Time Vampires Begin With Your Own Mindset
I really appreciate your great responses to my blog on “time vampires” recently, so I want share with you some more ideas.
Rather than specific tips this time, I’m focusing more on the root causes of “time vampires”. If you can identify your own mindset issues that lead to the “time vampires”, then you can make better decisions to help you to get the important things done. Here are some of them:
- Lack of direction. If you don’t have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish in life and business you can waste so much time aimlessly pecking away at this or that project without really getting anything done.
- Limiting Beliefs. Here’s a doozy: “To be a good wife and mom I have to keep a spotless house and make gourmet meals.” Perfectionism isn’t only a problem in business. It can manifest itself in all areas of life.
- Lack of organization. Do you feel like you’re so overwhelmed and tired trying to keep up with everything? You can have so many great things you want to accomplish and by trying to do them all today you can burn out.
How can you readjust your mindset?
Prioritize. Take some time to really think about what is most important to you not somebody else. Are there events in your children’s lives that you absolutely don’t want to miss and are they needing more of your time? Or is this a day that the housework can slide so that you can focus on an important project that has to be done.
Each day that’s the question you have to ask yourself and that’s where the struggle comes in if you don’t have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish in your family and business life.
Delegate. Once you’ve established your vision, don’t feel guilty about making it happen. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad wife and mother if you need to hire someone to clean the house or help with meal preparations. If you settle for nutritious but simple meals for the family rather than designer meals, you’re still getting the job done. And if you hire assistants to help grow your business, that doesn’t mean you’re lacking in any way. It really means you’re smart enough to know what you need and you’re getting the job done.
Organize your work the way you work best. If you’re a morning person, get up earlier and get the hard work done first thing while you’re fresh. Often it’s easier to work when the house is quiet and there are no demands on your day yet. If you need a nap in the afternoon to recharge your batteries to get through the rest of the day, take a 15-minute nap and don’t feel guilty. If you’re tired, take some down time or you’ll pay with a compromised immune system down the road. You have to learn how to pace yourself.
Schedule. Know what you need to accomplish for the day and don’t procrastinate in doing it. Yes, there may be a stack of magazines you’ve wanted to go through, but the kids need clothes so laundry becomes priority. It takes work and effort to maintain your focus on what you want to accomplish. And life has a way of changing your plans at a moments notice.
The key is to have an over all vision rather than a schedule for every second of the day. That will give you the flexibility to choose at this point in time which project, whether family or business, has to be done right now. And with that clarity your focused attention will produce the most results with the best use of your time thereby vanquishing those “time vampires” once and for all.
Any other thoughts you’d like to share?
Tags: hire assistants, lack of organization, limiting beliefs, nutritious meals, perfectionism, time vampires
