Several years ago Life Magazine conducted the Great American Weekend Study, and discovered that 47% people wait until Thursday night or later to plan their weekends.  I don’t even need to tell you what happens when we wait too long to plan---the weekend slips through our fingers and before we know it’s Sunday night, and we didn’t do anything fun or refreshing.

            During stressful times, it’s more essential than ever to stay in balance—to mindfully fill your downtime off with activities that really recharge you.  If you spend your time on the right things-you gain renewed perspective, optimism....

           Chronic lateness is an emotionally charged issue both for the latecomer and those left waiting. It can also seem to be impossible to fix, but it’s not. The majority of the perpetually tardy are lost in their own web of turmoil and emotions, their lives filled with harried moments, near misses, and guilty apologies. They are so immersed in their own chaos that they rarely realize how inconsiderate their behavior appears to the people left waiting. They also can get so absorbed in what they are doing, they can lose track of time. If you’re trying to overcome your chronic lateness, you may gain inspiration on what to do about it by reading Natalie’s story.             Natalie has been late her whole life. As a kid, she never made it to school on time, even though her elementary school was just down the block. At fifty-six, happily married, with two grown children and a successful career, she is still late for work every day. Natalie crams every moment with activity

            Studies have shown that it takes your brain four times longer to recognize and process each thing you’re working on when you switch back and forth among tasks. This means that if your day is a random free-for-all in which you hop from task to task, your work will literally take much longer because of the real time you lose switching gears.  

            Think about it: If it takes you 10 minutes to get oriented to a new task every time you switch gears, and you switch gears 10 times a day, that’s over 1.5 hours of wasted time. Not only does multitasking have a quantitative impact on your day, it can also damage the quality of your work. Science journals have determined that managing....

In order to feel nourished, energized, and balanced, you need to define big-picture goals and activities for each category of your life. Many people set career or financial goals but neglect to set goals for other critical areas of their lives. If your life feels out of balance, see where you are spending the majority of your time. Chances are that your time is being spent in those areas of your life for which your goals are clear-cut.        

 

Put your big-picture goals in writing. For each of your major life or work categories, write down your big-picture goal. Consider your....

Many people suffer from a tendency to overload their schedules, because it’s so darn hard to say no. And, once you’ve said yes, it’s even harder to back out of things because you don’t want to disappoint others. If you’re feeling overextended and out of balance, you may gain inspiration on what to do about it by reading George’s story.

            George’s schedule was so overloaded that he didn’t have time to concentrate or really connect to any one thing he was doing. He staggered from one task to the next, never taking any time to reflect, and spent his nights worrying about what he wasn’t doing or couldn’t get to. He asked me to “help him become more efficient” so that he could keep doing it all, but with less stress.

            George was trapped in an old-school belief that value and validation come from being able to do for....

            As with all other attachments, the key to uncovering the original value of your habit is to begin by tracing it back to its roots and discovering when and why you first acquired it. Take a few moments to ponder the point of time when your habit developed..

            Use the following questions to get at the root of your bad habit: How long have I had this habit? What were the circumstances in my life when I started this habit? Why did I acquire it? Why did it make sense then? Are those circumstances the same in my life right now? Who else in my life shares this habit?

While it is helpful to pinpoint when you started the habit as you think about the past, don’t worry if that particular point in time seems a little vague. Sometimes habits start when we are so young, we aren’t really....

If you frequently fall victim to procrastination, pay attention to your patterns.       

Do you procrastinate on everything or only on some things? Some people procrastinate primarily on big projects—others tend to avoid the small, boring, or annoying tasks. The worst part about procrastination is how much time we waste wandering on meaningless tasks and doing anything to avoid the dreaded....

Mother’s Day is this weekend, and I thought it might be good to do a little shoutout to the hardworking, time starved Mom’s out there.  Of course, as a time management expert, I feel strongly that Mother’s Day should not be the only guilt-free day of the year where you take time for yourself.  Busy Moms need time for themselves daily and weekly, so that they have the energy to keep on giving to others.

 

This Mother’s Day, here are three techniques that will help you find, and enjoy, YOU time on a regular basis.

 

Strategy 1-SHED YOUR BACKLOG, so you can relax GUILT-FREE!

 

Many people feel that it’s hard to relax when there’s always a 4 page to-do list of unfinished projects and good intentions waiting....

            If you need to stop in the middle of a project, make it easier to pick up where you left off by writing yourself a little “Next Action” note. On a brightly colored Post-it, placed directly onto the document, indicate where you left off and write down the very step you need to take next. For example: “Read last three pages, write summary, highlight changes, check the address, draft closing paragraph.” Investing a minute to mark your spot before you stop will save....