So Much to do..I wish I had more time!

There's a statement that many of us probably have said a few times. I know I say it a lot lately. I have so much to "do" that I wish I had more time!

Actually I find myself saying I wish I had more time, but knowing darn well I have a lot of time but it is how I choose to use the time that is the issue.

Time management is probably the number 1 'show stopper' that faces many of us. We say we want to do things, but have NO time. I think we do have time but we use the time we have doing things that just do not matter. I know I do and I know when I do it. Self awareness is a wonderful thing.

I do really well at work. I really do. I get so much done even with teh 6-7 hours of meetings a day I need to attend. I am on task and do not have a lot of distractions that would otherwise cause me to have a time management issue.

What I have learned from my work is that time management is a life skill; not a job skill! If you have so much to do you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What is it that I have to do?
2. What do I spend my time doing now?

These two questions can lead to great self awareness and I believe if you can answer these two questions you will actually see how you can get so much more done if you just use those wonderful time management skills.

A few weeks ago, I had a to-do list that was huge. All of them things to do, places to go, or things to get personally. I had my list. I then looked at how much time I would have to complete the list of to-do's. Ended up I had around 36 hours in a weekend. I had a Friday off so I had 24 hours plus 24 hours plus 24 hours ---total 72 hours to complete my to-do list.

Okay, now I knew I needed to sleep, eat, and relax as well so I took that time off the total and found I had about 48 hours if I stayed on task to get things done. Not bad right.

Now where things usually go 'south' is that I spend a few minutes checking emails here and there, or check the phone to see if I missed calls, or looked in the fridge a few times to see if anything looked good, or started cleaning the floor (something on the list) and ended up sewing the cat toys back together (NOT on the list)...distractions, things that do not matter, busy work...whatever you want to call them they are time management killers!

I guess the morale of the story is that I hear a few people saying there is so much to do and they don't have time! Really? If you sleep 8 hours, eat for an 1 a day, work for 9 hours a day that leaves you with 6 full hours to 'do somthing'. What could you get done in 6 hours? Most likely a lot.

So, as summer comes to a start become self aware on where you spend your time and if you are happy with what you are getting done at work as well as at home. It may surprise you to find extra time if you just stop the busy work and distractions.