universal quest, isn’t it? Time is the medium in which we live and breathe. Its flow carries us forward no matter what. Sometimes that is a comfort and other times, a frustration. It comes, and it goes, just as we breathe in and breathe out. It’s a rhythm of holding and letting go. In that it is consistent and unchanging.
Maggie McCauley recently wrote on her blog about letting go of her home of 17 years and moving into a smaller space. In The Gifts of a Small Space she writes about what this transition entailed, and how it has changed her AND her daily living. Writing about how downsizing and letting go has simplified her life, she says:
The advantages of having a smaller space; there’s less to clean, vacuuming takes me about twenty minutes as opposed to over an hour, everything is within reach, I have everything that is important for life to be comfortable and functional and I have more time to devote to business, socializing and me time!
In order to fit comfortably into her new space and make it livable, Maggie had to let go of a number of belongings and habits of living. This can be a challenging and disorienting transition to make. It is important to keep in mind that, as Maggie describes so well, it can also be very energizing and freeing.
Letting go applies not only to belongings – it also applies to your time! Think of your time as a basket and of your tasks, commitments and activities as small (and large) objects piled into that basket. Is it overflowing? Are your commitments tumbling out of your basket and scattering across the floor?
Maybe it’s time to work on de-cluttering, simplifying, and letting go! Letting go is not simply about saying goodbye – each time you let something go, you are affirming the importance of what remains. As challenging as that process can be, embarking on it will lighten your load and change your life!
Are there things that you could let go of today? Next week? Next month? Start making a list. See how it feels just to think about letting go. What stops you? What will help you move ahead? Please feel free to drop me a line -I’d love to hear how this goes for you!
What if you could find another hour every day? You can! You are invited to sign up and download The New Finding Time Boundary Template. It’s FREE, and when you sign up you will also receive (if you don’t already) my FREE, weekly Finding Time Tips and my FREE, monthly Award-Winning Finding Time E-zine!
Let’s explore time together …
Other Posts You Might Enjoy!
Finding Time with Self Discipline
Posted on July 15, 2009 by Paula, under Time Priorities.
Finding time in today’s busy world is a challenge that we all confront daily. Self discipline is a very important ingredient in any effort to find time. And yet, self discipline often has a connotation of scarcity and of self denial.
I’d like to turn that idea on its head and reframe self-discipline as a positive, proactive, and affirming skill that creates the base for making your cherished goals into realities. Think of self discipline as a way of saying a strong and consistent YES to your top priorities.
I recently published an article in EzineArticles.com titled Time Management Tips – How to Boost Productivity Using Delay of Gratification. In this article I refer to the “first discipline” in Scott Peck’s The Road Less Traveled. I explore 5 benefits that grow out of developing your self discipline and your ability to delay gratification to further your larger goals.
Honing this skill for yourself develops many strengths and attributes that go well beyond the present moment and will serve you well in all sorts of situations!
Treat delay of gratification like a muscle you build. Start small, collect successes, and work your way up. The more consistently you exercise this muscle, the more strength and flexibility you manifest. Clearly visualize the achievement of your long-term goal. The satisfaction you experience will help make your chosen course more compelling than the current distraction. Expect to learn as you go, and extend both patience and compassion to yourself as you make this discipline your own.
Is it challenging for you to keep your eye on the prize? How do you respond to distractions? How do you validate yourself when you delay gratification and stick with your goals? Please drop me a line – I’d love to hear!
What if you could find another hour every day? You can! You are invited to sign up and download The New Finding Time Boundary Template. It’s FREE, and when you sign up you will also receive (if you don’t already) my FREE, weekly Finding Time Tips and my FREE, monthly Award-Winning Finding Time E-zine!
Let’s explore time together …
Other Posts You Might Enjoy!
Finding Time When Juggling Multiple Priorities
Posted on July 8, 2009 by Paula, under Time Priorities, Time and Values.
Finding time is often a matter of juggling priorities. This can be a challenge to sort out – especially if you run into a situation in which it’s your most cherished values that are in competition.
Life Transition Coach Paula Harvey recently wrote a blog post about How to Choose Between Passions and offered a helpful example from her own life. She lists 4 questions that she asked herself as she sorted out her predicament:
* What action feels right to me, right now? (not what “should” I do)
* What are the consequences if I choose one passion over the other? Can I live with that consequence?
* What does my heart tell me to do?
* What commitments have I made that I must honor?
These questions tap into the powers of the heart and the mind to help negotiate the challenges of competing priorities. The mind provides the frame while the heart supplies the feelings-based information.
Listening to your heart, for example, you might try on the different alternatives and identify what “feels” right. Then, as a helpful and informative balance, you look to your mind for practical information about probable consequences if you pursue that course.
This gives you authentic, heartfelt and grounded insight into your values and priorities. Combining your heart-based and your adult voices is one of the most powerful and empowering gifts that you can give yourself in ANY situation. This combination will never steer you wrong – unlike the inner critic whose rigid and “should-based” perspective will always take you off track and into the underbrush!
How do you feel when you are juggling competing priorities? Have you tried stepping back and listening to your heart-based and adult voices? How does this work for you? I’d love to hear!
