Author Brian Tracy asks the key question: “Imagine you only had one hour to live. What would you do with that hour?” I would write this blog! Why? Two reasons:
1) Before I do anything I ask myself a different Brian Tracy question: “Is this the best use of my time at this moment?” and if it’s not, I do something else. And,
2) What I want more than anything else in the world is to help you get the most out of your most precious gift ~ YOUR LIFE.
Why? Because I know that you are a special person. You have more talent and brains than you could ever use in 100 lifetimes. You are capable of accomplishments that you haven’t even imagined yet. Seriously! But if, and ONLY IF you use your second most precious gift ~ YOUR TIME to it’s ultimate advantage. You are not here on rehearsal. You do not have another life in the bank. And the clock IS ticking. There’s your opportunity. As my friend Josh Hinds says: “It’s Your Life, LIVE BIG”!
Living big starts with ringing the absolute most value out of every second of every day! Period! The most important decision you’ll ever make is to decide that you own the clock on your own life and you will never again let sand slip through your personal hour glass!
But how? How do you manage time when it is slipperier than a well-oiled seal?
Do you want the good news or the bad news first? The bad news is you absolutely cannot manage TIME! You can only manage your DECISIONS! What you do next is totally up to you and to no one else.
No, this is true! I know what you’ve always been told, but what you do with your life is your own choice and I can prove it! Decision management is hard work but can be simplified dramatically by implementing these 7 simple strategies:
1) Journal ~ The most important thing you’ll ever do is to figure out what you truly want to do with your life and create dreams, goals, and plans designed to get you there. Your journal is a great place to be truly honest about why you were born.
2) Create a log book ~ The best place to find time is to figure out where you are losing it in the first place. For a few weeks write out and analyze EVERYTHING you do from morning to night. Is what you consistently do truly the best use of your time? If not, why not?
3) Schedule ~ Work from a list ALWAYS! Did you ever go back to work after a few days off and realize that you didn’t accomplish any of the things you thought about accomplishing the few days prior to your time off? Write tasks down and do them first!
4) Get a coach or a mentor ~ Coaches understand your goals and realize that your time/decision management is crucial to your success or failure in any endeavor. Your coach keeps you on track with your major definite purpose for living!
5) Retreat ~ Find a place where you can be uninterrupted for hours or days at a time so you can get absolutely clear on your purpose and your plans to achieve it. Once your plans and goals end up on paper, they begin to take on a life of their own. That’s cool!
6) Reject Other’s Agendas ~ The hardest thing to do is to say no to the guilt and shame that can come from putting your agenda in front of someone else’s, but you have a duty to YOURSELF first because your gifts were meant for a higher purpose.
7) Refuse To Steal ~ Always remember that when you alter your course due to poor decision making or cowering to another person’s agenda, you are in fact stealing from the people whose lives you were born to improve with your unique gifts. You are the steward of your own talents and if you don’t use them in the best possible way you create a lose-lose scenario.
Perhaps following these seven strategies will cause some friction and stress, but make a decision today to take the heat! You have BIG fish to fry and come “dinner time” you will be glad that you stuck to your guns! I know, because I’ve taken that same heat and at the end of the day Josh is correct: “You only get one life, so LIVE BIG!”.
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Corey Jahnke is the author of “We Are Not Here On Rehearsal”. Corey is a John C. Maxwell certified success coach AND a Bob Burg certified Go-Giver Coach. Corey’s company, Legend Crafters, helps people go from stuck to unstuck, from unstuck to remarkable and from remarkable to legendary. Will YOU become a legend? Visit Corey on Twitter.
– Your thoughts and feedback are always welcome and appreciated in the comments below.
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