• How important is your time?
• How effective are you at using time wisely?
• What dollar value should you place on your time?
• What gives you the most pleasure and
  
• How much time can you spend doing this?

When you think about it and realize that every minute you spend working is a minute that you cannot spend with those you love, you soon learn to look at the larger picture and it becomes a less onerous task to learn those time management skills.

Is technology stealing your time? There are new gadgets, widgets and technological advancements on a daily - perhaps even an hourly basis - that can steal from you if you do not discipline yourself to get down to it and get it done. These new "gadgets" can easily distract you from what you should be doing.

Technology can also be very useful in helping you reach your goals by providing the tools and the knowledge base to work on any given project. There are many self help books, e-books, blogs and coaches who are there to help. If time is a thief in your house, it may be worth while to buy the book(s), skim the blogs or ask your coach to help you.

It can be very easy to allow distractions to steal your time. Weather your interests are space travel, genealogy and history, science, or medical advancements; technology and the ever growing resources at our finger tips makes it easy to get sidetracked.

Write it down

Find the one thing that must be done. Write it on a sticky note and put it in your screen; write in at the top of your "to do" list if you use one; write it on that pad of paper sitting beside your computer for notations of things you don't want to forget; write it in your day timer; type it in your calendar.

Identify activities

Take the time to identify those things you spend your time on and place them in one of the two following categories:

1. Those that are essential to obtaining your goals.  Once you have them identified take the necessary measures to "get it done" during your productive time.
2. Those that are not related to obtaining your goals.  As these are not related to what you want to accomplish, make sure they are placed in your less productive times
   

Know when you are the most productive

For me this is early morning. There are few distractions from other family members and my brain is alive.

Block your time accordingly

This means, I take that one thing that I have written on my sticky note each day and work on it every morning first thing. I can then allow those distractions to take some time in the afternoon when I am less productive.

Time Management Forum Discussion

Here are some small ways to help steal back your time

• Just Say No
• Mini Tasking as opposed to Multi Tasking
• Turn off the Blackberry
• Delegate
• Don’t open the mail (until that one important task is done)
• Celebrate when you are done by doing those things you have identified as your "thief"

Whether you are working for someone else, or in business for yourself, time is your most valuable commodity. Learning how to handle your time and putting the thief behind bars can be the most rewarding thing you do.

What have you found works for you?

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