ORGANIZING YOUR LIFE
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"Time is the most valuable coin in your life. You and you alone will determine how that coin will be spent. Be careful that you do not let other people spend it for you."- Carl Sandberg

The most valuable coin in your life? Think about it. You can't buy more time on this earth. We only have so much of it. You and Bill Gates have the same minutes in the day--he just gets paid slightly better for it. 

What is Time Management?
Didn't have enough time? Of course you did. You had the same time every day we all did -- 1440 minutes every day. Just like The Pope, Ghandi or Albert Einstein. 

It is how we choose to spend these minutes that makes the difference between success and failure in our lives. When we go to work, we have deadlines, plans and projects to ensure we complete our work according to the priorities established by our employer. Basically, we have someone to nag at us, but we also have structure that helps keep us focused. At home, we want to be more relaxed and consequently time slips through our fingers. We know we should make better use of our time but most of us are not willing to do anything about it. 

This is human nature. Change is difficult. Time management is not some great revelation, it is simply making the best use of the time you have. However, it can seem like a miracle when you realize how to make time work for you. Using your time wisely is the underlying foundation that allows you to accomplish the things in life that are important to you. 

No matter what you do, you can't increase that 1440 minutes in the day. You can only use them better. Time Management is really Self Management. You can't change time, only yourself. 

Time management isn't something you start - you're already doing it. You already make choices as to what to do first and what to spend your time on - you just might not always be making the right one. 

Do you have time for time management?
Often, when I am teaching a seminar, someone blurts out that they don't have time to sit down and organize their day! Rather than taking a few hours at the beginning of each month, an hour per week, or 20 minutes per day planning, we allow ourselves to continue the same way we always have. If you are truly committed to improving how you handle your time, the time you spend planning will easily be made up for; usually in the very first day. Can you afford not to organize your life properly? People often do the same thing with finances and estate planning. 

Why is time management so hard?
The way we handle our time has been learned over our lifetime and these habits are not easy to break. A conscious decision and commitment to change has to be made, just as in making any major changes in your life such as quitting smoking, dieting, and exercise. 

How can time management help your life?
Managing time properly will help you manage the stress of daily life and free up more time for yourself, your family and the things that are important to you. You might not get everything accomplished that you wanted to, but you WILL get more done than you could by not managing your time. 

The six top time wasters

Attempting too much at once.
Need to achieve, insecurity (trying to prove our worth), overconfidence, inability to estimate. 
Procrastinating
Doing it myself (not delegating)
Not saying no. (desire to please)
Personal disorganization (cluttered desk)
The first step -- set aside time for planning:
Set aside a regular time where you plan the next month, week, or day. Preferably this should be done before the start of the month/week/day. For example, consider planning your next day at 4:30 pm every day. Plan your next week on Friday afternoon. Do not allow anything to interfere with this planning time as it is the step that allows you to get what you really want out of life. This time is NOT to be used to deal with crisis or to catch up. Here's a story that might help illustrate how most people deal with time. 

A man walks up to where a farmer is cutting down a bunch of trees with a saw. The man says, "Saw's gettin kinda dull isn't it?" Farmer says, "Yup." "Why don't you sharpen it?" "No time. I gotta cut all these trees down." 

Now, is this farmer working hard? Of course he is. But he could get a lot more done if he planned better. Life isn't about how hard you work, it's making sure you get done what needs to be done so you can accomplish what YOU want. Another quote "it's not the mileage that counts, it's the direction." 

The next step:
The next step is to establish what is most important to you. Many people say that family is #1 on their list. Interestingly, of all the things that people plan during their busy schedule, quality time with other family members usually isn't one of them. This is because we feel that family time or romance is somehow diminished if it is planned. We prefer spontaneity, but we lack time to be spontaneous. Setting aside time for the important people in your life is the greatest gift you can give them. When other events happen, family time tends to be what we sacrifice to cover make time for these other events. No matter how hard you work, if you aren't working towards the right goals, it will be wasted. Spontaneous romance can be fun, but so can planning on taking your special someone out to dinner or to a movie. Anticipation can be even more fun because you can look towards that special time all week. 

Decide carefully what your real priorities are. If you sometimes have problems choosing which are the most important things in your life, try this exercise. Assume tomorrow you are lying on your deathbed and are going to die in a few hours. Are you happy with your life? Did you accomplish those things that are important to you? Do you wish you had spent more time on housework, or at the office? Or do you wish you had spent more time with your kids, or a loved one? Do you regret that you never took the time to take up writing or music or another hobby? Do you wish you watched more tv? 

