Balance

Finding a balance in your life is the ultimate key to success in my opinion. It takes a lot of Discipline and Time Management to maintain a steady balance. I remember watching a time management course on Lynda.com a few quarters back and I am going to share some key points here on my blog. These will hopefully be helpful for anyone trying to balance work time, family time, study time, and any other everyday tasks you are trying to accomplish in the short time available.

Mind Clearing

• Get out all ideas out of your mind quickly. Write down notes, plans, special events, or anything you have going on in your life that you need to make time for.
• You can use many things for getting this done.(notebook, sketchpad, phone, tablet, dictation program, etc.)
• The best suggestion is two use only two of the options you have access to from the list above.
• You will need to create a physical gathering point to access and organize these important pieces of information.

Gathering Point

• By gathering point I a physical gathering space where you can store all your notes, sketches, plans, pics, etc. If you are working on multiple projects then have separate folders for these in your gathering point.
• At the end of each day, grab all items out of place(misc. notes or items around work/office area) and put them where they need to be in your gathering point inbox.
• Process your inbox daily or weekly depending on how much work you’ve accumulated.

Processing Inbox

• If there is something that can be done in 5min, then do it ASAP! Get it out of the way, so you can focus on the more important items.
• If something takes longer than 15min, then put that on your calendar.
• If it is 20min or longer and has no due date, then you can put those items on your ‘task list’. Which will be a list you create for these type of items in your inbox.
• Make sure to leave enough buffer time in between appointments or scheduled jobs. This will prevent stress and over working yourself. It could also produce better work production, because you will not be in a rush to get things done.

Calendar

• This is the most important tool to be organized. No excuse not to have one, because they come built in to almost all tech devices.(phones, tablets, notebooks, etc.) You can also use a planner or traditional calendar, but with digital forms you can sync on all devices.
• Treat your calendar like a bank account, don’t overdraw; stay within your time budget. Time behaves like money – when it’s gone, it’s gone.
• Always check your calendar before committing.
• Your calendar is a commitment, so make sure to stick to your plans!

I feel we are all victims of time and how we wish we could control it. I will admit the need to keep practicing these key rules and improving my skills at living a well balanced lifestyle. I hope this helps out anyone who would enjoy this as well.

28 Apr This entry was published on 04/28/2012 at 5:59 AM and is filed under Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.