What if you could find another hour every day? You can! You are invited to sign up and download The New Finding Time Boundary Template. It’s FREE, and when you sign up you will also receive (if you don’t already) my FREE, weekly Finding Time Tips and my FREE, monthly Award-Winning Finding Time E-zine!
Let’s explore time together …
Other Posts You Might Enjoy!
Finding Time When Time is Too Short – 5 Tips!
Posted on June 3, 2009 by Paula, under Time Management Skills, Time Priorities.
Yesterday we discussed finding and structuring your time when you have ample expanses of it at your disposal.
Today, let’s look at the opposite situation — finding time when you are stressed, rushed, and feeling in a time crunch. How do you find time under those circumstances?
- First, it’s important to take a breath and recognize the reality that you don’t have time to get everything done that you might have hoped to.
- Second, prioritizing becomes key. Quickly sort your to do list (ideally this will be on paper) with “must do” items at the top and things that you can let go of at the bottom. This assures that you don’t miss something key – and don’t waste energy trying to recall it all.
- Third, enlist help, if you can, for your must do items. It’s important to be calm and clear when asking for help. Being firm and friendly, not frenzied, keeps the stress level at a minimum for everyone (yourself included).
- Fourth, once everything is done that can be done in the time span available, be sure to thank everyone who pitched in — and if it was just you, be sure to thank yourself and validate the effort that carried you through!
- Fifth, when you have a moment to catch up with yourself, review what happened that left you in a situation with too much to do and too little time. Ask yourself some questions:
- Was procrastination involved?
- Were there unexpected changes in your day to threw a wrench in the works?
- Are there things that you can do to avoid a situation like this in the future?
Time management skills can’t address every eventuality, and there will be times when you have to squeeze too much activity into too little time. However, doing what you can to keep from putting yourself in those situations, and learning from them when they do occur, is a great gift to yourself.
How often do you find yourself rushing to fit things in? Try tracking it for a week — and then let me know what you find — I’d love to hear!
What if you could find another hour every day? You can! You are invited to sign up and download The New Finding Time Boundary Template. It’s FREE, and when you sign up you will also receive (if you don’t already) my FREE, weekly Finding Time Tips and my FREE, monthly Award-Winning Finding Time E-zine!
Let’s explore time together …
Other Posts You Might Enjoy!
Find Time When Your To Do List is Way Too Full – 3 Tips!
Posted on May 12, 2009 by Paula, under Time Boundaries, Time Priorities.
Finding time when your to do list is overflowing can be a formidable challenge!
Here at The Time Finder we are in the midst of getting ready to move our lists to a new e-mail provider. There are lots of details involved in this undertaking, and some of the tasks are complicated. Many of them are also sequential and time sensitive.
Adding this project to the other things on our to do list has raised some interesting time challenges here! Were it possible to work 24/7 we still couldn’t get it all done. Meanwhile, at that pace our efficiency and productivity would suffer – not to mention our health and quality of life!
In situations like this prioritizing becomes an absolute necessity, as does the use of time boundaries!
- I have created a prioritized list of tasks and have set aside extra time, separate from my ongoing tasks, for focusing on the list migration. I have dropped “non-essential tasks” from my to do list for now. They can be picked up again once we’ve finished the migration. For now, they simply add to the stress level.
- I am using my time boundaries to maintain my focus on the tasks that are on the top of my prioritize to do list. My time boundaries help me to keep from feeling overwhelmed.
- To help implement and maintain my time boundaries, I am using a timer much more frequently than I sometimes do. This also helps to keep me focused and encourages me to “let go” of tasks that may not be “perfect” but are “good enough.”
When you have a lot on your plate, it is very important to prioritize, have boundaries about your time, and keep yourself moving.
It’s also helpful to remind yourself that you won’t always be this busy! Plan in a reward for yourself once you get through this span of time. That can help both as a motivation and as a validation of your efforts!
How do you find time when your to do list is too full? Drop us a line here at the time finder — we’d love to hear!
What if you could find another hour every day? You can! You are invited to sign up and download The New Finding Time Boundary Template. It’s FREE, and when you sign up you will also receive (if you don’t already) my FREE, weekly Finding Time Tips and my FREE, monthly Award-Winning Finding Time E-zine!
Let’s explore time together …
Other Posts You Might Enjoy!
-
-
-
Let's Connect on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter! Paula Eder 
Create Your Badge
Do you feel guilty
saying no?
Is your time usurped by others' needs and priorities?
Want to change that?
You Can!
Click the link below to grab your FREE MP3 "Honoring Your Time With Boundaries"! Using this you'll learn to negotiate confidently with others! Honoring Your Time With Boundaries
When you claim your FREE MP3, you'll also receive our Weekly Finding Time Tips, our Monthly, Award-Winning Finding Time E-Zine, AND our Finding Time Personal Boundary Template.
All FREE!(A $97 Value!)
So download your FREE MP3 TODAY ... and start honoring your time and your relationships with boundaries! Honoring Your Time With Boundaries
Under no circumstances will we distribute your email address to any third party. -
Search
-
Follow The Time Finder with Your Favorite Feed! 
Follow The Time Finder in Networked Blogs!
