When it is Time to Change Your Routine

We all have been there when we feel that our rotuine doesn’treally work, but we don’t quite see the value in changing. There are things that have worked for a while but are not working as much anymore. We cannot expect things to stay the same for ever. We have to come to a place where we can expect to make changes in our routine. There are two different ways to go about this regarding our routine. We can change our routine little by little and refine our schedules. This is the fine tuning aspect of changing our schedules. There are also times when we should overhaul our routines and start a new one from scratch. This is more often the case when we have major changes occur in our life such as relocating, changing jobs, going back to school, getting married, having a child, etc. Hera a few ways to know that it is time for a new schedule and rotuine.

1. You have trouble following our routine. If you have trouble sticking to your schedule that you once followed closely is a large sign that you need to update your schedule to suit your current situation better.
2. You consistently find yourself running out of time. If you don’t schedule enough time to do a task, you will always fall short. This is where tracking your time and making a time budget come in play to help you.
3. You are regularly falling behind. If you can’t seem to keep up with your schedule or routine, then you are too busy. This is the perfect time to cut out some things or at least make a plan to cut out things if you haven’t been able to successfully do so.
4. You have a lot of empty space in your schedule. If your commitments opened up and your schedule got lighter, there may be a lot of open space on your schedule. if your schedule is too open and does not have enough in, then there is a need for a change as well. Too much free time can lead to wasted time
5. There are too many inconsistencies. Sometimes little changes over time end up leading you with a schedule with all different times and it may become more complicated than it needs to be. When this happens, it is best to start a new schedule over.

There are plenty of times where it is good to make.a new schedule. I usually revise my routine several times a year. I find it very helpful to keep fixing and updating my routine because I do find myself not following the schedule when it gets outdated. Please let me know your thoughts regarding changing your routine.

Fall Motivation

Fall is here and often like spring we view this time as a time to start fresh and begin new things. It is back to school, back from vacation, and ready to go and get things in order as we begin to look forward to a new routine, fall activities and the upcoming holidays. There are plenty of things to look forward to and to get us motivated. Additionally, we are most likely settling into a new routine now that the summer is over. While some people are excited to embark on a new journey and routine, others mourn the loss of summer, and most of us feel a bit of both. As we navigate through a new season and routine we need to take time to figure out our new routine and what is the best way to go about it. This is an excellent time to put practices in place such as a time budget and a detailed schedule to match our new goals. Here are just a few methods we can use to ensure that we are getting the most out of our new motivation that comes with a new routine.

1. Always have something to work for. Nothing propels us more than a goal we are trying to reach. Not only should we have a goal or a few in place, but also we should keep in mind the reason we want to reach this goal in the first place. The positive results of us reaching our goals is what motivated to do what is necessary to reach them. More often than not, the steps we take to achieve the goal are not things we particularly enjoy doing, but rather the end result is what makes pushing towards the goal worth it.

2. Always schedule a reward for doing what you need to do. In achieving our goals, we have tasks that we don't enjoy doing. To motivate us further to do these tasks, we should reward ourselves by doing something we want to do after we do the tasks that we don't care to do.

3. Write down or type your goal and the end result and read it regularly. As often as you need the motivation to reach your goal, you should read your goal and how your life will be better after the goal is achieved. 

4. Enjoy what you doing. Knowing the positive end results may make the experience of completing the task. Being that the task is necessary to achieve your desired goal, you might as well enjoy doing the task rather than not enjoying it. 

5. Persistent Progress. Keep moving on a persistent and consistent basis. The longer you are away from doing something, the harder it is to get back on track. It is much easier to achieve your goal when you have a momentum going.

This should serve as additional tips for motivation to help you achieve your top goals. Please let me know your thoughts and what works for you to achieve your goals more effectively. As for now, enjoy your goal process as well as the beautiful fall weather. 

