Today I have the lovely honor to guest post for Sarah from All Things Blogs. Seriously, to give me free reign to say whatever I want can be a little dangerous, so thank you Sarah for trusting me! And if you are interested in having me guest post, do a product or shop review, OR if you would like to guest post here on the blog sometime shoot me an email and we will chat, mkay?
(www.dalayna.dillon@gmail.com)
I will be honest, it has taken me a loooong time to figure out what to write about for Sarah today. I kept coming back to this topic, but I wanted to avoid it so bad! Time Management (duh duh duh)....(www.dalayna.dillon@gmail.com)
I don't know about you, but this is one topic that is a constant battle in my life. Most of the time I feel as if I am just juggling all the things that are demanding my time, never getting to give my full attention to any one thing. I have always struggled with putting too much on my plate. I usually over-commit and never pronounce the word NO! very well. This is where that juggling act comes in. I spend most of my time running from thing to thing and then stay up to unreasonable hours making it all happen. It is a constant battle for me, and maybe for you too, but when I hit a wall and realize things have to change I always go back to square one of time management.
Define your priorities.
This is square one, this is where to begin when trying to manage your time. I know it, you know it, but do we do it is another thing. haha Where are you priorities? Because that list of priorities should determine where you spend most of your time. What you value or deem most important should be where you are spending most of your time. And the same is true in reverse, what you spend most of your time doing should be among your top priorities. This is the place that I can get caught. Many times I find that the things that are taking most of my time are not among my top priorities, in fact many times they are barely a priority at all. This tells me that I am spending most of my time insignificantly and ineffectively. To manage our time, we need to have a list of priorities, seriously, write them down if you have to and look at them everyday. That list will dictate what we spend most of our time doing.
What if our priorities don't line up with our time log?
I am speaking to myself when I say, when your priorities don't line up with your time log you need to throw some things out. If you are not able to give proper attention to your main priorities some things need to go. If you literally can't get the things that are important done in a day you need to give some things up. I have learned that saying "no" is not a bad thing, it is a healthy thing. By being able to say no you:
1. Are in control of your time
2. Are taking responsibility for your time
3. Not allowing people to take advantage or suck your time
Now I am not saying that every time will be a no, but then again you can't always say yes either. You don't need to be involved in every good cause, on every committee, or have a voice in every organization. Learn to say no and you will be happy you did. You will be in control of your time and therefore be able to manage your time with much greater results.
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This is a great post, Dalayna! I'm frequently finding myself attempting to cram 40 hours worth of stuff into 24 hours in the day... doesn't work out in my favor. I'm reminded of a couple things, though, that I think you might find interesting.
ReplyDeleteFirst, is a quote by Martin Luther (not King, Jr.). He says, "I have so much to do today that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer."
Second is a paraphrased Mark Twain quote. Essentially, he said "If all you have to do today is eat a giant, ugly frog, then everything else that day should seem easy in comparison." So when we look at our priorities and all we want to accomplish, it's a reminder that if we do the biggest, ugliest thing first (aka eat the frog), everything else will come easier because we're no longer dreading and procrastinating.