.KEYWORD timemanage
.FLYINGHEAD TIME MANAGEMENT
.TITLE Is your To Do List to-doing you to death?
.OTHER
.SUMMARY Everyone seems to want more time. Your Palm handheld is an excellent time management tool. Right out of the box, it’s equipped with two powerful resources: the Date Book and the To Do List. In this article, Kimberly Bryant, a business and personal success coach, will show you how to use your Palm handheld to create more quality time in your life.
.AUTHOR Kimberly Bryant
Everyone seems to want more time. What for? Time management is really about finding more time to do what you really want to do.
.H1 Quality time
Your Palm handheld is an excellent time management tool. Right out of the box, it’s equipped with two powerful resources: the Date Book and the To Do List.
Let’s look at your Palm Date Book. This is a good time to start with the end in mind. What is it you’re trying to fit in? More free time? Quality time with your friends or loved ones? Schedule blocks of time each month for what you consider most important. Get your priorities straight in your Date Book. Block out a weekend away. Schedule in that spa day or overnight camping trip. Use chunks of time each month for yourself–for skiing, golf, volunteering, meaningful relationships, etc.
Get the important stuff in first! These are the activities or rest periods that feed you and give you energy. Everyone needs these to keep their spirits and motivation up, but they’re especially important for over-achievers. Practice taking time for yourself. Take moments between tasks to acknowledge where you have been and to get control over yourself. It gets easier as you practice putting yourself first.
What should you do with the rest of your time? Enter your work hours, including after-hours events and driving time. Then, add in some more things that remind you that you love yourself. Put in a massage, lunch with a friend, or a trip to the hot springs. Add a leisurely afternoon walk several times a week. Schedule you in!
What you really love to do is now in your schedule. What about the rest of what you need to do? The remainder of my tips will address that.
.H1 Finish what you start
First of all, focus on completing everything you’ve already started. Highlight or make a separate list of the things you need to do to restore your integrity. If your To Do List is daunting, you’ll feel better immediately when you start taking care of the things you’ve promised to do. Handle your commitments and responsibilities.
If it’s taking you months to complete all the things you’ve started, then practice limiting your commitments. Do you know how? Say, "No, thank you," to new opportunities. Or, say, "Maybe," and then sleep on it before you accept any new responsibilities. Say, "I’m taking a few months off from new activities so I can catch up." Say, "My coach says I need a break, and I’m practicing being less busy." Then finish the things you’ve started. Schedule time to complete the projects on your list and spend time getting organized. What’s bugging you? Eliminate clutter and make more space. What is your biggest time-management problem? Solve it permanently.
.H1 What not to do
If there are items on the list that you aren’t going to do, eliminate them. Make a decision and stick to it. If you need to let someone know about your decision, do so with integrity. "I’m not going to get to that in this lifetime." "I’m sorry I over-promised; now I see that I can’t get that finished." These are probably the things that are keeping you up at night. Make a decision and let it go. Or, finish it and stop over-promising. Finish it, finalize it, and get closure.
Delete everything from your To Do List that you think you should do (except for your work and family time). If you want to do it, that’s another thing. When you’re internally motivated to do something, it brings you a benefit that’s important to you. Our motivations reflect our needs and values. "Shoulds" reflect guilt and the threat of shame. Either schedule these items in your Date Book or let them go. These are the little obligations that add up to big stress. Accept yourself where you are, even if you’re not able to do everything you want for yourself and others.
Eliminate the small stuff from your To Do List. Take an hour a day for a week and see how many little items can be resolved by a phone call or quick action. Delete the routine things like paying bills. When bills come in the mail, you’ll know to pay them. Create an alarm or other system to remind you of ones that don’t come in the mail, or put them in your Date Book. Your To Do List is for projects and promises. Delete the items that you’ll naturally remember to do; they don’t have to be on your list. The list is there to remind you of things to do. It’s not there to run your life.
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.H1 Cleaning up
Now look at what’s left on your list and see if you can hire someone to take care of some of the big things for you. Can you make a call that will move a project off your desk? Remember, you’re here to enjoy life, not to be tormented by your To Do List. Some things on your list are really decisions to be made, right? Make those decisions and take action. Keep from making new commitments while you catch up.
Haven’t you noticed that if you really want something, it gets done? Make sure your To Do items bring you closer to the life of your dreams. If you do everything on your To Do List, will your life be the way you want it?
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
Kimberly Bryant is a business and personal success coach. She helps small business owners create schedules they can live with! Visit http://www.kimberlybryant.com or write timecoach@kimberlybryant.com.
For Kimberly Bryant’s article on reducing stress in the September 2000 issue of PalmPower, visit http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue200009/stress001.html.
For Kimberly Bryant’s article on tackling your tolerations in the June 2000 issue of PalmPower, visit http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue200006/pptolerate001.html.
For more information about Palm computers, visit http://www.palm.com.
.H1 Bulk reprints
Bulk reprints of this article (in quantities of 100 or more) are available for a fee from Reprint Services, a ZATZ business partner. Contact them at reprints@zatz.com or by calling 1-800-217-7874.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO Kimberly Bryant is a Business and Personal Success Coach. She helps small business owners create schedules they can live with! Visit http://www.kimberlybryant.com or write timecoach@kimberlybryant.com.
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?50@@.ee6f870
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