Setting goals and activities:
Work out the steps needed to accomplish your priorities and establish weekly and daily goals and activities which will make each step happen. Include personal and work areas of your life since both areas impact on each other. One comment about goals, here. We often get tired of hearing that we should have goals and try to reach them. Well, in this context, all goals are things you want to do and accomplish. Activities are what lead you to your goal. The goal can sometimes seem huge, so breaking it down into smaller activities which will lead to the goal can help. For example, if you have to call 100 new clients this month, it is easier to schedule it as 5 new clients per day for 20 work days. Otherwise you have a 100 item to-do list waiting for you on the first day! 

A goal must be demanding, achievable, believed in and have a deadline. 

Activities MUST be prioritized. I have news for you. No matter what you do, you will NEVER get everything done. This is why you must work on the priorities first and learn to let the unfinished items alone (don't let them haunt you.) 

When are you most creative? Plan the activities that require you to be creative for your most productive creative times. For example, mornings are my best time so I try to work on my short stories on Saturday and Sunday mornings. 

Ok. let's start off by establishing some goals. Let's start with personal ones. Can anyone give me some examples? 

write a novel - 100 hours
more time with kids
communicate with friends
research a new business - 10
travel - is money a problem?

WEEKLY ACTIVITIES
dry-cleaning
housecleaning
household duties
laundry
Ok, let's try some work ones: 
proposal - 5 hours - do we need other input?
return phone calls
paperwork
Whenever you look at doing something, ask yourself these questions.

What is its order of priority? You may have many priority items, but only a single #1 priority. 
How long should it take?
What do I need to get it accomplished (research, input from others) - you need to schedule these activities first.
This helps you schedule them. Ok, let's look at scheduling. The novel is too big to fit in one week. We need to break it into an activity which will fit. Perhaps 2 hours per week. What's your most productive time? Researching the business is probably too large as well. 

It's human nature to work on the things we like first and put off the jobs we dislike, even if they are small. Working in priority sequence ensures that the most important items are done first. You are better off with 2 finished projects than 10 half-finished ones. 

Sticking to your goals:
Persistence pays off. Even if you only complete 60% of what you hoped, chances are that you accomplished a lot more than you could have by not planning your activities. Keep refining your techniques, reducing distractions and planning carefully. Reevaluate your goals and activities each week to make sure they are working. If you are not making as much progress towards a goal, adjust or add to the activities 

Handling paperwork:
A loaded desk is NOT the sign of a busy person, it's the sign of a disorganized person. When I worked in the bank, many of my colleagues had about 50 file folders on their desks, yellow stickies, message forms, etc. If I were a customer, I would worry about my file getting lost. They often missed appointments or forgot to call back clients or get something out that was very important. I had the same amount of work as them, but I kept all the files in my credenza except for the one I'm working on. You can only work on one item at a time. The rest I maintained in priority sequence. Your desk is NOT for storage. Studies show that people handle a piece of paper on their desk an average of 3 times before it gets dealt with in a final fashion. A major time waster. To say nothing of the time you spend sorting through it to see what you are doing. 

Some useful techniques. Set up all your paperwork in priority sequence first thing each morning or before you go home at night. New items should be added in priority sequence as well. Use yellow stickies only to direct traffic. I have a rule at work - No yellow stickies except on a file or piece of paper to direct traffic or to impart into. Use message pads that make a copy so you can access lost messages. Set up a diary system - even as simple as folders numbered 1-31. This allows you to get rid of paperwork that is not to be done until a later date. The list of items to do can be in your daytimer or to do list rather than having all the folders on your desk. 

When you get something new, assign it a priority and ignore it until then. Except in crisis situations, you should NEVER work on anything new received today because you have already set your day. If you're not sure, ask your Manager when the task is to be completed by. 

The to do list can also be a problem. What if you lose the to-do list? This where a daytimer or computer version can be a great resource. 

A useful technique can be to group like items together. (phone calls, errands out of the office, research on the Internet. Your first instinct must be to write in the Daytimer FIRST. Not on yellow stickies, assorted scratch pads, etc. 

Make sure you are prepared before you start. If you are going to call 10 clients, do you have all their information on hand. Do you have your own price lists and information within easy reach? 

Another useful program I have is called ACT! It is a contact manager. If someone calls me, I key either their first/last name or company or any info about them into the computer. Within seconds, I have all the info including the details of our last conversation. People think I have a phenomenal memory. I think my memory is probably below average, which is WHY I HAVE to be this organized. The program also allows for diarizing items, setting alarms, printing faxes, memos and letters and more. Other similar programs are called Maximizer and I think Daytimer also makes their own. 

However, a recipe card box or loose-leaf system can work as well. 

Dealing with distractions:
Here is another quote for you. "Life is what happens to you while you are planning something else." It's important not to let things "happen" to you to get you off track. Here are some ways to deal with common distractions. 

