At the end of a day have you ever wondered what you accomplished, or didn’t? Time has a way of slipping past doesn’t it? It happens to everyone at one time or another. Even the best planners can miss a beat occasionally. It’s how you plan and think ahead and do your best to stay attuned to what you do with your time that matters. Would it really make sense to manage every minute of your day? No, probably not. Yes, it is important to schedule your time as best as possible, but be realistic. You’d be watching the clock trying to ensure that your time was accounted for, instead of diligently working and achieving the goals you’ve set for yourself. There’s plenty of “clock watchers” out there who spend more time worrying about getting things done as opposed to completing them.

It’s imperative for those who desire to complete tasks in a timely fashion to consider just what’s reasonable to finish in a given time frame. As you focus on this concept, time management will become easier to do and you could find yourself actually enjoying your day more, as well as being productive within it. A key factor: stay focused. When we allow our minds to wander, work has a tendency to back up quickly. Ask anyone who’s ever worked on a conveyer belt system. Take your eyes (or mind) off the task and the entire system may need to be shut down in order to sort things out.

So, where does one begin to effectively learn how to manage time you may ask? As it’s been written, one can begin with keeping a journal to log how they spend their time. An easy measure would be to portion the days into three segments:
A. Waking through lunch
B. End of lunch through dinner
C. End of dinner until bedtime
To do this effectively, take at least three days to observe how time is spent. Understand however, time management is not learned overnight. It will usually take a habit of time management for about three to six months to achieve. Follow the above process and continue to do weekly reviews to monitor your progress. Focus on what you do and why you do it. This overall progressive procedure may very well, in the log run, reduce your stress.

Mark Ellison, LAMFT
mellison@growcounseling .com