Letting Go

There is really no such thing as time management. We all have the same 24 hours a day. What you can manage is where you put your attention. Where you spend your energy and time. And for many of you, you may not be spending your precious time doing things you love or being in environments that support you in fully developing your true self. One key is to let go of habits, commitments and even people who are not contributing to your life in a positive way. Here are a couple of tips to get you started.

1. Name what's most important to you. Jot it down. Is it time with your family, reading to learn new things, travel to new places, making a difference in your community?

2. Take a good look at your calendar for a week and watch where you are spending your time. Gently observe your routine habits - some habits that I know many of you may have that are not supporting your goals and passions are checking email too often, surfing the internet for too many hours, maybe too much t.v.?

Don't beat yourself up -just see where you might want to make some changes to free up your time for those things that are most important to you.

3. Start small. This is huge. This has been key to every success I've ever had. Pick just one thing to change at a time. Break it down into smaller pieces if you need to. Then do it regularly for at least 21 days -for me 30 is better.

Here's two examples. Reading email too often. Choose to look at emails twice a day -maybe right before lunch around 11:30 a.m. and then near the end of your work day -maybe at 4:30 pm. Get a calendar and mark off each day for 21-30 days that you succeed in doing this. Take a deep breath if you're tempted to open those emails first thing in the morning. The urge to fall back into your old habit will pass.

Second example is to look at your current commitments and see which ones are supporting what's truly important to you and which ones are draining you of energy and/or time. Choose one small one that you can let go of. Then contact whoever you need to and let them know that you no longer have time for the commitment. Stand steady -in addition to freeing up your time, you will be giving someone else an opportunity to do what may be important to them. Then decide carefully what you will do with your new free time.

I hope these tips help you to get closer to living YOUR life -the life you choose. Let me know by commenting here on this blog if you are making changes -we'll cheer you on!