Effective time management strategies can be so liberating and so emotionally comforting that if you lack them you really feel like you're missing something. You're green with envy as your strategist friends get much more done than you do. To make matters worse, they are actually able to spend quality time with their family, to cook decent meals, and (now this is the proverbial salt in the wound) somehow have time for themselves.
Yes, if you're effective at identifying situations where a strategy is needed, and then actually taking the initiative to create one, you not only feel, but actually gain, a real sense of power--not to mention a real sense of popularity in your circle of friends. You are envied and highly esteemed. Your opinion is sought after from friends of friends. This is because you have a developed a reputation of being a person who gets most, if not all, of what you need to get done done and even a lot of what you want to do done. Your house is the envy of your friends as it's clean, your kids have clean clothes (put up at that), and your family is well-fed (as opposed to just fed). Your bills are paid on time, your car is maintained, as is your yard and things that come up don't throw you into a frenzy. Gee, you even have time for the occasional vacation. Yeah, nothing to envy there!
On the flip side are the firefighters. These are people who don't really strategize-probably because they are too busy putting out fires. Instead of controlling time, time controls them as they rush from emergency to emergency. Instead of realizing that soccer practice is tonight (like it is every single Monday night) and planning something quick and easy (maybe in the crock pot?) they think about dinner approximately 4 minutes and 23 seconds before they pull into McDonald's for junk food their kid is going to throw up as soon as he starts running. Smart, huh? They may know they need to do better but just never seem to get around to it (it's probably that putting out fires thing again).
One of the worst self-created roles in life is that of a fallen strategist. They used to be pretty good at creating effective time management strategies, but lately...well...not so good. They probably feel a bigger loss and resulting sense of failure than someone who is always pining to be that way, but never quite developed the ability. They, on the other hand, have been on both sides of the proverbial fence and know without a doubt that the grass really is greener on the other side. They've had the clean house, well-fed kids, and time for a relaxing bubble bath life-and gave it up. Yep-using the firefighting analogy-just let that lifestyle go up in flames. They quit strategizing for the new situations that came up and, probably slowly and imperceptibly, their life became the mess it was before they took the time to learn effective time management strategies.
Slowly but surely firefighters can become strategists. This is possible, I promise. Will it take work? Yeah. Will it be a quick fix? Maybe. The trick is to get a handle on your small day-to-day must-do activities then the bigger normally-ruin-your-whole-day stuff won't be so bad.
HOW TO BECOME A STRATEGIST
The creation of effective time management strategies can seem like a somewhat daunting task. It requires the ability to think and plan ahead, but this is a skill that, while not inherent in most of us, can certainly be learned. It's also a process that, with practice, becomes much easier. There are only 2 really big scary steps but, if followed and practiced, can literally change your life. Soon, you will not only be handling old problems that have plagued you with ease, but you'll also handle anything life throws at you with equal ease.
****Identify a problem -- Example: Feeling guilty about going through McDonald's drive-through on soccer practice night? You know that the junk food not only causes Junior's acne, but you also are wondering if it is interfering with his sleep patterns--if that's what has been causing him to suffer from insomnia. Also, even though he is active, you realize he's gaining a little weight. You know that you are his parent and so you should be more worried about his nutritional needs. But you just can't seem to get a plan in place and manage to have a decent dinner on those nights when he has practice. Note that it's important here that you identify the actual problem. For instance, if you identify the problem as being soccer practice night, then the logical step would be to focus on soccer practice as the problem, but it's not. Alternately, you might be tempted to identify McDonald's as the problem. Still no bingo. McDonald's is simply making sure you have something to eat. The real problem is (drum roll, please), you are not prepared for these hectic nights with something nutritious and quick. Now, if you identify that as the problem. You can come up with a solution for it. I could give you several solutions right here.
****Figure out how to not necessarily solve the problem but how you can work around it--There are limitless possibilities for creating strategies for problems. For example, I have two grandchildren who stay with me four nights per week while their mother is working. I like to see my other two grandchildren but can't handle all four at the same time. So when the two I normally have go to their father's house for the weekend, I get the other two. A major time management strategy I use (that impresses even myself) is to make the drop-offs and pick-ups at the same time and place. I meet the other sets of parents at the same time and place approximately 30 minutes away.
A super important point to note is that until a problem is correctly identified, you can't even begin to hope, much less plan for, a solution.
