Everyone, typically, has the same amount of time each day. People have 24 hours or 1440 minutes each day to spend in ways that are as unique as they are. What they all have in common is their ability to choose which priorities get their time and attention. People schedule their time according to what is most important to them-no ifs ands or buts about it. When people are satisfied with how they use their time, they are among the few who have mastered time management.
Many people are struggling each day to fit in all of the things that they want to do into the time that they have to do them. It becomes a simple equation that involves volume and capacity. People all have the same capacity each day with 24 hours. No two people have the same volume of things in their life that are competing for attention in the form of time being spent on them.
When people realize that planning each day, week, and month against their capacity is the key to being successful with time management, everything shifts in their favor. The key it so plan each day, week or month at some level below the maximum amount of time they have available.
People know that each day has 24 hours and that it is a constant in their lives. When they chose to spend 8 hours sleeping, they are left with 16 hours in the capacity part of the equation. If they use 10 hours as the amount of time they spend working and commuting, they are left with 6 hours for the other things in their lives. Those things could include time for themselves, time with their families or with their friends. This example illustrates the finite number of hours that can be invested into activities that will serve them and those around them.
When people plan how they will use those available hours each day or week, they are more likely to see positive results in their lives that before we elusive. People can no longer use the rationale that they didn’t have the time to get something done. They must be honest and state that they did not chose to invest or focus their time on that particular thing. This model requires people to be honest with themselves and in turn those around them. As they become more honest about how they use their time, they will find themselves being more honest about other things in their life.
People who learn the habit and discipline of managing their time are also able to find other areas in their lives that could use some focused attention and organization. This gives them wins and successes in other parts of their lives and begins to build more confidence in how they approach their your day, week or month. When they complete things that are important to themselves, they feel more empowered and accomplished.
Flight attendants, in the final approach to landing, which is usually in less than 10 minutes, are some of the best examples of how to manage time efficiently. It is a predictable event on every flight that when the final double bells sound, it is the signal that they are only a few minutes before landing. This is the time when the flight attendants prepare the cabin for landing. Trash is picked up, seat belts are checked, seat backs are upright, trays are put away and the cabin is ready for landing in under 1o minutes on most flights. There are some great lessons learned in seeing this played out as a plane prepares for landing. People can learn a lot by watching the experts with time management that are all around us.
People who value their time and how they invest it, are more likely to experience less stress related to getting somewhere on time, delivering something on time to someone else or meeting deadlines and due dates. When they see the benefits of planning or at the very least organizing the amount of time that they allot to certain activities and events, they will begin to see the effects in their life and in the lives of those around them. Those benefits will be unique to each of them and will serve to reinforce their commitment to how they plan and invest their time each 24 hours or 1440 minutes.