A good time manager decides at every moment in time what she wants to do and not what the circumstances force her to do. A good time manager is totally aware that she is able to decide what she wants to do and when.
If you are watching TV because you arrived home, tired, and you turned on the TV because of the inertia, you are not managing your time well. If you got home and consciously decided that watching television was the way you wanted to spend your time, you are managing your time correctly.
If you are reading a magazine because it was the only one available in the waiting room, then you are not managing your time well. If you are reading a magazine because you have consciously decided to read it, it might be that you are managing your time well.
If you are in a meeting because you have been asked to attend and to which you are not contributing, then you are not managing your time well. If you decide to go to a meeting because you think it is important for you, then you might be managing your time appropriately. And why do I say “might”? Because to correctly manage our time we don’t only need to make conscious decisions but we also need to make the right decisions.
A good time manager will always dedicate her time to important matters. What are important matters then? They are those that will help her reach her professional and personal goals. If one of your aims is to feel healthy; then go for a walk, exercise, rest sufficiently, or relax using different techniques…these are important things. If one of your goals is to increase the number of sales then calling and visiting clients is important.
People set themselves objectives in different areas of their lives.These include the family, the personal and the professional areas. Good time management does not mean “producing” at every hour of the day. It does not necessarily mean doing a lot either. Good time management means doing the most important thing at any given moment.
Never forget that time management does not mean to do a lot but to to do what helps reach our goals in the different areas of our lives. To summarize, a good time manager is conscious of the value of his time, decides consciously what to do with it and spends it efficiently by doing things that are important.