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Time management starts with “Doing Nothing”

Implementing time management skills into your life takes dedication and specific attention to many areas where you can improve on. These specific areas differ from one person to the next but there are of course quite a few areas of improvement that are very common for all people to need to make better on. Once such area is learning how to improve how much work can be done and the best time to do it. So the question you need to ask yourself is: “When do I work best?”

If you want to be at your best at whatever you are doing, then you need to allow your brain to concentrate on one activity at a time. As complex beings we are all capable of doing many things at the same time, but in doing so our main focus decreases immensely and we end up not finishing our main tasks or completing them with poor quality.

If the task at hand is a complex one, consider whether you are working on several parts of the same task or if you are actually working on two separate tasks, which will indeed take away from your focus. Although this advice seems very simple and goes against everything that we have been taught in schools and at the workplace, it is vital that you adhere to it if effective time management is your goal.

People are constantly preaching that we should work on many things at one time. The old-school advice given to people that needed time management advice was to “multi-task” in order to be more efficient. And after years of society telling us to live our lives this way, it may be hard to change to habits of concentrating single-minded, on one thing at at time.

In order to reach your full potential, you must break out of the mind-set that has been programmed by other people. As odd as this may sound, sometimes the the best way to be the most productive is to sit at your desk and do absolutely nothing for thirty minutes. You are not to have the television or radio on. You should not be smoking or drinking a cup of coffee. Instead, you are to do absolutely nothing for thirty minutes, and longer if possible.

Time management sometimes means doing nothing but gathering your thoughts in silence each day, and long before you begin planning the day ahead. Going into silence like this could be the single most productive thing that you can do within your day. Your thoughts will become centered, stress levels will decline, and you will leave your moment of silence with clarity of what goals need to be accomplished that day.

Time Management: Go slow to go fast!

If mastering time management is one of your top priorities in life, as well as it should be for all high-achieving men or women, then you may want to pay attention to the art of “going slow to go fast”. Have you ever heard that saying before? Probably not. I sure haven't heard it in many many years. It was a very long time ago when I heard that saying, long before I became a life coach and a mentor of time management. In fact, I heard that phrase while serving in the US Navy and have paid homage to it ever since.

“Going slow to go fast” will make a tremendous shot of improvement to the quality of your daily schedule and of course your individual tasks that must be completed each day. Your work will completed faster and with better quality, your stress levels will decrease, and you will have more time on your hands to spend with family and friends.

So how in world can moving slower, in order to go faster, actually work? It is very simple. You see, I used to work on top of a United States Aircraft Carrier back when I was in the Navy. Considering it is labeled as one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, there was supreme attention to detail and organizational order on the flight deck. With dozens of jet aircraft coming and going, dangerous steal wires that were moving at over 100 miles per hour, and the possibility of falling overboard into the ocean, one of the constant phrases that the leader of the flight deck was always telling us was to “Go slow to go fast!”.

In other words, for every task or job that an individual had to do, speed and efficiency needed to be implemented. If fact, it meant life or death in many cases. But in order to have the most productivity with the highest quality, we always knew to handle each task in a manner that was slow yet safe, carefully done yet efficient, and detail oriented yet expeditiously. And what was the end result? We got our work done faster, safer, and with 1st class quality.

You can do the same with your daily activities, starting today. As you are going t through your daily list of things to do, pick one and attack it single-mindedly. Take on the task with vigor, but at the same time paying specific attention to detail.

Get your work done in a timely manner, but slow down in order to maintain the highest quality. Take every task one minute at at time. If you are writing a report, concentrate on one paragraph at at time. If you are organizing your office, work carefully with one section at at time. If you are running shopping errands, then do not try to rush. Instead take your time driving, go directly to the location of the item you need, slow down. Doing so will guarantee that you will have the least amount of sudden obstacles pop up from rushing your time schedule. Remember, always go slow to go fast.