More Haste, Less Speed
Feel like the day speeds by without you?
No matter what your age or employment status, the fact of the matter is there is no shortage of tasks to complete! I know from personal experience; I’ve spent days, even weeks doing work that never seemed to amount to anything. Where has all that time gone? Learn to balance and manage your time effectively by following these steps.
About 40% of clients I work with want to increase their productivity and improve their time and information management skills. Of those 40% most all of them have one thing in common: they fill their day with list of tasks that keep them busy, but not a list of tasks that move them towards their dreams and ambitions.
As Striding Out coaches we believe that all our clients are creative, resourceful and whole. With the support of a coach, each client has the capacity to discover and put into action the time management solution that works best for him or her.
As Striding Out coaches we also believe that even professional coaches need a coach. With the help of my coach, I discovered a time management solution that works for me. My hope is that by sharing my solution, it will prompt you to search for or re-asses your own.
Every morning, before I sit down to my emails or to work I spend 20 minuets focused on re-connecting with what’s important to me and putting that into action:
- Read Mission Statement –It expresses who I am, what I want to do and how I want to live. Take a moment and write your mission statement if you don’t already have one.
- Read Affirmations – My affirmations are positive, uplifting inspiring declarations about myself that are true or that I want to be true in the near future. They may be statements about me in relation to my work, in relation to my family, etc. Take a moment and write 5 personal affirmations.
- Answer the following questions on paper: What are you passionate about doing with your life? What are the 5 most important actions you can do today that will help you make it happen? What additional support do you need?
- Once I have listed my 5 passion actions, I list all the other tasks I need to do that day (work tasks, home tasks, etc.) and I prioritize them using the A, B, C rule. A being most important, B being of middle importance, and C being least important.
Giving structure to the beginning of the day, focusing on my mission, prioritizing the actions that will support my greater goals, and prioritizing my daily tasks – helps me stay focused on the bigger picture and builds momentum for the day.Then, in the evening I sit down and ask myself:
- How did today go? Did you accomplish your 5 passion actions and your ‘A’ tasks for the day?
- What went well and what did not?
- What can you learn from today and what can you improve upon for tomorrow?
- What are you grateful for in your life?
Finishing the evening with an assessment of the day provides time to reflect on what I learned from the day and how I will proceed tomorrow and the next.
This is just a taste of how I organize my time. Feel free to incorporate my morning and evening rituals into your day and adjust as necessary, find a good on time management, or contact Striding Out to learn how a our coaches can support you in creating you own tools and hold you accountable to them.
This article is written by Mckenzie Cerri, Youth & Wellness Coach, Striding Out
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