8 Time Management Tips to Help You Focus ...

One of the biggest time wasters is having unclear goals. When you are not sure of what your goals or priorities are, you run the risk of being scatterbrained and wasting valuable time on things that you are not passionate about. Some people make the mistake of doing what their friends or others are doing, and then lose motivation along the way because they had no passion about it in the first place. So, find the passion that stirs your soul and tie it with your intentions. Identify what you truly most want in life – be it to spend more time with your loved ones, or to make a decent living – once your priorities are clear, you can now schedule your activities efficiently doing what you are passionate about.

Procrastination is putting off doing something for another time which ends up in lost opportunity. Surely, none of us wants to wake up one day to realize that life passed us by due to lost opportunity. One of the best ways to avoid procrastination is to do it now even if the alternative looks easier. So do it now and move on to the next project.

After you have figured out what your goals and priorities are, you are now ready to put them into action to avoid procrastination. Create a schedule of your day such as the time you wake up, the time you eat lunch, dinner and the time you sleep. The time in between is what you fit your activities into specific slots. I have recently introduced a time map to help manage my kids’ daily activities as well. This helps avoid stress and confusion especially in the morning as we all know what we need to be doing at what time. Try this, it will change not only your personal life but your family life as well. With time, you can tweak it after you see what’s working.

This word may sound like a broken record but when I feel like I am losing focus, I like to visualize an athlete. Athletes are some of the most extremely focused and disciplined people. Remember Gabby Douglas the 16 year old gymnast falling off the beam during the 2012 Olympics and crawling back up to finish her routine. That’s focus. Resist the temptation to constantly check your email, Iphone or other people’s Facebook and Twitter updates. Time yourself as you work through your projects. This will help you track how long a certain project is taking you and help you make necessary changes. Crossing out finished tasks gives me unbridled joy. Now you try it.

Waking up early before everyone in your household gives you the benefit of uninterrupted peace to do what you want such as exercise, read or to meditate. By the time it is 7:00am when the rest of the world is arising, many successful people from Apple’s CEO Tim Cooks to Brooklyn Industries CEO Lexy Funk have read the news, meditated, hit the gym, sent emails or made phone calls to different time zones.

«Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man (or woman) healthy, wealthy and wise.» This is a famous quote by Benjamin Franklin one of the founding fathers of the United States. In order to wake up early you need to hit the sack early to be able to function with vitality. Enough ZZZ’s is vital for overall health.

Learn to say no to the things that are not in line with your goals. Sometimes we find ourselves trapped in things that are not in our priority list, such as random surfing of the net and neglecting what is important. Do you sometimes find that you are on the net surfing about Kim Kardashian’s pregnancy and other «juicy topics», wouldn’t it be nice if you were using that time with activities that add value to your life, such as reading a motivational book, exercising or writing that one article that you have been putting off?

Try and combine different activities to achieve several goals. If one of your goals is to spend more time with your kids and another goal is to eat healthy, spend time cooking healthy meals with your kids. If you have a goal for self growth, and another goal is to stay fit, listen to self development audios on your morning walk or at the gym.

Care to share how you maximize your time? We would love to hear from you.