“You will never ‘find’ time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.” – Charles Bruxton

Clearly, how you invest your own time is one of the most important decisions you can make.  Here are a few ideas on how to get more from your time, how you can invest it wisely and not waste it: 

• Learn to minimize or eliminate external demands on your time that come from others’ agendas.
• Choose the time that is best for you to work on specific tasks or projects… protect this time and honor it.
• Make appointments with yourself for things that are important to you such as exercise or family!
• You don’t have to open and read every email.  If you can, have an assistant read your email and only forward things that are highly relevant to your attention.  Set up a second email address for your clients only and give it out selectively.
• Don’t feel the need to respond to every phone call the minute you receive it.  Have two or three specific times of day when you return calls.
• Do not allow others to swallow huge blocks of your time with their long winded stories or endless questions.  Learn to help them make the point quickly without being rude.
• Can someone else go to the meeting or do you really have to be there… can you leave early?

And a final quote:  “Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One man gets only a week’s value out of a year while another man gets a full year’s value out of a week.”  – Charles Richards