Why You Should Not Give Up

There are many times in our lives when we come across something that we don’t think we are able to do. We sometimes take on something that looks like it is much easier in the beginning than we originally anticipate it would be. In other words we have bitten out more than we can chew. Every one of us feel like giving up some times and we all feel like this at times like this. There are a few things we can do in times like this to motivate us to keep going forward and not give up.

1. Slow Down. There are times we want to give up just because we are too busy. Sometimes we are so busy we can’t think straight or sit back and evaluate why we want to give up and what is going on in our lives.
2. Change Your Routine. Sometimes what we are doing regularly is not working. Sometimes we just need to do something different that will bring us the motivation that we need.
3. Take a Break. While we may need to slow down, sometimes it isn’t a problem with our pace, but rather we just need to take a break. We should always take breaks, even when we are not over scheduled.
4. Adjust Your Goal. If your goal is so big or too much at the time, it will do your best to adjust the goal. Making your goal smaller or moving the deadlines back a bit is better than giving up all together.
5. Get External Motivation and Accountability. It is an excellent idea to get more help when we need it. This could be a close friend, family member, or even a life coach or a mastermind group if you have the means and it’s an appropriate for the goal.

These are a few of the things we can do to keep going when we feel like we should give up or that we can’t make the goal. Let this be motivation for you to keep going if you are thinking of giving up. I wish all the best in whatever goal you are reaching for.

The Trap of Free Time

There are times that I get so busy that I am overwhelmed and stressed just because I can’t find enough time to do the things I want to do. I am sure we all have been there. Sometimes we are just too busy. Sometimes it is the nature of the task that we need to do and other times it is just the mere quantity of the tasks coupled with the fact that we are not sure of what we are doing. This is probably more common and where most of us are most of the time. There is the other end of the spectrum as well. There is a trap that we can fall into when we do find free time. Sometimes we are so busy that when we do have any sort of free time, we just collapse. It is good to get enough rest and not be so busy that we don’t have to practically collapse just to catch our breath. There is also a time when we do have too much free time or when we do have free time we don’t manage it well. I fall into this trap occasionally as well. Especially now that I am not working full time there are times where it is in the back of my mind that I will have time because I do and I end up not managing it right. Here are some tips on what you should do when you find yourself coming across free time and realize you are not using it right.

1. Make a Time Budget. Even if you are in a position where you do not have a consistent schedule or regularity concerning the amount of time you spend on each activity. Make a budget on the worst case scenario for the most important tasks to ensure that there is enough time for each task. This does come with a caveat; however, do not put so much time into a task to the point that you end up wasting time.

2. Make a Schedule. I believe you need a schedule even more when you have a lot of free time rather than when you are busy. If you don’t make a detailed scheduled to keep you on task, time will fall out of your schedule quicker than sand will fall through your hands.

3. Keep a Packed Schedule. Don’t just make a schedule. Sometimes we can make a schedule and all we do is throw away our time and decide not to follow the schedule if we don’t have that much to do. If we schedule enough things to do to keep us busy and motivate us to get everything done, we will do our best to stay on track and at worst may have a few things we have to push off to the next day. The caveat there is sometimes we can have so much to do that we don’t get anything done and end up doing something totally unrelated. This can happen to the best of us.

4. Keep Moving. It is easiest to keep moving when we are already in motion. Just as physics will tell us, an object in motion tends to stay in motion just as an object at rest tends to stay at rest. The worst thing we can do is stop the momentum when we are moving. It only harder to start up again when we do.

5. Stay Focused. It is important that we stay focused always, just as much when we do have free time. Free time when focused is much better used when we are focused, even if it’s on recreation, rest, and relaxation. If we are productive and focused in our free time, it is all the easier to get back into gear when we need to be.

There are many things to watch for when we have free time. Just like we want to make the most of our time at work and when we are busy, we want our free time to be used for the fullest as well. The more fulfillment we will find in our the free time, the more motivation we have for when we are busy.

How to Determine Your One Main Goal

We all have goals that we want to achieve. In my previous post, you have read about the reasons why you should narrow it down to one main goal. You may be a person with a lot of goals and really are looking for ways to help you determine the main goal. You will see below ways to determine your main goal.

