Let´s suppose you have decided that you need to do something about your time-management skills. You have reached a point where you know that you need to improve your productivity and manage your time better and you have decided to invest in courses, programs, etc. However, after a lot of time and money spent, you still don’t see results….you start to ask yourself ¨what am I doing wrong?¨ or ¨ why is this much harder than I thought?¨
Taking courses that will improve your knowledge of time-management, teach you skills and strategies, how to implement structures and so on, but the real difference comes down to how you apply this knowledge into your life and how committed you are to making the changes you need to. But do you even know where you as an individual is struggling? Each one of us is different and unless we make changes that are related to us specifically, you won´t really see the results you are looking for. You may be feeling stuck because you are not applying that knowledge effectively to your personal situation or perhaps, there are deeper issues which need to be dealt with first before you see the results you desire.
There is a wealth of information out there, but it always comes down to how you use the information you are given. However, when you are trying to make changes, such as Time-management, it isn’t only a question anymore of how well you apply the information; it goes way deeper than that. You see, the way you manage your time is a habit, and what you are really trying to change is a habit, a behavioral habit.
You can easily make small changes to your environment to improve your productivity, for example, you can remove the distractions from your desk, you can prevent the amount of interruptions you have. On the other hand, when the changes you need to make are related to the way you habitually do things, it takes more than just learning, it takes commit and effort to see results.
If you really want to be successful in changing the way you spend your time, I encourage you to start off by making a time-log for a week of how you currently spend your time. This is the first step, awareness, recording your time, doing this exercise once and for one week only, will give you the clearest and most accurate information of how you currently spend your time. The results may shock you! This is the first step towards managing your time better, you can see how you spend your time and also, where you are wasting time and on what, etc
You need to personalize the situation of time-management – Where exactly are you lacking in these skills? What are you doing that is undermining your performance and stealing your time? If you focus on making changes to the parts of your life where you need to most, you will see results in triple the time. Once you are able to see how you spend your time, you can analyze this information to make the changes you need to.
The next step usually is doing a sort of quiz or something to determine which areas you need to focus on as well and then you would start looking into changing behaviour patterns after you have made the mechanical changes.
I am convinced that once you start to examine the real issues behind why you manage the time the way you do, you will be amazed at how much you discover and your half way there to having long-lasting results with your time-management. So don´t just do a course, but really delve into why you need the course in the first place.
After this, of course, you will benefit greatly from reading about all the mistakes, what to avoid, what structures to implement, etc but this should be after you have tackled the underlying issues.
If you need the support and guidance of a professional to help you move forward and to see real changes with your efforts, contact me for a free coaching session here
To your success!
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