Television You come home, you're beat. You relax by watching a little TV. Or, you were planning on doing some work on that project, but the season finale of "Friends" is on tonight. Sound familiar? 
Here is one solution that will help. A VCR allows you to choose your viewing time. You can tape shows so that you don't interfere with scheduled projects and you can watch the shows at a time when your creativity is low. VCRs have another benefit. Did you know 1/3 of all shows are commercials? (of course you did--that's when you go to the fridge, the bathroom, etc.) If you watch six hours of tv per week, you gain two hours per week just by taping your shows and fast-forwarding through the commercials. It's amazing how many of us haven't considered this technique. 
By the way, how many reruns have you watched in your life? While I agree that many shows on TV are interesting, most sitcoms aren't of sufficient quality to watch over and over. What if all that time spent watching reruns had been spent on taking courses, or in launching that new business you were thinking of? Some members of my writing group had their cable disconnected. A little extreme, but they all report that their writing time has increased immensely. 
Telephone The telephone is a major distraction. We allow the telephone to take us away from whatever we are doing, no matter how important. Some people who are REALLY tied up (in the bathroom or making love) will rush to the phone so they don't miss that call. (chances are that it is just a telemarketer wanting to change your long distance service). I get very annoyed when I am a customer in a store with money in my hand ready to buy and the sales clerk keeps me waiting while he or she answers the phone. 
Pagers and cell phones make the problem worse as we are available wherever we are, even on a relaxing walk on the beach. We seem to have this overpowering fear that we will miss something. 
Telephone solutions? Set aside times for important projects and disconnect the phone, cell phone and pager. That's what answering machines are for. 
Work on the project at a suitable location away from the normal home or office environment such as the library. 
Family and Friends Family and friends can be another distraction, and an especially difficult one if you have family or roommates living with you. Close friends and family often feel they can "drop in" unexpectedly and they don't see your home projects as a high priority activity.. 
Many home business people tell me that their friends don't think of what they do as "work" and can't understand why they can't be available to do things for them during weekdays such as baby-sit their kids since they are "home" anyway. This really happened to a friend of mine. She baby-sat for 3 weeks during a local grocery store strike. She is a very busy commercial artist who works entirely at home. 
Here are some friend and family solutions. Get new friends!...just kidding. Besides, it won't work with families. Or would it? Hmmm.... 
Try enlisting family and friend's help. Tell them why your project is important to you and what times you are unavailable. Ask that they support you in your endeavor and respect your request. If they won't, maybe it is time for the option in the previous paragraph. People can't take advantage of you unless you let them. 
A second solution is to run! Choose a suitable location for working on important projects away from home. Try not answering the door when unexpected company shows up. People can not interrupt you unless you let them. 
Housework Another obstacle I often hear is "But I have to houseclean!" Your choice - rich and famous, or domestic engineer. Seriously, would your kids be happier if the home was cleaner or if you went out for an hour per week and threw a baseball with them? If you are working on a home business project expected to make money, the project should make more than the cost of hiring a maid service. (or else you should start your own maid service) And if you hire a maid, don't clean first! That defeats the purpose. (sort of like making sure you get over your illness before you go to your doctor) 
No one, while lying on their deathbed, regrets not spending more time at the office or housecleaning. 
Work Distractions

Coworkers: Tell them you are in the middle of an important project and set up a later time to meet with them. Eventually they will get used to this and set times with you. Sit facing away from the door so people can't catch your eye. Close a door while busy if company policy permits. You can also waste a lot of time when co-workers drop in to tell you about their weekend. Use body language to show that they really are interrupting. Set limits on your meeting times. Let them know that you are in the middle of a high priority item with a deadline. 
Bosses: Meet with them to get their agreement as to the week's priorities. Make sure you provide them with updates on sensitive projects before they have to ask. If they ask, say that the project is on track for the completion date of Thursday or whenever it was. If there will be a problem with the project, let them know immediately. Bosses often nag because they are concerned about things being completed. By working with their priorities and keeping them informed, you can often diffuse their worry. Don't overinform. You are often better to provide a finished product and make minor changes rather than having the boss provide input on each step. Give your boss solutions, rather than problems. 
LEARN TO SAY NO! 
Meetings
Meetings can be a huge time waster. Here are some ideas to make them productive.

