Time Management from the Inside Out is based on the belief that you have the power to make choices, take ownership, and influence the course of your days-instead of feeling victimized. It can be a struggle to change ingrained behaviors, but when you focus on what you have to gain, it’s easier to succeed.ĭEFINING GOOD TIME MANAGEMENT (FROM THE INSIDE OUT) This one little statement will provide a starting point for your journey to be coming a better time manager, and will help you stay motivated as you learn new skills that may feel awkward at first. I guarantee you that if you follow even one third of the strategies contained in this book, you will be able to add that activity (as well as many other fulfilling activities) back into your life. If there were one thing you could add to your life to make you happier and more fulfilled, what would it be? Jot that down on a piece of paper and keep it close by-paper-clip it to your daily planner, pin it to your refrigerator, or place it in your wallet. Right now, at the beginning of this book, write down your own compelling reason. To be able to feel like I can take time to do things I know I need to be doing for me everyday (spiritually). I want peace internally-a sense of satisfaction at my accomplishments rather than constant frustration. To stop and smell the flowers, instead of trampling over them in a mad rush to be somewhere I should have been an hour ago. My bad time management is stopping me from accomplishing my goals in life, especially finishing my Ph.D., so I can be gainfully employed as a psychologist. To gain time for personal enjoyment-reading, listening to music. I want more time to talk one-on-one with my kids. I want more time to spend with my friends, to work on craft projects, to have fun. What varied was what they wanted that extra time for. More than 70 percent of fifteen hundred respondents said they wanted to find more time. What is it? Quality time for your family and friends? Time for a hobby? Time to grow your business? An overall sense of balance?īefore writing this book, I conducted an informal Internet survey and asked my Web site visitors why they wanted to become better time managers. Something essential is missing from your life.

Why are you reading this book? You picked it up for a reason- because there are meaningful activities you are not getting to. You don’t need to end each day exhausted, depleted, and unfulfilled instead of satisfied. When life becomes about the million and one things on your to do list instead of getting to what is most important, and actually enjoying yourself, something is wrong. I always feel guilty taking time for myself because there’s so much everyone else needs. I’m constantly changing hats between roles: wife, mother, employee, friend, boss. Before I know it, the day is gone and I am left with a million and one unfinished projects.īalancing my life is so hard. I am good at starting projects but get sidetracked easily. I have little notes to myself everywhere, and still I forget things! I spend more time writing lists than actually getting anything done. I feel as though my wheels are spinning at one hundred miles an hour and I’m getting nowhere fast. I have so much to do, I don’t know where to start. Eventually, you tumble into bed, exhausted, only to start the race all over the next morning. After a patchwork meal of leftovers, you yell at the kids to do their homework and clean up their rooms, then wander the house picking up dirty socks, that morning’s newspaper, and a dirty cereal bowl, while thinking about the bills you forgot to pay and the workout that you didn’t get to. By the time you finally get home, you’re feeling guilty, cranky, and starving. You never have time to look at your to-do list and end up staying late to catch up on tasks that were all due yesterday. The minute you arrive you’re hit with one crisis after another.

After speeding through your shower and throwing on some clothes (not the ones you wanted to wear, mind you, because you forgot to pick those up at the dry cleaner), you inhale a quick breakfast, kiss the kids good-bye (after some tense moments at the door about lost backpacks), and dash to the office. The alarm goes off for the fifth time (after half an hour of hitting the snooze button) and the race begins. Do you ever feel like you are off by just a step? That no matter how well you plan your days, or how disciplined you try to be, one unexpected thing comes along and wham.

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