Cyndi Maxey - 10 steps to Successful Time Management

We save minutes with techniques.

We save moments with strategies.

We save memories with a mindset.

Our goal as consultants is not to save you time. Rather, it is to save your lifethe life you want to live while everything else is getting in your way. Our goal for you in reading this book is not that you will become the master of time but that it will not master you. Our goal for this book is to help you figure out what is most important so you can use your time wisely and productively.

To accomplish these goals, we use what we like to call an uncommon approach to the common sense of life today, inspired by our favorite teachers and mentors: Viennese psychiatrist Alfred Adler, Chicago psychiatrist Rudolf Dreikurs, and High Point University president Nido Qubein. We have also asked expert colleagues in the field of human development and other learning development professionals to provide their best time tips for trainers and people developers. Youll find their practical and unique ideas throughout the book, along with the best ideas from classic time scholars. It is our intent that the masters will be your teachers, as they have been for us.

If you prefer more of an over-the-shoulder view of what we as coaches learn from our clients challenges with time, you will enjoy the Coachs Corner throughout the book. These are real questions and answers about time and life management that weve encountered. Perhaps youll see one of your own among them. Here is an example:

Coachs Corner

Q: My to-do list is never-ending. Each day, my tasksno matter how much I doare replaced within 24 hours by more. Should my to-do list follow me to the grave?

A: It probably will. Like time poorly used, the list is just a list and ours to use, ignore, or misuse. Here is an idea. Consider using your to-do list as a project blueprint. That way, instead of checking off boxes, you can work from a plan in the same way a building contractor constructs a home.

Group your activities into errands, work, family (and alone) time, study, and so on. Then put each activity into one of those bigger groups. Of course, the details will change from day to day, but your beam, your focus, the home you are constructing will remain the same. For some, this grouping helps maintain focus and reduces anxiety.

Another approach is from Qubein. Rather than a to-do list, also have a to be list. What do you want most in life? What needs to change? What is your bucket list of things to do before you die (or really start living)? What is your legacy? What do you want it to be?

Finally, the key to time well used will always be organization. Use a daily 3 x 5 card to quickly take notes of situations that occur to you. Later, put the notes in your organizer. A helpful online tool that is also a free application file (app) available for smartphones is www.rememberthemilk.com. Another tool can be found at www.daytimer.com, which is a well-established time management company that produces many useful items both electronic and in print to keep us all at our best. Find one that is simple and easy-to-use and actually works for you. This is a personal decision. Any system works as long as you work it.

The key to the to-do list is organizing toward a goal, not simply checking items off a list each day. While one supports a life well intended and well lived, the other simply shows a calendar with an X drawn through each day as if you live in a cell. In the end, what do you want your legacy to be?

As you read this book, we wish you a great adventureone in which you can live the life you want within the time you have. This book is not meant to be a book of mere techniques and tactics, though you will find plenty. It is not meant solely to save you time, though most certainly you will. Rather, it is a book about what is most important in your life.

And its about time we all thought differently about that!