Leland Pulley
As you get older, the years seem to go by faster. You value time more and want to use it effectively. You appreciate health more and want to take advantage of it while you have it. You have clearer vision and more perspective to guide you in daily living. The question becomes how to get more of the things done that you want to do.
Think about others you know who have known what they want and then successfully obtained it. They were busy, but still fit everything in their schedule. They had responsibilities, yet were not stressed out nor did they turn in an unsatisfactory performance. What traits, techniques, attitudes, and values did these people share? Learn from them.
Now look at your life. What has experience taught you? What works for you? I can see things in my life that helped me a lot.
The first thing we all need is clear and specific goals, that are realistic for us and our circumstances. Establish some priorities for them. Then develop a strategy or plan and carry it out. Do not give up until you achieve what you want.
Get organized. People have calendars, planners, handheld devices, etc. to help them schedule things or remember what they should do and when. Have a way to keep track of your appointments, commitments, and obligations. Do not over book yourself so you do not have some flexibility or freedom to fit a few things in at the last moment.
Control the paperwork. I use many folders and files on my computer to keep track of information and data. I have notebooks with dividers to keep papers in. There are also file drawers full of stuff. You must know where things are in your office, home, garage, etc. Otherwise, you will try to find something and waste twenty minutes doing so. This is frustrating.
Do not have too much stuff. This could be things in your home like too much furniture, or too many books, knickknacks, or toys. Many of these things you hardly use any more. Your home could be too big, and you need to scale down. You have too large of a yard to maintain and now want only a small patio and garden area. The secret is to keep your inventory of material things up to date. Throw things away or give some items away or sell them, if you are not using them and they no longer have value to you. Be lean and efficient.
Reduce accumulation of material goods by not buying more than you need. Extra things cost money. They also take up more space, which leads to more crowded homes and offices. In some cases, this requires a bigger house or apartment, or even a storage unit somewhere. These all cost more money per month in your family budget. Also, extra things require more time to keep clean and maintain.
Avoid debt. It obligates you in the future for today’s desires. This makes you a prisoner to your own spending. There is less flexibility this way. If opportunities come up later, you may not be able to act on them due to a shortage of savings and too many debt obligations.
Appointments and errands never end. So, consolidate them and do as many of them together as you can. This saves time and miles on your car. If you go to an appointment, like to see a doctor, take something with you to read. In this way you are doing two things at once.
They say there is a time and season for all things. A good example is getting a college education. Its best to go to college as a young single person between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five. Enjoy your experiences there and get your degree or degrees. This is the best and most efficient time to do this. You are primarily concerned about yourself, usually, not a wife or husband or kids. You can study full-time, with perhaps a part time job. This is far more effective than trying to get a degree later when you have a full-time job and a family. Then it is part-time studies spread over more years of time to get the same degree. Plus, you are now losing higher wages in order to study at an older age, not to mention tuition has gone up in the meantime.
People get stuck in ruts. Things do not work well for them, yet they continue doing things the same way. A good example is bad habits. Recognize what needs to be modified, improved, changed, or dropped from your life. Then do it. Stop procrastinating and making excuses for yourself.
It is easy to worry about things that you can do little about. It is even easier to talk about such things, and in many cases, these are really none of your concern. Both worrying and talking represent a waste of time. Stop being so concerned and worrying too much. Stop the idle chitchat. These distract you from doing what you ought to be focusing on and accomplishing.
Do not try to do too many new things at once. This is especially true if some of these things are a real challenge for you. If you are not careful, you will not accomplish what you set out to do. This leads to frustration, discouragement, and failure. All these things drag you down over a period of time and make you last efficient so you cannot lead your life in an effective manner.
The above suggestions are probably not new to you. That is not the point. If you look at your life and compare it to some of these suggestions, you should find areas where you can improve. Remember it is easier to know about something than to do it. Find a couple of ways to become more efficient in your daily life. If you do this, then this article will not have been written in vain.
On the 5 Star Endeavors website, find the perspective entitled Effective Living. It reinforces this article.
Key words – time, health, perspective, schedule, goals, priorities, organized, paperwork, inventory, up to date, buying, extra things, debt, appointments, errands, education, ruts, worrying, challenge
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