1. Your main goal will bring the greatest results. Whatever one of your goals you have that you believe will bring you closest to the life you want is the one you should pursue.
2. Your main goal will be something you are excited about. You should at least have a good enough passion to motivate you to keep pursuing this goal. It may not be something you are always the most excited to do, but it is something that you derive a lot of satisfaction from doing after it’s done.
3. Your main goal is not easy. If this big goal you are trying to achieve was easy, it wouldn’t be a big goal. It would be done! Your main goal you are making time for needs to be achieved. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it and it wouldn’t be something that pursuing will change.
4. Your main goal is controversial. The bigger and greater your goal is, the less support you may actually find for it. More often than not, the people around you will not understand why you are going for something so lofty and seemingly unachievable. You will also run into people who don’t understand what you are trying to do, or think you are crazy (or both!).
5. Your main goal is achievable. While it may looks impossible, it does need to be something you can do. If it is something that someone has done before, but you want to do it in a way that is uniquely you, than it is a goal worth pursuing. There is also the possibility that you do have a goal that no one has ever done before. That can work as well, because you can see that practically everything we do in our lives was done for the first time at some time.

Once you have determined your main goal, you can begin to work towards it! You are now able to employ all the tactics you have as time budgets, detailed schedules, along with every technique that you employ personally to reach your goal. Whatever your main goal is, I wish you all the best!

Why You Should Determine One Main Goal

Many of us already have a goal in mind. Some of us have many goals in mind, in fact, we may have too many goals in mind. On the other end of the spectrum, you may have no idea what your goal is. Regardless of what side of the fence you are, it is most effective to have yourself focused on one main goal. When you are able to do this you will be able to decdicate all of your energy toward the one thing you are working towards. This main goal does not have to have a time limit, it can be short term or long term. It can be something that needs to be done in a month or something like a for year degree. Here are five reasons you should pick one goal and focus on it rather than scattered goals all over the place.

1. Picking one goal allows you to focus. Anyway that can get you to focus more on what you need to is beneficial. This goes back to growing the largest pumpkin, you take out all of the little pumpkins to allow the pumpkin to grow the largest. This is the same for our goals.
2. You can make a time budget and schedule based on the one goal. When you are focused on one goal and you are going to allocate as much as your time as you can to that one goal. This saves time on deciding what to do with unexpected free time.
3. You can determine how much fulfillment you get from your goal. Determining how much satisfaction you get from goal or project can only be truly understood by how doing a lot of it.
4. You can find out if you want to pursue your goal at all. Sometimes we make goals and realize they turn out to be something we did not really want to do after all. The best way to truly understand how much we like something is if we go all in and focus on something.

Having one goal at a time is an essential part of achieving your goals. This part is essential to focusing on one thing at a time. Whatever your goal is, whether it is a college degree, starting a business, writing a book, or getting to a certain weight. These undertakings need to be one at a time to be most effectively completely. Once one is done, you can safely move on the next big goal. For example, if you desire to start a business while still in school, it is much better to finish school first and then focus on the business. Focusing on too many goals at once can cause you to lose focus and not achieve any of them! So instead of running in all different directions, focus on the path in front of you and go straight ahead.

Finding Motivation to Do The Things That You Have To Do

There are always things that we like to do and things that we don’t care to do. Very often we don’t want to do some of the things that we have to do and they become like chores. More often than not, the necessities in life are boring and we need motivation to do these things. There are several different ways we can go about doing these things that we have to do and find a way to make them easier to get through.

