It’s essential to “make time” for priorities!

When speaking for an excellent audience over the weekend, several people said they were having trouble finding time for key priorities and they asked for suggestions.

I explained that in today’s fast-paced, highly interruptible world, there’s only a glimmer of a chance that anyone can “find time” for anything. I suggested that, instead of trying to “find time, “ it’s important to “make time” for key priorities.

When suggesting this, I wasn’t trying to be cute or flippant (and I’m certainly not trying to do so right now). I’m absolutely serious.

Please permit me to illustrate what I mean by pointing out that I will never find time for my wife, even though I love her dearly. Too many
things will interfere.

My wife is a priority for me so I’ve got to make time for her.

I won’t find time for my kids, even though they are very, very special to me. They are priorities to me. Thus, I’ve got to make time for my kids.

I won’t find time to finish writing my third book (which is almost ready). That is a priority for me so I’ve got to make time to finish that book.

I’m suggesting that “making time” is actually a matter of scheduling time for key priorities, whereas “finding time” becomes an ongoing struggle to squeeze things in (and struggling is time waster and stress producer).

If you agree with me, you can see why it’s essential to – first, and always — know what your key priorities are! When you know what your priorities are (precisely) it becomes easier to schedule time for them.

Does this ring true to you?

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How much time are you really losing?

There’s no question about the fact that you’re confronted today with more interruptions and last minutes schedule changes than ever before.

Just think the many interruptions you’re dealing with:

● text messages
● e-mails
● voice mails
● schedule changes
● emergency meetings
● people who leave unclear phone messages such as “give me a call”
● social networking
● waiting, etc.

Realizing that these interruptions are taking place, now ask yourself, “How much time am I losing from all of this?”

If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll discover you’re losing from 2 to 3 hours a day from your interruptions and schedule changes.

Now think how much this lost time totals.

Two hours a day times 5 days a week equals 10 hours a week of lost time. Ten hours a week times 4 weeks equals 40 hours a month (a full week). A full week a month times 12 months equals 1/4 of a year of wasted time. That’s a lot of time to be wasted: A full quarter of a year!

Suggestion #1: Compute your own lost time so you’ll realize how much it truly totals and thereby motivate yourself to plug some of these time wasters.

Suggestion #2: Set a personal goal to reduce your lost time by one hour a day. That can be accomplished by setting up strategies to deal with your most common interruptions.

We’ll talk about ways to deal with interruptions in future postings.