Dynamic Time Management - Ten Magical Ways to Put More Time into Your Life

By Ernie Zelinski

Time management in the corporate environment is frequently touted as the way to control time and put more of it into our lives. Classical time management doesn't work, however, simply because it supports trying to do more and more in a limited amount of time.

Instead of managing time, you must transcend it. Part of the total time management experience is being able to do your own thing at your own speed. You must take control of your physical and psychic space instead of allowing the distractions of the modern world to influence your lifestyle.

Truth be known, the problem with using traditional time management techniques is that you will still be dedicating a lot of your effort and time into things that are unimportant. If you want a better lifestyle, you must empower yourself with dynamic time management principles instead of traditional ones. Here is a start:

Ten Magical Ways to Put More Time into Your Life

• Be creative as well as selective. Choose your activities wisely. Spend your time and energy on the important few instead of the significant many. Placing outstanding effort into two or three important things will give you much more joy and satisfaction than putting average effort into many things.

• You can waste precious time taking more than a minute to make insignificant decisions such as which flavor of ice cream to buy. Flip a coin if you have a hard time making a decision.

• Don't spend any time looking at what your neighbors are up to. Instead, do something interesting and empowering so they waste their time pondering what you are up to.

• Remember that regardless of how little time and work someone takes to perform a tedious task, there has to be a more efficient and effective way to get it done.

• Watch at least one hour of TV less per day for the next year. This will give you 365 extra hours or the equivalent of fifteen 24-hour days to pursue more worthwhile leisure activities.

• One of the greatest time wasters is associating with the wrong people. Yet, surprisingly, many people spend time with people they don't even like. Spend time with the people who you like most and totally avoid the people who you like least.

• To create more time for enjoying that mysterious and unpredictable phenomenon called life, minimize your search for the secret to it. You don't need to fully understand life to enjoy it.

• Keep in mind that the more things you buy, the less time you have to enjoy the things you already have.

• If excellence is your theme, then let moderation be your song. There is no perfect way to complete any project, therefore, stop trying to find it. Whatever is worth doing well is definitely not worth overdoing.

• Of three precious resources in life — time, money, and creativity — the only one unlimited is your creativity. Make creativity your number one resource, and time and money won't be as scarce.

Only you can decide whether you have your priorities right and are living according to them. You have to be completely clear about the type and quality of life you want to live. The degree to which you put time and effort into the things that really matter will determine your overall happiness and satisfaction.

The next time you think that you don't have time to enjoy a sunset, think about it a little more. You will realize that the most important time to enjoy a sunset is when you don't have time for it. Taking ten minutes to watch the sun go down will do more to help you catch up with the world than rushing around for several hours. To your surprise, the world will actually slow down for you.

Again, forget about traditional time management techniques; they simply don't work. Trust me on this one: Dynamic time management is not about being busy and productive at all costs — it's about getting impressive results with minimal time spent at work.

Ernie J. Zelinski has written far too many books to list here. He is the author of the recently released Real Success Without a Real Job, the bestseller How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free (over 57,000 copies sold), and the international bestseller The Joy of Not Working (over 200,000 copies sold).

To learn more about Ernie and his books visit:

The Real Success Resource Center Website at:

www.real-success.ca/real_success_resource_center.html

Check out Ernie's Career-Change Resource called the Real Success Blog at:

Real-Success.ca/Blog/