By Sunny Simon
As we get ready to push back the clocks, I am reminded of my mother. She had a thing about time. It was never her enemy. She refused to let me get away with making excuses about the lack of hours in a day. In our house, it was unacceptable to forego an accomplishment because you didn’t have enough time. Her go-to advice was, “if you want something badly enough, you will make the time.”
She also bought into John Wooden’s philosophy regarding sloppy work, yet another thing Mom would not give you a pass on. As the late, great American coach put it, “If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?” If I did a haphazard job, I quickly learned it would end up being a do-over putting me even further behind. Thanks to my mother, I brought my A-game the first time around.
Being raised by a time management wizard may have set the bar rather high, but I am thankful for the rigorous training I received. She taught me to be well organized and sensitive to the time constraints of others by always being prompt.
Need to improve your time management skills? Based on my mother’s teachings, I have some suggestions that have nothing to do with employing technology. What I learned long ago is that time management is a mindset that can be capsulated into two major factors. The first, you must learn to stay true to your goals and honor your priorities. If you do not, you will soon be dancing to the beat of someone else’s drum. Successful people do not waiver from their own agenda. They focus, stay in the moment and do not become distracted by any bright shiny new project.
The second factor involves the art of saying no. Individuals who over commit will not only fail, he or she will end up disappointing others. Repeat after me: Over-committing is not a virtue. Yes, certainly stepping up and being a team player is important. Fair warning here, if you are constantly the person who carries the ball to the finish line your own goals will be sidelined.
So, if you’re that ball carrier everyone leans on, make a decision to change. Create new boundaries and get serious about enforcing them. There is freedom in saying no. Once you begin to decline extra commitments and stay focused, you will learn time management is not so difficult.
Sunny Simon is the owner of Raise the Bar High Life and Career Coaching. More about Sunny at www.raisethebarhigh.com
