How You can Utilize the Time Properly?

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I am fanatical about how I use time. Yes, time is money, but time is also TIME…my greatest and fastest diminishing resource. I don’t like wasting it and I like it even less when someone else wastes it. That being said, the occasional article about luxury movie theatres or even home-cooked meal delivery is great, as long as you don’t over do it!

There are 86,400 minutes in a day. Those minutes don’t accrue to the next day, and once they are gone, I can’t get them back. In fact, I have to spend all of those minutes wisely because once they are gone, they are gone.

My son and I were working out on the two ellipticals we have at our house. The goal was an easy 30-minute cardio workout. At the 23-minute mark, he said “Mom, I’m going to get off now.” Quit seven minutes before a goal? Is this really my child? There are so many things I’d rather do than even allow myself to think I can quit early. My question to him was, “If you are going to step off early, what are you going to do with that seven minutes and how valuable is that to you?” He spent another three minutes telling me what he could do with that time; I used up about two minutes more in rebuttal as to the value of Xbox over a workout, and by the time we discussed when we would work out next…alas, together we hit 30 minutes.

Did you know that we spend six months of our life, 24 hours of each of those days, waiting at red lights? Did you know, by the end of our life, we will have spent three and a half years waiting in line? We will have spent six years eating. For my son, I bet he is on the very high side of that average.

There is a great narrative about time, and it goes like this. A college professor asked his students in geology class to fill a jar with rocks, pebbles, sand and water. They had three minutes to meet the challenge. Three minutes later, none of them had accomplished getting everything into the jar. The professor said, watch me. First you put the big rocks in, then you trickle in the pebbles so they fill the spaces between the rocks. They you pour the sand in to fill the then smaller spaces between the pebbles. Last, you pour the water in to fill the microscopic space between the sand, and alas it all fits in the jar. He pointed out that the student who had attempted to put the rocks in last found they had no room for the rocks.

That’s how our day goes…If we start out by checking Facebook and answering emails, by the end of the day, we’ll have little time to get the big proposal done. This time

management strategy is all about doing the most important, biggest things first. Fit in the most important things first, and the little things will follow.

I start my day with a list of MITs…Most Important Things. It’s a list of things I must complete before the day is over, and I keep my attention focused on them first because they are the items I must complete. Trust me that this list is not all work related. Leave house at 2:25 pm for school pick up is my most important appointment of the day.

I also use as many tools and practices as I can to maximize my time.

  • Google Calendar is an amazing tool for business appointments, but even more to schedule my week and what needs to happen each day. (Tuesday at 2 pm, visit Jimmy Choo to use store credit.)
  • I use my iPad mini with a personal hot spot to return emails when I have a few minutes here and there.
  • Wifi on the airplane is one of my favorite things…I can get so much done with no interruptions. Don’t upset me by putting me on a plane without Wifi.
  • My team uses Slack for one-stop messaging so we don’t have items on email, text, voice messaging.
  • We also like daPulse to organize our team tasks and my own. It also lets me know where items are in progress without calling everyone all the time.
  • I use Zoom for meetings that I don’t have to attend in person. In fact, I always ask myself, do I need to be there in person?
  • I work with an amazing team that is self-motivated, who I trust. No babysitting needed. That is worth so much. If I haven’t said thank you to both of you today…thank you!
  • I don’t go into any office on Mondays because I don’t want to talk about everyone’s weekend.
  • I schedule all my meetings to come to me, so I can have more meetings in a day. The exception is if you are MY CLIENT…I go to you.
  • I take my computer to hair appointments.
  • I use a persona hotspot on road trips.
  • And seriously, is not a SMART phone, the best time management tool you can carry in your handbag?
  • I listen to a motivational book while I drive.
  • I catch up with a friend at a nail appointment.
  • I meet with my PR agency during my hair appointment.
  • I cluster phone messages to return at one time.
  • I return text messages with voice dictation…not perfect as I sometimes send odd messages.
  • I participate on a conference call while I’m walking or working out
  • I return phone calls between meetings.

In the age we live in, it’s important we utilize the tools we have. Whether it’s an innovative calendar app, or a general life hack like taking calls between meetings, there’s always something you can do to optimize your time. And if you’ve got some time to spare, check out our favorite luxury digital magazine.

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