Tuesday with Michael: Time Management in Tough Times

By

By Michael Gidlewski

Effective time management is about making choices as to what we will do and what activities we will spend our time on. Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “The history of free men is not written by chance but by choice, their choice.”

You might be questioning the validity of this statement, especially now during a global pandemic. There are many things going on around us that we have no control over whatsoever.

The truth is we have no real control over outside circumstances or other people, but we have total control over ourselves. We have the power to choose our action and our reactions to the people and situations we encounter in business and in life.

If we start the day off without a plan, we will no doubt be pulled in many different directions and end the day feeling like we accomplished very little.  You are either living on your own goals program or you’re living on someone else’s.

We must fight the tyranny of the urgent by being intentional about what we do every day. Urgent matters appear to demand immediate attention but what is urgent is not always important.

Activities that are important will produce results. These activities contribute to your vision, mission, purpose, values, and goals. If we want to be effective personal leaders, we need to identify what these activities are and devote as much time as we can to doing them.

The Pareto Principle states that 80% of our results are generated by 20% of our activities. Which activities are currently in that 20% for you? If you can increase the amount of time you spend on those activities, you will improve your results rather quickly. You can also minimize the time you spend on low payoff activities by applying The SEDO Test.

The more we manage ourselves and our time, the more we feel in control of our lives and the more productive we become.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael Gidlewski is President of West Chester-based Achievement Unlimited, Inc., as well as a growth catalyst and motivational speaker. He works with business owners and entrepreneurs to clearly define what they want their businesses and lives to look like, then helps them connect all the moving parts to consistent action and habits. Michael can be reached at 610-793-6609 or via e-mail at michael@achievable.com.

.________________________________________________________________________________________________
You Might Also Like

Tuesday with Michael: 5 Ways to Eliminate Time Wasting

Tuesday with Michael: 4 Things Successful People Know About Self

Tuesdays with Michael: How Will You Emerge from This Crisis?

Connect With Your Community

Subscribe to stay informed!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Advertisement
Creative Capital logo