Time Management Increases Choices

The best way to achieve true happiness in life is to have as many choices as possible. You've probably heard the saying that "money doesn't buy happiness" and while that is true, what it does buy you, can lead to happiness. What it can buy you are choices. Choices of housing, choices of more nutritious food, and the choice of having more time because you can outsource more tasks to others. Even without money, you can increase your choices with proper time management that will allow you the time to do the things you really love to do. I'm sure there are many ways each day in which you waste your time. Maybe you spend extra time messing around in your email inbox, watching television, or reading updates on Facebook, or perhaps chatting with friends on the telephone. Maybe you waste your time in other ways such as searching for 30 minutes for your missing keys, or your hair brush, or maybe even your car in a big parking lot. These types of time wasters are 100% preventable when you put proper time management procedures in practice for your daily life. If you are often feeling hurried and frazzled, take an in depth look at your day from start to finish. Record every action during the day in a notebook you carry with you. Don't change your behavior the first day, just go about your day and write down everything you do with the time spent beside it. Make no judgments about your actions as you are tracking your day, since not everything you do is a time waster. The following day look at each item and ask yourself was there a way to spend less time. Common time wasters are spending too much time deleting SPAM from your inbox, searching for lost items, channel surfing, and other mindless activities. There are ways to get most of these out of your life, so we'll touch on the obvious items first. A home for every item -- In your household (and office), every item should have a home down to your spare pocket change. Create a home for every item and return it to its place each time you're done with it. For example, having a basket where you throw keys every single time will eliminate the need to search for your keys. Use Email Filters -- Set up email filters and rules with your email program. Have one email address that you check using a program such as OUTLOOK which filters your email into folders. Give this email to friends and family only. Have another email for business and give this email only to business associates. Again set-up filters. Have yet another free email from Yahoo or Gmail that you use for online shopping and social networks. That way your SPAM will go to these free services, and you can check this email only weekly. You can further make this work better by using the label system and folders within the free email too. Handle Paperwork Once -- Everyone has paperwork because everyone has bills, insurance, contracts, etc. You can tackle this by creating a simple alphabetical filing system in a filing cabinet or a paper accordion file (it doesn't have to be fancy). The minute you check your mail open it beside a trash can. Separate in to three piles: toss, action, and file. Toss (shred if needed) items that you do not need to save. Be sure to toss all those ads because you're likely never going to look at it again. Saving them for “someday” just adds clutter to your home or office. Immediately file everything that should be saved. Don't open bills that need to be paid until the day you will pay them. Put them in a separate "action" folder to be opened on bill-paying day. After you handle these three common time wasters, you can start tackling the others. Soon you'll find yourself with more time and choices to do things that have real meaning to you, like playing with your child or grandchild, or spending alone time with your spouse.