Make sure they have a purpose. Why are you meeting? If you are meeting just to inform people about fairly regular material, would a memo do?
Have an agenda and make sure everyone gets it ahead of time. This gives them a chance to prepare.
Make sure the meeting has a set time to begin and end.
Start on time! Otherwise you are wasting everyone's time. If you have 10 people in a meeting who earn $30,000 per year, your meeting costs you $200 per hour including benefits. Make sure you are getting value for the time being paid for.
Stick to the topic! Make a rule that items to be discussed MUST be on the agenda or they will NOT be discussed. Give staff the option of sending you a memo prior to the week's meeting to suggest items. Make sure this rule applies to you as well if you are the one chairing the meeting. 
When you come up with results and a plan of action, schedule what happens next. (who is to do what).
End on time! Your staff have important priority items waiting at their desk.
If my staff show up at a meeting without their daytimer or at least paper and pen, they are in big trouble. The same happens if I call them into my office. 
Not sure where your time goes?
Consider keeping a time log for a week or two. If you are precise about filling it out, it should reveal any problems you are having.

Common Objections:

I work better under pressure. Actually, you don't. The pressure keeps you from procrastinating and keeps you focused on the item you are working on. But you are having to dump other things to work on the pressure item. You are also incurring stress and often having to work late, missing family and friend time. 
My work is going well. I'm doing just fine. Great! If this is as a result of time management, I'm glad to hear it. If not, time management may allow you to accomplish some personal and work challenges that you don't have time for at present.
I use a to do list and appointment book. Isn't that enough? It's a start, but you still need to learn to prioritize, minimize distractions, say no and delegate. A to-do list and appt book are only tools.
Time management takes the fun out of life. It's too serious. Not at all - it gives you more time for fun. If you handle it right, the people around you won't even know you are doing it. 
But I prefer to be spontaneous. Time management allows you to be spontaneous. If you suddenly had the opportunity to fly for an unexpected vacation in a tropical place, are you organized enough to reschedule your work? 
Choices:
After all this, some people still think they don't have time to practice time management. It is much easier to blame society and complain about the lack of time instead of doing something about it. 

Many of our stresses are self imposed. Here is an example from Sally Forth: 

SALLY: "Sometimes guilt just sweeps over me, Ted. No matter how hard I try. I can't do everything expected of me." 
TED: "You do more than I expect. You do more than Hillary expects" (Hillary is their daughter) 
SALLY: "Apparently, we've identified the culprit." 
TED: "You might want to have a little talk with yourself."
Time management is simply a matter of choices. YOU have to choose which items in your life are the most important and work towards them. 

Here are some other creative ideas to help you stay organized:

Always work on the most important things first. Keep your desk or work area clear, with only the material needed for the project you are currently working on.

Purchase a small notepad and pen and keep in your jacket pocket or purse so that you always have something to scribble ideas on. If a great idea strikes while on the beach, you don't want to risk losing it. Look into a portable voice recorder - as cheap as $40. Great for using in the car or while you are out for a walk. 

For more time management help, consider time management tapes - you can listen to them while you are driving, jogging, etc. Or take a book out of the library. 

You should seriously consider a professional appointment book, such as Daytimer. Many small books or wall calendars don't have sufficient room for planning. Take it with you wherever you go. I have included a handout which shows the type I use, called Daytimer. (no, I don't work for them or get a commission - I just like their products) These kind of products are called "integrated." They have forms for arranging meetings, tracking call backs and delegated work, clients, projects and even your grocery list. They are available from most stationary stores, including STAPLES. If money is a problem, draw out a similar format on loose-leaf in a binder. 

Consider courses from a professional. A professional can work directly with you on your personal situation to get you on track. 

As with any change in your life, it is important to persist. If you get off track one day, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get back to it. It's kind of like a diet. Don't let one chocolate or one bad binge derail you permanently. 

Steps to take to become more organized:

Commit to change. If you don't change the choices you make and make a conscious effort to improve how you use time - it won't work. You must take responsibility for your time use. 
Set up a system, whether a professional day planner, or a loose-leaf system for scheduling, to do lists and handling paperwork. 
Have a uncluttered workspace with access to the tools you need to work. 
Set aside a set time every day to plan your day. Do the same for the week and month and even year. 
Minimize distractions. Set appointments with yourself for quiet times to plan. 
Learn to say no. 
Rather than working harder, look at the task to find out the best way to accomplish it. Then work smarter on it. It's not the mileage that counts, it's the direction. 
Set time aside to listen to time management tapes or to read some books and articles. These can help you stay on track. 
Stick to your goals, if they are truly important to you. 
Remember that life is about choices. Give some thought to how you make yours.

SOME TIME WASTERS:

Attempting too much at once.
Procrastinating - putting it off.
Doing it myself (not delegating)
Not saying no.
Personal disorganization (cluttered desk)
Not taking responsibility for how you use your time

BOOKS TO READ

Here are some books I have found useful. I'm sure there are many more:

The Time Trap - Alex MacKenzie
Organized to be the Best! - Susan Silver
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Steven Covey
The Artist's Way - Julia Cameron