Tag Archives: accomplishments

“Making Myself Behave”


When I wake up in the mornings, time is already moving, in fact it was moving all night long. The only thing that I can do is to get up and move with it. You hear a lot of talk about managing time, and not to look down on the topic, I just want to talk about it in a different light. Time management seminars, classes and practices are very beneficial. How many people would come to a “Me Management Seminar” or “Me Management Class?” In reality, at the end of the day (or beginning hopefully) we are not really managing time as much as we are managing ourselves.

I have never actually seen time stand still, although there may have been times when it felt like it was standing still. I have seen clocks stand still, but only because the batteries were dead. In fact we have a clock in our kitchen that just stands still, it never moves. But even with a clock standing still or a person standing still, time keeps on moving. If time never stops them maybe, just maybe, our concern is not about managing time, but about managing ourselves. That challenge is one that sometimes becomes a difficult task.

You only get 24 hours in one day until that day is gone. Time is your greatest resource; it may be the only resource that you cannot get more of. Being a great manager of yourself will help you to become a more productive person allowing you to eliminate the excuse that “you didn’t have time,” because you will focus on the more important things first. You will also learn to make time work by making yourself accountable to plan before you get started.

Here are my thoughts on managing YOU:

  1. You must plan ahead, knowing what you are going to do with YOU in the time that is given.
    1. Managing YOU is telling YOU where you will spend your time before the hours arrive.
  2. You have to be disciplined to make sure that YOU do what you planned.
    1. Remember that time is going to pass whether YOU use it or not, so you have to be disciplined to use time correctly instead of wondering why nothing got done.
  3. Know and plan that everything will not work in the timing that was planned.
    1. Not planning for this will get you discouraged and off your plan quickly.
  4. Keep a log of where YOU spent your time.
    1. We are creatures of habits, but you cannot change what you do not measure.
    2. A log of your time will tell YOU what you with the time that you spent

What are your ideas concerning “You Management?”

What do you take away from this?

What do you have to add to it?

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Back Adjustments and Life Change


Often we become impatient concerning the changes that we want to see. It matters little whether those changes are in our own lives or in the lives of someone else. We want change to happen quickly, instantaneously; we want to start something and get immediate results. When we do not get results quickly enough we get frustrated. This has happened in my life several times, whether it was an exercise program, a new reading plan, a study plan or something else that I wanted to make into a new habit.

           

The most powerful lesson I learned about change came from going to the chiropractor. I started going when I was about 18 years old, and still continue to go at age 36. What the chiropractor taught me; though it took me a few years to catch on to it; was that the change that I desired was not going to come in one visit.

One chiropractor said: “It’s true there are rare instances in which a single visit can produce the pain relief that many patients seek. However, the effect is often short lived”. He went on to say, “A single “miracle” adjustment rarely produces permanent change”.

If I had to paraphrase what I learned (finally) from my years of chiropractor visits, it is this: the change I am wanting will not come in one big visit. On the contrary it will come because small changes were made consistently over a long period of time.

I believe that the same thing is also true in many other areas of life. The change that we want to see, most of it is not coming in one big moment. See, I do not believe we have a problem of working for change; it is just that change takes so long. If we could do a workout program for a day or two and be changed we would be happy. Unfortunately most changes don’t come that quickly and we give up.

Most changes come when we make small consistent corrections, over a long period of time. The majority of changes that happen and stay have come this way for me. It is more of a lifestyle of change, than a one – time moment.

I believe that all people can change, at the same time I also believe that most of the changes that we so long for take a little time. Most of them take more time than we would like. But, if we can be patient, change will come.

In conclusion I am not saying that big change cannot happen or that we cannot change something in one moment and never have to deal with that situation again. I also recognize that there are times when we really need big change quickly and we have to be certain when those times come. I am just suggesting that that scenario happens far less than what we would like, and it would be wise to be patient waiting for change.

What are your experiences concerning change? What is your experience will big instant change? What is your experience with small long waiting time change?

Stuck In a Rut


Stuck in a rut, is an old Alabama term, literally  from the days of riding mud trails. It was a deep hole of some length, which made it hard to get anywhere when you get in them.

Sometimes it is just hard to get started on your projects. You sit and think through them time and time again. You reason in your head that you want to do it or want to get it done. But somehow, you look up days later and have done little to make progress, if anything at all.

ImageThe discussion has been had at times, that if you do not act on something then you really do not believe in it. I will say that I can’t really argue with the statement; though it really hurts to realize that it might just be the truth.

            I have ideas wrote down for years that I wanted to do, but they had just  been sitting there for a long time, with me making little progress on them. Recently however I have started to work on a project or two. Now I have not made the greatest of progress, but any progress is better than no progress; which is what I was doing.

Here are 5 things that I have learned lately that have helped me to make progress.

*I am writing these tips from the perspective of writing.*

  1. Pick one, maybe two things to start working on.
    1. Picking too many things to start will just make you feel stressed before you get started.
  2. Define some areas of your project that have values that can be measured.
  3. Set times that you can measure the areas and determine what progress that you are making.
  4. Do not try to make it perfect the first time through, just get started.
  5. Make a set date to be done with the rough draft.
    1. If you do not get done by the date, you will still likely be further along than if you had not set a goal time to be reached.

Hope these suggestions help, what other suggestions would you add?