It’s about time you start thinking about the time you are spending every day. Too often, we don’t think about time because we don’t visually see it going away. I mean, at the end of the day we realize that the day has gone. Or when we hit 30 years old, we wonder where the years of our youth went. But in the present, we don’t see time passing us by so we aren’t as urgent with it as we should be.

Imagine if time was money, literally. Each morning, you woke up with one thousand four hundred and forty (1,440) dollar bills in your pocket (there are that many minutes in a day). Then each minute that went by you set fire to a bill. Could you imagine the anxiety and hesitation in doing that? This would become especially evident when you got to the halfway point of your stack and could actually see it dwindling. What would you do to protect that stack? What are you doing to protect your time?

In July of 2013, I read one of the most helpful blog posts of my life. It may seem simple, but it profoundly changed the way that I handle each day. There are definitely some days that are better than others but the mere fact that I have a structure to follow has made me more productive than ever before. And before I share the link to the post with you (don’t scroll yet), I wanted to offer some thoughts in regards to time management that I think are important for us all to remember, whether for personal or business use.

• Failure is inevitable. There will be days that we just cannot get everything done. It’s at those times that we realize that we are fallible (surprise surprise) and that we can continue to grow in planning our time appropriately.
• You’re not the savior. I find myself trying to do a TON of stuff because I feel like I need to. The truth is, nobody’s life depends on me solely (that’s what God is for). I may play a key role in specific areas of a person’s business or personal life, but if I say “no” to a request, it will most likely get completed by someone else.
• Quit being lazy. Don’t take the above statement as a license to be lazy. If you took that as a way to just have other people do your work, you have other problems much more serious than time management. Get after every task with all you have to offer. Build enough into your day to keep you on your toes. If you put the right amount of focus on your efforts, they will get done more efficiently.
• Play nice with others. Find other people to do some of your tasks. Again, this isn’t a way to get you out of doing work. This is a way to get your work done more efficiently, and hopefully you will be more productive as well. Michael Hyatt, a well respected author and speaker, recently posted in a blog that you are should outsource the things you don’t like. I agree with him and would add: outsource the things you aren’t good at. It’s ok to admit either one.

If you can take the above points seriously, than the link below will help you at least as much as it has helped me. You may have to tweak some of it based upon your own preferences or needs, but I believe that overall it will help any person willing to give it a shot.

Instead of letting those (figurative) dollars bills burn, spend them in such a way that you get great return on your investment. It’s about time you check that next task off your list anyway!

“How to Start Your Day Well” by Nick Bogardus

Enjoy!

The post It’s About Time first appeared on Ryan James Miller.