It took me three days to decide to write this piece. I have pen a few ideas down here and there, but, I just couldn’t find time to sit down and write it.

What could be the problem? May be I need more time, what do you think?

Many of us, including you, have our life mission in view. We have so much to do, but very little time to get them done. As students, working parents or even single mothers. You will find this little piece of information valuable.

Have a daily goal. Decide the night before you go to bed, activities you will engage in tommorrow. I call mine TO-DO-LIST. This will limit the amount of unnecessary activities that will limit your time. You may not be able to add to the 24hour you have each day, but you can increase your effective use of it.

Decide the amount of time you will spend on a task. With your TO-DO-LIST in place, before you start any of the tasks you have on it; have an approximate allotted time that it will take you to execute it. Work on the task single minded and keep in mind the amount of time as the work progresses. You will have to guide against the lure of dragging on the task. Though it is an important task you do not want to spend the whole day on it.

How much time do you use it the shower? How much time do you use to get ready in the morning? How much time do you spend eating?

Don’t shoot yourself in the leg. Yes, you have decided what is important for today. You did that last night before going to bed. But as soon as you woke at the usual time, you did not start preparing for the day, but had to first log on to your computer and see what your friend responses were to the picture you posted last night on facebook or flicr. This is one activity that can be very addictive. It could also be that you have one of these smart phones; blackberry or nokia, which gives you real-time update for your mails, social network sites and messengers.

Resist the urge to start responding to them. You will lose some precious time there that you will never regain that day again. Please don’t shoot yourself in the leg.

Have a life Mission. Any bus is fine for anyone who doesn’t have a destination in mind. Many people live day after day, just existing without a mission or plan. The term important things do not mean anything to them. To find time for important things, you have to first have a life mission. If you want to have a better understanding of what a life mission is and how to draft one, pick up Stephen Covey’s 7-habits of highly Effective people.

Cut off distractions. There are certain tasks you will be on and it will be good your mobile phone is off, your internet off too. If you are studying and you have your phone or internet on, you will spend more time trying to get the sense of what you are studying. Interruption from phone calls, emails and messengers will set you back.

Spending a lot of time in traffic? For those who spend a lot of time in traffic. There are different scenarios; you own your car and drive yourself, you own your car you have a driver or you are in a public transport. You can use this time productively. Ensure you have a book with you at all times or a magazine. Instead of using up another time elsewhere, use the time in the traffic. If it is you driving, listen to an audio tape in your car. Turn your car to an audio library. This is even a better advice for sales people who spend a lot of time driving. The information you get by listening to those tapes/CDs will help you a lot.

Don’t be overwhelmed when you have a lot to do just start. Once you start you can pull through. Do not tell yourself; ‘I have a lot of work.’ Rather tell yourself; ‘I have to start.’

Do not forget that time spent with friends and family is not a wasted time. Create time for them and enjoy being with them. These are the things that make life rich and you will get emotional energy. Create time also for exercise and relaxation this will give you energy both physical and mental.

Guest Author:
Jesse Oguntimehin
je_og@yahoo.com
www.twitter.com/jaysay4444

P.S. If you find this useful, share with other people.

If you had the power to do just one thing – What will you do today? If your life tomorrow depends entirely on the actions you take today, what will you do today? If the entire course of your finances will be determined by something you do today – what will you do today?

Our life is configured to be lived one day at a time with each day standing as a stepping stone for tomorrow which means that the quality of life you are living now is the result of the actions you took yesterday.

The big question:
What will you do today?

This is the question you should strive to answer honestly every single day. Before your day commences, plan and know exactly what activities you will engage in for the day that will bring you the most rewarding results.

Knowing what to do today, helps you manage your time, reduce your stress levels, increase your efficiency, boosts your self confidence and gives you the overall feeling of achievement as you complete each task you set out to do.

Remember, just about 20% of your activities today will result in 80% of the positive results you will get in your life, relationships or your business. What this means for you is that you should focus on the most important things in your life starting right now.

Do only the things that bring the most results for you each day. Set out to accomplish the most important tasks that produces the most rewarding results. If your goal is to have a happy family, identify those things your family considers to be the most important to them and do them. Complete the most important tasks in your business and focus on the most important tasks relating to your health and finances.

When you do this everything, you soon discover that the fear and anxiety of tomorrow is quickly forgotten because what you do today sets a tone for tomorrow and when you make the right decisions today, tomorrow seemingly sort itself out nicely.

What will you do today? – Enjoy this video by John C. Maxwell