Time to go; Take time to smell the roses; Time will tell; Time heals all wounds; Running out of time; Spend your time wisely; All in good time; Time is money; Time of your life; Family time; Bed time, Time to wake-up

Have you ever noticed how much time we spend thinking worrying about time? We worry about having enough family time, or if we are spending enough time at work. We worry that we are not managing our time well, and even if we are taking enough time to relax.

Some of us are great at time management, arriving where we need to be at least fifteen minutes early. For other people, good time management is if they can get to where they need to be, no later than ten or fifteen minutes past their appointment time. I have known people who have kept very elaborate day planners, outlining each and every activity and appointment they have for weeks at a time. Then there are the people like me, who are always forgetting what time they are supposed to be somewhere and are always scrambling to even just make it there, much less getting there on time.

What jumps out to me is that the majority of us lack balance when it comes to time.  Often we are so busy that we do not think we can afford to slow down and achieve that balance.  Sometimes our lack of balance is because we do not possess the skills or motivation to manage our time wisely.

If you find that you are not taking enough time to smell the roses there are a few things you can do to take back some of your time. This does not have to mean huge career changes, it can involve small, but significant changes that will help you scale down the frantic to manageable.  Here are a few suggestions:

1. Take a hard look at your priorities and decide which ones matter the most.
2. Make a conscious effort to make your life not feel so chaotic.
3. Save time in your email correspondence by including codes that will streamline things.  NRN = No Reply Needed NTN = No Thanks Needed
4. Block out time to spend with your family and STICK to it.
5. Block out time to get enough sleep and exercise and STICK to it.

Time management is not as complicated as many people think it is.  Probably the most difficult part of time management is getting rid of our habit of procrastination, and gaining the appropriate motivation.

To help conquer our habit of procrastination here are a few helpful tips:

1. Visualize the end result of the activity, rather than the activity itself.
2. Eliminate distractions.  (For me this will mean, not playing Farmville when I am supposed to be writing.)
3. Get rid of the clutter.  Clutter can be distracting, giving us access to things that we would rather be doing.

Admittedly, I have bad short term memory.  Keeping track of my appointments in my head, often results in epic fails.  I miss appointments, or I show up late, and even have kept other people waiting.  Knowing that I cannot keep doing this, I have recently been proactive in getting myself more organized.  My computer has a sticky note feature, and I have started writing my upcoming appointments on that, so every time I am on my computer I can see it since it automatically pops up.  Recently I entered and won a blog contest, the prize was this very awesome day planner.  I have written my appointments down in it.

Here are a few time management tips:

1. Create a to-do list.  Write down deadlines for accomplishing certain tasks.
2. Tackle difficult projects at the time of day when you are most alert. (in other words, do not do as I do.  Very often I fall asleep while I am writing a blog post.)
3. Learn to say NO, to non-essential demands on your time.

I do not know about you but all that worrying about time is a real downer.  Not to mention, it makes my stomach feel very upset.  I think it is about time, I eliminated that source of negativity from my life.  That means I have some work ahead of me. I have decided I am going to implement at least some, maybe all of these various tips in my life and see if it helps me with my procrastination problem and my time management skills.  I will update you, and let you know how I am managing.  I am afraid not sleeping and not playing Farmville while I blog will be very difficult habits to break.