Procedures for handling time-management rarely allow for busy and demanding life styles. Plus, busy people rarely allow enough time to accomplish tasks. This makes it tough not to wonder how successful people win at the time-management game.
Although contrary to how it seems, the truth is, every day has the same 24 hours for everyone. The reason some people seem to have more time is that they live under a simple principle best summarized as follows:
"You'll never find time. It isn't lost. You're living it. You have to consciously decide to live it in certain ways and not others. You have to make time by taking it away from one activity and giving it to another." (From Time Management by Marshall Cook.)
This basic principle lies at the center of much good time management practices. Being "chronologically challenged" does not appear to provide much hope of giving these three aspects of our lives the attention that they demand, when you consider that most of us in the workplace also have a family life and the need for some personal time. Good time management teaches ways to reach the goal of keeping these three aspects in balance, adjusting each week -- or day -- to include accomplishing what is important and dealing with what is urgent.
It often seems impossible to accomplish everything when we turn to time management and try to apply it to managing a busy practice. We all seem busy, but are we productive? Busy people only tend to the urgent. Productive people tend to the important. Busy people feel stressed, anxious and overwhelmed. Productive people feel in control, are motivated and are able to complete tasks.
To learn skills on how to move from "busy" to "productive", continue reading about time management.