Time Management for Peak Performance
© 2009 Peter Loughlin
Is your idea of time management waking up to the piercing sound of your alarm clock each morning? If you’re like most people you probably even hit the snooze button to squeeze out the last possible precious moments of slumber before jumping up, throwing on your clothes, guzzling some coffee and racing out the door, am I right? Well, think about this for a moment—you have no time at all to manage in the morning, do you? Do you see that that is not time management planning? If anything, it is planned chaos?
Is it any wonder you feel that you ‘have no time’ or life is spinning helplessly out of control? Don’t be too hard on yourself but wake up (pun intended) to the fact that unless you change something things won’t change and you’ll never get done everything that needs to be done.
You need to make some changes in your life, don’t you agree? Well, because we are all resistant to change, let’s start off with a few small things you can implement today.
Time Management Planning Step 1: Start he day right and you’ll achieve better results throughout the day.
Start off by getting up one hour earlier each day. I know this sound trite, but this one simple concept will yield huge results. Make this a habit, no, better yet, make it a ritual. And do it for thirty days consistently and, believe it or not, you’ll start to enjoy it. The reason you need to set up this habit/ ritual is because we are by nature creatures of habit—and, as I said earlier, we resist change. Because of this, any new habit will be extremely difficult the first 10 days. Twenty days later you’ll start to be comfortable with it, but by the end of thirty days it will be well grounded and you’ll actually start to enjoy it. By the way, this not only works with time management planning, but with all new positive habits you wish to form.
Oh, and incase you didn’t realize it yet, you current chaotic ‘system is nothing more than a habit, albeit a bad one.
Again, because you’ll be resistant at first, let me suggest something that worked for me when I started out. Set your regular alarm clock to wake up about one hour and five minutes earlier. Then go ahead and get a second clock for five minutes later and place that second a good distance away from the bed so you’re forced to get out of bed to turn it off. You need to be militant when establishing a new ritual like this one, but it works!
By waking up just one hour earlier, you’ll be able to ramp up gradually gradually, say your payers, and meditate, (exercise a bit- but that’s something we’ll help you add later), shower and have a healthy breakfast. Sounds pretty good already doesn’t it?
Other Benefits of Time-Managing Planning and Waking Up Earlier
Organization
You’ll have more quality time to reflect on your to-do-list or calendar and get a clearer picture of you wish to accomplish each day. You can also start to prepare for important thins in advance such as are also more likely to remember to bring a file with you or to bring a change of clothes for your workout, thing like that. So instead of having to run back an forth because you forgot something, well, you now wont have to. And you gain even more quality time. It’s sort of like the gift that keeps giving, isn’t it?
Meditation
I don’t want you to start thinking I’m a bit hokey or anything like that, but part of my morning habit is to start off with some prayer and meditation. Whatever you beliefs dictate, you’ll find that the morning is an ideal time to spend some time reflecting, reading and just getting better acquainted with yourself and who you really are.
Nutrition, Exercise and Fitness
Just like your car, your body needs good fuel to operate properly and at peak proficiency. By adding this one additional hour in the morning time management program you can now enjoy and benefit from having a healthy breakfast. This doesn’t have to be anything elaborate, but by ‘healthy’ I obviously do not mean eating junk food (particularly in the morning—your most important meal of the day. Try adding some fruit and protein to your morning meal. There is absolute truth and wisdom to the old saying ‘you are what you eat’!
Why not use some of this extra time in the morning to regain some of your fitness and vitality? Just start out with a quick fifteen-minute program. Now I’m not a doctor and I don’t personally know the state of your health so you may need to check with your doctor first, but once you’ve established its safe, begin with a few good stretching routines and then add a calisthenics and or some cardio training like walking bicycling or jumping rope. Just adding this brief fitness routine to start your day is great to get you going. It stimulates your circulatory system and gets oxygen to your vital organ and your brain so you can be more efficient throughout the day. Are you starting to believe me now that time-management planning is the gift that keeps giving?
Time management planning starts off with getting up one hour earlier. Do it!
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