Here are some reasons why you may not be managing yourself well:
·
You are comfortable and we all tend to stay with
what is comfortable
·
You don’t know what else is possible
·
You don’t know that there are other ways to do
what you are doing
·
You may be getting energy (and possibly
identity!) from being stressed and overworked.
Now let’s put you on the path to better self-management.
1. Clarify your
personal goals. Many of us lose sight of these as we get immersed in rush of
day-to-day life. Do your personal goals complement your business goals? Asking
yourself this question will root out any dissonance between these two areas of
your life. And remember, you do have two areas; professional and personal. If
they are not in harmony, determine whether the business goals can be
re-oriented or modified to support what you would like to achieve personally.
2. What role do you
want to have? Imagine yourself three or four years from now. Think about
who you want to be. What role do you want to have in the business? Thinking
about what you want in the future can give you great insights into what
strategies you may need to put in place now.
3. Look at how you
are actually spending your time. This is where the rubber meets the road. If
you really are true to yourself when you do this exercise you will learn a lot
about where the potential lies for making changes. How are you really spending
your time?
Break your day down into at least half hour slots and write
down exactly what you do in each 30 minutes. Imagine that you are on a diet and
your doctor has asked you to keep an honest food journal, to reveal your major
calorie intake times of the day. This is what you want for your time journal.
This is your life. Be conscious of how you are living it.
There is never a better time than right now for planning to
do things differently. Take charge of yourself and your business by choosing a
direction that allows you to meet both your personal and business goals, and
still retain your sanity!