1. Turn it into a game. Games are fun but chores are not. One way to motivate yourself to do a boring task is to make a game out of it. If you don’t enjoy cleaning the bathroom, then you can set a target time to beat each time. This way you will not only have motivation to do the task, but you will get it done faster. An added bonus is to motivation to clean the bathroom quicker and more effectively the next time.
2. Do the tasks on a schedule. Do it on a regular basis each time. Do a monthly task the same time every month - for example in the afternoon of every first Sunday. Do a weekly task the same day around the same time, for example sweep and mot the kitchen floor every Thursday morning. Knowing when you are going to do these chores will help prepare your mind each time you do it.
3. Batch your tasks. It is better to have as many of like tasks together, this includes chores and what you don’t want to do. This is better because we can get our tasks done at the same time in the same frame of mind. This also helps eliminate having multiple times of dread - doing four things you don’t like at the same time is better than having to do these boring tasks at four separate times.
4. Provide a reward for completing the task. Reward yourself for doing things you don’t want to do by doing something you really want to do afterwards. While this works for children and our pets, it works great for any adult as well. There is nothing more motivating than getting to do something you really want to do. Delayed gratification works very well because the thing you enjoy doing is much better knowing that you are done with the things that you don’t enjoy doing.
5. Reevaluate the task. Sometimes things we don’t enjoy doing don’t even need to be done. While this does not apply to cleaning your house (or at least it really shouldn’t), in the workplace or your own business it is very possible the thing you are doing and don’t enjoy doesn’t need to be done at all. Procedures can become out of date and unnecessary and therefore should be avoided. This is of course easier when it is something you are in control of rather than it being in the hands of your boss.

We all have things we don’t want to do and things that bore us. It is all about finding the best way to get these things done so that they don’t burden us to the point that they don’t get done. I have used the techniques that I have listed and they have helped me get more tasks done and in a more efficient manner so I have more time for things that I want to be doing. This is where we make time for what we really want to do, which is the core intention of what Time is Me is about. Thanks as always as reading, please feel free to list any thoughts.

Five Reasons You Should Reflect on How You Spend Your Time

I have over 15 years of consistent daily journaling. Last year in August, I have decided to take on the task of reviewing every single day of each journal. I have just finished this past week as it has taken nearly a year to do so. It is has been exciting to see how I have grown and also to see how many different journaling methods I have employed over this time. In a very similar manner, we should reflect on how we spend our time. Just like we would review a financial budget on regular basis (usually monthly), we should also review how we spend our time. This goes back to the time budget that I have discussed in previous posts in addition to tracking our time regularly so we actually know where it is going. It doesn’t have to be for a very long time or everything we do, you can just focus on a few activities at a time. For example, how much time did we spend on social media each day for a week, and what the total for that week is. Or you can take my approach and track every minute of the day and do it continuously. I have been time budgeting since 2012. There is plenty of room in between as well that will work perfect for you. No matter which methods you choose, here are five reasons you should regularly take time to reflect on how you spend your time. These apply no matter what method you decide on.

1. You have an idea of where you time is going. You may think you have an idea where your time is going, but you won’t know until you actually track it. You may be surprised how much time you spend on some things, or how little you do on other things. This happens especially when we look at it over a month and a year.
2. There is guidance. When you see time going to things in higher quantities than you want to, you realize where and how you can improve. You are then able to find time for the things we are really trying to do and accomplish.
3. There is personal accountabilty. It is always good to have someone keep you accountable for a goal you want to achieve. Even better is to have a way to keep yourself accountable. When you keep track of how you spend your time and it is being measured, that is a very good thing because you are accountable to yourself. Also, knowing that your time is being tracked will keep you accountable during the process.
4. You know how to make adjustments to your schedule. You may find that your schedule is unreasonable as it was set up and you will realize that you will have to cut things out to make it reasonable. If you don’t have enough scheduled you have free time (less common), you will then realize you can schedule more time for your goal.
5. There is motivation to keep going. When your time is being tracked and you are regularly reviewing how you spent your time, there is motivation to better for the next time you review your time. It creates a healthy competition against yourself the earlier period and motivation to reach a new goal each time you review.

I can’t say enough how important it is to recognize the need for reviewing how you spend your time. It has helped me tremendously. I regularly review my time and how it is spent regularly and I consistently make improvements. This is how I am able to find time to write a blog like this and will continue to grow Time is Me. Thank you again for all for taking time to read this blog and I look forward to continue to serve you later.

