Living a Balanced Life

One of the most important things that you can commit to memory is the value of your time. Your time is the most important asset you have, and it is the only asset you can not get back. If you are self-employed you have more of a sense for the value of your time but if you are a paid employee you may not value your time as much. Either way you need to know what the true value of your time is so when trivial items arise you can manage them more effectively thereby not spending your important time on them.

First, you must make a commitment today to know the value of your time. You can write it out to help remember it or just commit it to memory but commit today to to know its value so you can take control of your time usage.

Now that you are committed, make a list. Make a list of everything you need to do. I use a flip notebook but any notebook will do, just do it. This list will include household items, business items, family items, social items, and any other items that I do not have here. This process may take several hours, which is o.k.

Once you have the list finished, for now, you can see what you need to accomplish. If your list is like my first list it looks enormous, but don't worry about that, it has taken you years to procrastinate all of this onto the list so it may take two to three months to get rid of the majority. I guarantee you; now that you have your master list, items will get done faster than you think because with a list you can prioritize. For example, you are reading this article because me writing it is the most important thing on my list to do right now.

Go through and determine what is important and you can use an; a, b, c, or 1, 2, 3 it does not matter just get them in some order. If you use a day-planner great if you are like me and do not great, this method is useful to either type. If you use a day-planner then you can put your most important item at the top of the planner to start first thing in the morning. If you do not use a planner then you will make a list of things to do tomorrow and list them in the order they are to be done. Your first project is the most important so work on it and only it until it is completed or to a point where you can go no further with it. Then you will move on to item number 2 and so forth. What is not done today gets moved to tomorrow and so on.

Two things you need to realize are; first, the list does not stop growing. As new items come up they go on the list. Second, don't stop. If you just keep going in a positive direction you will make progress. I know everyone gets off track but get back on when you do get off and keep moving forward.

When I begin coaching someone in developing Life Balance we brainstorm about all they want to accomplish. Once we have this on paper it is easier to see where they want to be and then sort through what is and is not important at this time. What I have noticed however is people get off track because they do not take time to review their list or even glance at the goals they have set. This is how I believe you should break down your time to get the most items accomplished.

1. Take 2 days to one complete week each year to review what you have done over the last year, then decide what you want to accomplish for the next year. Before you start making excuses let me tell you this, (If you want to accomplish all your dreams then you must stop and take time out to make a plan). Find a way! Get a babysitter, get a hotel room, go away to somewhere so you can think whatever it takes to get alone and think. Do this individually first then with your spouse or business partner or who ever is involved. (If you are doing this for the first time others may not want to do it. Do not force others into joining you pray that they will become involved and slowly speak to them about what you are doing.) During this time you will get everything down on paper and organized.

2. Take 1 day per month. This will help you refocus and plan the next month. Again you are putting down what you want to accomplish over the next month in order of priority. Reread your goals and refocus where you have lost footing.

3. Take 2-3 hour per week. This is where you focus intently on the upcoming week. This list will be short and precise; your weekly planning time is where you save yourself the most time and energy. Remember 20% of the items on your list will bring you 80% of your results. Decide what your most important tasks are and list them in order.

4. Take 15 minute every evening to set-up you list for the next day. Things might have come up during the day before that need to be addressed tomorrow so review and revise your to-do list. Read your goals. You must read your goals at least daily so they are fresh in your mind; I prefer to read them in the morning and evening so they are ingrained in my thought process.

This process must be ingrained with prayer. What you want must be what God wants for you or it will be for nothing.