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"How we spend our days is

how we spend our lives."

-Annie Dillard

 

 

 

 

Time management is really self management. We can’t manage time. We all have 24 hours a day. How we spend our time is the issue. All activities are not created equal. Some actions are wasteful, some actions are little more than ‘busyness’ and some actions move us forward.  Below is a 5 step process for living life more intentionally.

1. Determine Your Purpose

Decide what is most important to you. Do you want to be a great father or mother, to serve God, be an effective leader? Do you want to get in shape, have a certain amount of money in savings at retirement or master an instrument? It is important that you clarity what you want. This is subjective and personal but very important. There is no right or wrong answer.

2. Define Your Goals

This is where you begin to quantify your purpose. Although not everything can be measurable, most things can be quantified. There are two types of goals: outcome goals and process goals. Both are important.

3. Develop a Master Task List (MTL)

It is important to get everything out of your head and on to paper. David Allen once said "Our minds are for having ideas, not holding them."

A Master Task List (MTL) is a comprehensive list of all the things you need and want to do: big and small, long and short term, professional and personal. Organize the list the way that works best for you. There is no right or wrong way. Some people like to categorize their list by roles such as: mother, nurse, Sunday School teacher, etc.

I break down my list into two major categories, personal and business. I further breakdown my business list into 4 sub-categories including current projects, brand building, relationship building and miscellaneous.

Here is an example of my current Master Task List (this is partial, not my complete list). Keep in mind that I use an app called Todo but pen and paper works great too. It is a matter of personal preference.

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4. Design Your Week

Take 30 minutes each weekend to plan your upcoming week. This is similar to ‘zooming out’ on a map so you can see the big picture. Here you would add and delete items from your MTL, get a clear picture of your workload and schedule your priorities for the week.

5. Adjust Daily

As items come up during the week you will need to include many of them in your schedule. In addition to planning your week, take 5-10 minutes at the end of every day and plan the next day. This will let your mind absorb your plan overnight and get you off to a strong start in the morning.