How You Use Your Time

You only have twenty-four hours a day. Look for ways to use your time more effectively. You can become more effective by developing abilities, purchasing tools, prioritizing differently, appropriately multitasking, and maintaining good health. As you become more effective and efficient with your time, you will have more time to do other things, which in turn can help you leverage your time even further. There are many books and articles that talk about time management, but the ones that I found most useful were Tony Robbins’s book Awaken the Giant Within and Steve Pavlina’s article “Do It Now.”

How you use your time shows what you value, so be aware of how you spend your time. An easy way to find better ways to spend your time is to track your time for a week. If you find yourself doing lots of yard work, you may want to invest in better equipment so you can do it more effectively. If you do a lot of reading, a speed-reading class could reduce the amount of time it takes you to learn. If you spend a lot of time doing things that don’t provide gains in financial, social, or human resources, you may want to consider eliminating them or reducing the time you spend doing them.

Becoming more efficient and effective means trying to use each minute to its fullest. You can make a wasteful activity productive by multitasking. For me, commuting was a mindless necessity during which I just listened to music or got wound up listening to the news. I made it more effective and enjoyable by listening to my favorite podcasts and audiobooks. Instead of becoming drained from the commute, I’d arrive each day with interesting new ideas to think about and discuss. My wife has made watching TV shows productive by folding the laundry while she watches. You could also make a health activity like basketball, skiing, or golf more effective by doing it with your friends or family, which would increase your social resources by strengthening relationships. Good time management is an essential part of super investing, or investing in multiple things at once.

Again, you only have twenty-four hours a day. Amazing athletes invest lots of time and money into developing their athletic abilities. Doctors invest years of their lives and lots of money to learn the abilities they need. Electricians invest their time and money to become highly paid experts. People are successful to a large degree because of how they choose to spend their time and how they continue to spend their time. You are always investing your time in some activity. Are your actions producing positive gains for you and your family? If not, what activities might be better investments?

Assessing Your Time Usage

Do you manage your time well to accomplish the things that you need and want to do?

Getting More Time - Quick Guide

• Track your time usage and remove activities that aren’t moving you toward your mission and vision.
• Each morning, put together a list of tasks you want to accomplish and then review them in the evening.
• Develop abilities that will make repetitive tasks faster.
• Resolve any health issues that are causing you to waste time or lack energy.
• Schedule your tasks using a calendar so you make sure you have time blocked out to accomplish those tasks.