Return on Life: Play hooky without the guilt!

I am a huge proponent of planning your time. Every week, spend an hour planning strategically and tactically for the week ahead. Every day, spend a few minutes making tactical adjustments. Then, to increase your return on life, play hooky occasionally!

One of my three brothers, the one who lives about a 4 hour drive away, called late Wednesday evening. Thursday was a day off for him, and he needed to get out of town. The Pittsburgh Pirates were playing at home that day, so he called to check the weather, considering a day-trip to see the game. As I was checking on the weather, I began thinking "I only have one meeting and it's in the morning. I could go with him!" So I did. We had a great day: the weather was beautiful, we got free t-shirts, and we thoroughly enjoyed each other's company. Pirates lost, but I didn't expect perfection from the day.

But here's the key to playing hooky without regrets: Before I made the decision to take off and "play" on Thursday, I looked at what I was supposed to be getting done that day and decided when I was going to do it instead. I didn't just leave to it to chance that I could absorb it somewhere along the way. Given some current constraints on my schedule, a good chunk of it will need to get done this Sunday. But that's perfectly ok. It's a perfectly acceptable tradeoff for spending time with my brother, which happens to infrequently. And it was great to do it without feeling guilty about the work I wasn't getting done.

So, plan your time carefully, allow yourself some spontaneity without guilt, and still stay on track for your goals!

Return on Life: It takes time...

My chiropractor compares the need for some level of maintenance of skeletal alignment to the need to brush your teeth more than one time. That's a perfect analogy for managing your time as well. How many times have you put your foot down, thinking, "Ok, I'm going to get all my tasks and piles on my desk organized so that I know what I have to do." You may spend a couple of hours sorting everything, making a list and plotting it all out (or maybe you were too intimidated by what's ON your desk to even try to begin!). But once you're finished, you go happily along, and never think about that organizing step until it becomes unbearable again and you are frustrated with yourself.

Here is one suggestion to avoid feeling as though you'll never get control of your time: Plan time in your schedule each week to look at what you have to do in the coming week or two, and thoughtfully plan it out. The key here is each week. Just like in brushing your teeth, you don't do it once and that's it. You need to actually plan time to plan your time. Set aside an hour on Friday afternoon each week, and you'll be amazed at the difference it makes!