My Top Five Strategies for Maximizing Efficiency

If you have been reading my blog for some time now, this is going to be sort of a recap to summarize the top strategies that I use and in the order that I use them for maximum efficiency. As you may or may not have yet seen from this blog, the goal is to list strategies that help readers maximize their use of their time in order to find the time to do the things they really want to do.

1. Determine the Purpose. You need to know what purpose you are making time for. Determine a goal that you are working towards and figure out how much time is needed to make it a reality. When you have that part figured out, the next steps will help you achieve it.
2. Making a Time Budget. The very first step is to make an actual time budget. It can be detailed and all inclusive like mine is or can be just a few categories as a time. It can be an amount of time you want to do something or something you want to limit, or both. It can be annual, monthly, weekly, or even daily. Pick whatever works best for you.
3. Detailed Schedule. Having a detailed schedule is very essential to budgeting your time and the execution of the time budget. With a detailed schedule, you can actually see how much time you actually have because you are taking everything you have to do into account. Tracking every minute is effective just like tracking every penny is in a financial budget is. The best app I have found for having a detailed schedule is TimeTune, I have been using it for over a year now, but right now it is only available for Android users. If you are an iOS user, there are several apps of a similar nature and if you do not prefer to use an app at all, there are programs on the desktop, as well as simply using a paper planner can be very effective as well.
4. Analysis and Reflection. Taking time to regularly review how you spend your time is essential to understanding where you are strong and where you are weak in terms of your productivity. By this, you can determine where your time sucks are and how to eliminate. The very best method to having a good analysis is to track your time as detailed as possible. By doing this, you will be able to see the actual time spent vs the time budgeted. I use aTimeLogger to track every minute of every day and use the reports to observe where the time goes.
5. Continue On. Do not give up on what you are trying to achieve. The amount of time may not be the only issue that can be stopping progress, so be sure to check out all reasons on what may be slowing you down. I wish only the best for whatever goal you are trying to achieve.

This is a summary of what the core of Time is Me is about. This gives you the understanding of finding time for what you really want to do and the methods on actually achieving it. I am welcoming any suggestions on further topics. Please also take note that the Time is Me podcast is in the works as well. I look forward to any feedback.

Narrowing Down to the Essentials

    It is important to stick to the essentials in your life. There is a value into picking a focus and sticking to that. Just like they say “the riches are in the niches”, this is also true for how we spend our time. There are countless things we can do with our time, and many of them are good and fulfilling things. However, we need to determine which is most important for where we really want to go in our lives. This requires employing the aspects you may have encountered already if you have been following this blog. If you are a new reader, feel free to explore the other posts to get a better idea. It is important to understand the need to focus on what you are doing and what you need to do. Here are just a few ways this can benefit you

1. Only focusing on the essentials makes you the most productive. When you focus merely on the essentials, your focus is much more stronger and you will be the most productive. It is like growing a large pumpkin, if you take out all of the little pumpkins, you get one large one.
2. The more intrinsic value of what you are doing. You will feel better about what you are doing when you are doing the one thing you really want to do.
3. The more on track with your goals. The more your goals are focused, and the more you are focused on them, the more on track you will be. This is especially the case when you are focused on only a few big goals. This is better than focusing on 20 goals at once, then you will often end up only accomplishing one or a few, or none at all.
4. The closer you are to your purpose. Part of finding time for purpose is narrowing it down to what your purpose really is. While we all have many different purposes, there is really one main purpose that we should be focusing on at a time. We have plenty of opportunities to be off track and distracted, but this is why we need to focus on our purpose.

We all have essential things in our lives that we should be focused on doing. We do not need to be caught up in all of these distractions and things that are unnecessary. I find that it is best to work on a focused and essential life that does not include too many distractions, rabbit trails, and non-essential activities. In these times I find the greatest fulfillment, and you will too.