Time Management - What Really Works?

Have you ever wasted hours and hours surfing the Internet or watching online videos? Or perhaps wasted hours reading books on time management or spent countless amounts of money on systems that are supposed to keep you on schedule for the rest of your life? If you haven’t, you must have a boss who threatens or terrifies you if work isn’t done on time. The rest of us, particularly those of us who work at home, have only ourselves to answer to if deadlines aren’t met, or possibly the bill collector if we are really bad at it.

Let me let you in on a little secret that may change your life; new time management techniques or courses are not the answer.

Self-discipline is the key and has been since the beginning of time. Do you think the world became polluted all by itself? No, of course not, big business was disciplined enough to keep making money no matter the cost to the world. But I digress, that’s a whole different subject.

Am I saying that you should never take a time management course or learn new methods? No. I’m saying that you should not look for a magic bullet or solution there. Without self-discipline nothing else will matter much. Discipline is the key to any time management plan, diet, exercise regimen, or project.

Now that we’ve established that self-discipline is the most important element in time management, how in the world do we attain that elusive quality?

One useful technique for some people is to give yourself a reward for good behavior. Having something pleasurable to look forward to if you stick to your plan can be a strong motivation and is all some individuals need to be productive. However, some people slip back into their old habits after a period of time. For them, here is what happens. They start saying to themselves, “so I don’t get that reward, I’ll survive.” Then it’s good-bye time management.

So if establishing a reward for yourself does not work for you, then what?

Think back to your childhood. If your parents or teachers were believers in spare the rod, spoil the child, you learned that discipline meant pain. Misbehaving meant pain. Let’s go with that analogy.

Avoidance of pain is a more powerful motivator than desire for pleasure.

In order to keep to your time management plan, make failure painful. No, I don’t mean, hit yourself or get someone else to beat you up. Hit yourself where it really hurts, your pocketbook or your free time. Ask your life partner, friend, or employee to make a deal with you. If you don’t keep to your new time management schedule, you will owe your partner something.

For instance, promise your partner that if you fail in keeping to your schedule, you will cook dinner every night for a week or you will clean up the dishes every night for a week. For a friend or employee, promise him or her a bonus at the end of the week if you don’t keep to your schedule. Now if you don’t stick to that productive schedule you came up with you will pay dearly.

One failure or two and you will become a highly productive time management machine.

You will probably do better if you set this up to be daily rather than weekly. Most people need at least a month to make a plan into a habit. Give yourself at least two months of reward or punishment. Then you are on your way to writing your own book about time management with your newly found time.

In upcoming posts we will discuss what needs to be included in a good time management plan.