3 Ways to Boost Your Time Management Effectiveness and Enjoy A More Fulfilling Life

There’s an old saying that if you want help with getting something done, ask a busy person to help you. Everyone knows at least one person like this – the person who always manages to cross everything off their list by the end of the day or week.

Part of their ability to consistently manage their time effectively is based on the fact that they have a system they follow. The better the system, like with the Pareto Principle which states that roughly 80% of our results come from 20% of our work, the more likely someone is to look like they just have a talent for managing their time.

Professionals have used this principle to mercilessly reschedule their time and whittle down their client/customer lists to build a stronger business platform. But truly rounded professionals have learned that this principle can be applied to their personal lives as well. From a strictly time management perspective, what activities are you participating in outside of work that have a positive impact on your life?

Would it surprise you to learn that the average person spends almost 5 hours a day in front of the TV? Perhaps, if the whole family is watching TV together, it could be called “family” time, but let’s not kid ourselves. Until we’re ready to take an honest look at the way we spend our time outside of work too, we will continue to miss opportunities for identifying the 20% of our activities that will bring us 80% of our happiness, relaxation, joy, love, sense of contribution, and peace. Here are 3 ideas that might help you identify your outside-of-work 20%.

1.  Make a list of all your family and friends and decide which category each person fits into. This can be tough to do, but asking and answering these questions will help. 

• If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, who would you pick to spend today with? 
• If you were going to live another 80 years, who would you want to spend all that time with?

2.  Remember that you are either in or out of someone else’s 20%. Sometimes we just assume we’re in simply because we’re family or a friend. But think about what you’re bringing to someone else’s table. Do your family and friends know how you feel about them? And even if you’re not great with saying the words, are you doing a good job of making sure the people you care about know you care about them? Anyone can add this to their busy schedule. It takes less than a minute to make sure someone gets the message that we care.

3. Make sure your work schedule includes enough time for you to enjoy your life right now. Even if you’re putting in long hours in at work for all the right reasons, there’s no greater regret than knowing that we willingly let the important people and moments in our lives slip by without a second thought.

The truly wonderful thing about waking up each morning is that it’s another opportunity to do a little bit better today, than we did yesterday. Broaden your perspective when it comes to your time management strategies and you will have every reason to smile, every morning.

Alan Luoma: I am a Sales Coach with extensive experience in industrial sales, sales management, new

product development, sales and product training. I work with a great national sustainable packaging company and their exceptional distributors to increase sales. My success has been and is in utilizing the Pareto 80/20 principal in business and life. I have become an expert in seeking out and eliminating behaviors that prevent business people from being successful. I am a member of the Hartford Springfield Speakers Network, The National Speakers Association and New England Speakers Association. You can view my profile on LinkedIn, or contact me at Luoma@snet.net

The Power Of Focus

If I asked you to write down ONE problem getting in the way of your success, could you do it?

It can be hard to narrow the field down to ONE specific problem because different situations present different problems. In business, the ONE problem could show up in a variety of forms: If my prices weren't so high, I’d have more sales. If I had more prospects, I’d be able to exceed my quota. They show up in life too: If only I was thinner, I’m sure I’d be happier. If I had gone to school for just one more year, I could get a better job…. You get the idea.

Trying to solve multiple problems at once is likely to result in a lot of stress and frustration, and very little progress. A better approach is to decide which problem is most urgent and pressing right now. Once identified, you can focus your time and energy on coming up with a plan to resolve the situation.

It sounds like it should be easy enough to do, so why don’t people do it?

·        Sometimes it’s easier to have a good excuse for a problem than it is to take action and do something about it. People expect less out of you when you have a really good excuse. Of course, the down side of excuses is that people probably won’t have as much respect for you—or your work.

·        Really good excuses make it easier for people to ignore thoughts and desires about having or getting more out of their job, or their life. If someone is not where they want to be, they don’t believe it’s because of anything they have or haven’t done. Instead, they blame a list of seemingly valid excuses for not being able to tackle the ONE big problem standing between them and their success.  

·        People don’t take the time to adequately identify the problem. When they don’t, they are not able to come up with an adequate solution. Instead, the problem becomes hidden behind a multitude of excuses that slowly and steadily begin to wrap their way around all of the other problems—even the ones that would have been easy to deal with.

So welcome to 2016. Is there ONE business or life problem you want to work on solving to make this new year your best year ever? Quite simply, it’s your choice. Either you decide to let excuses stand between you and your success, or you come up with a plan for stepping outside old and worn out comfort zones.

Identify your most pressing problem, come up with a plan for solving it, write your plan down RIGHT NOW, and carry it with you. Anytime you realize you’re about to start making excuses, reread your plan, and for goodness sake, follow it!

Alan Luoma is a Sales Coach with extensive experience in industrial sales, sales management, and sales and product training. He holds key accounts with a national sustainable packaging company, is a motivational speaker, and provides sales training to individuals and groups. He is a member of the Hartford Springfield Speakers Network. You can view his profile on LinkedIn, or contact him at Luoma@snet.net