From Howard’s Gift, by Eric Sinoway: “Effectively pursuing our life’s work – having a satisfying life and a rewarding career – depends on successfully managing the allotment of time we’ve been given. It is, of course, a finite allotment; we’re all going to die someday; and each day until then will last just twenty-four hours. So we face some big questions about how best to manage those hours and days:
1. How should we apportion our time among the various facets of who we are and who we want to be?
2. Are we using our time in a way that leaves us feeling generally satisfied or dissatisfied?
3. Are we managing time (I would say activities instead of time) in a manner that enables us to fulfill our most important needs and wants?
4. Are we unwittingly squandering this precious resource by being reactive and allowing events to manage us?”
One incredibly powerful way to address all of these questions is to plan your week in advance, something I’ve been doing every Sunday since October of 1982. It’s the one thing that’s made the biggest difference in my productivity and effectiveness. I’ve written a short, 1 page article entitled The 5 Step Planning Process for Goal Accomplishment. Email me if you’d like me to send it to you. And remember that I don’t believe in time management, since you can’t really manage time. But what you can manage are the promises and commitments you make to yourself and others to do something within a time frame. Now THAT’S manageable!