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Who is Managing Your Time?

Submitted by Mitch Seigel on Tues, 7/22/2014

With everything going on your life, personally and professionally, who is managing your time? If you answered that question with anyone besides “ME”, it is time to re-think the order of things in your life.

There is no one in your life who can manage your time better than you doing it yourself. It may be more painful for some, but it must be done by you, and you alone. You know your goals. You know who you have to see, things you need to do, and places you need to be. You know the importance of each, and which has priority over the other. Right now I’m planning for the week ahead, and it is Sunday night as I write this blog.

When I start work in the morning there will be order to my Monday, because I set it up. I know that I will call the East coast first before they go to lunch. Then I will have a phone meeting with people on the West coast. I have a noon meeting also, so in between I will be making calls to those in the West. Once my noon meeting is over I will call remaining clients in the East and after eating lunch I will finish off with what I need to for the rest of the day.

I have also set up my week. I know that I will be at a trade show on Friday so I compacted my other calls and things I need to do into four days, primarily on Monday and Tuesday, leaving room on Wednesday and Thursday for follow up.

In this blog I’m going over the order of things in the time management process. It is also just as important, and maybe information for another blog, as to how you track your week and know what you need to do next, and then after that, and so on. Also, the pattern and frequency of follow up with clients is extremely important to eventually making contact.

Start with planning ahead and setting up your next day, then your next week, and then the next couple of weeks. Once you get into a regular pattern, then you can work on the system you use to make this happen, and lastly, your pattern of follow up. Take one step at a time, so your patience doesn't waiver. Know that in the end you will be better for managing your time on a regular basis.

What are your challenges when it comes to time management? I look forward to hearing your comments. Until next time...