Schedules, Time Management and Life

Tempest Fuget – latin expression for Time flies!  … as a kid time seemed to  sometimes stand still… i could not wait to be a certain age, or for Christmas to come, or …. fill in the blank.  As an adult, working full time and owner of a small business i can assure you i long for the days when time seemed to stand still….

Another part of that first of the year is the  preparation for another year of business by sitting down with a fresh planner, and beginning to carve out the times when various endeavors will be accomplished.  Yes, i know there are several different schools of thought here… the list makers are one, the fly by the seat of your pants group another.  When life gets more busy i find myself needing to be organized, even on paper.  Without a plan and some organization i accomplish very little.

Carpe Diem – latin for Cease (take hold of) the day.  It is not a passive expression… it demands action, activity, process, thought, plan.

So here is my nickle’s worth of time management ideas:

• Plan well, and follow through
• Allow down time – yes, crashing on the couch to watch that movie with hubby is ok! There is no guilt in doing so.
• Be realistic – there are only 24 hours in a day, and by design we need at least 6-8 hours sleep, so productive awake time is going to be limited.  Know your limits.
• Plan your production schedule well, get ahead of the demand, anticipate the trend when possible.  (This may involve keeping good records of seasonal changes in sales, knowing what is successful and when to scale up or down- another subject all together).
• Set time for you – recharge your batteries with whatever gives you strength… quiet evening of reading, soaking in the tub, a long chat with a friend, whatever it is – set time for you.
• Take time for your spiritual self – recharge your batteries with prayer, or reading…. In my life God is center of everything, and essential to my every breath.  I try to guard my time  spent with my bible, and my God.
• Set time for routine things – laundry, housekeeping, pet care… all of these routine parts of life have to go on too.  (Personal note – I have been known to get so overly focused on production that i have neglected real routine things, and found myself doing emergency laundry loads at 5am so we have something to wear for work… not the best  strategy!!!)
• Use a pencil on your planner… it can be erased, changed, and adjusted.  Pen in the dates that cant change, events, appointments… pencil the rest!
• Backup your information on your electronic calendar or planner on your phone… never trust it will always be with us… accidents are called that because they happen when you least expect them.

I am certain there are a ton of more hands on, how to posts on time management… this was just a brief thought of how i approach it.