The First (and Most Important!) Step in Time Management

“Where should I start to manage my time effectively?” What is the most important step in Time Management?

I managed sales and peoples for years…let me tell you something :

And I can confidently say that this statement is really accurate….

Time is extremely difficult to manage effectively, and centuries of knowledge and experience do not seem to help…

Though it is the most precious resource of all for any of us, it is limited and vital for practically every aspect of our life, still most of us deal with it casually.

… like it is a small secondary detail in the giant puzzle representing our life…

On the other hand, “the few” who try implementing Time Management techniques as a “method to the madness” have it hard right from the beginning…

In my years in the corporate world, as well as in numerous aspects of my daily life, commitment proved itself to be key.

No committment = GAME OVER

What is Commitment and How can it Help me?

“Commitment” express a lasting agreement, a stable engagement to do something. When we are really committed to something we normally stick with it until it’s accomplished, or forever if it is a habit.

Now, how really Commitment teams with Time Management?

Let’s see :

1. “Know Thyself“ : You know yourself enough to easily tell your habits. And you are intelligent enough to realize which of them are not serving you well, especially in the way you currently make use of your time.
2. “Committ“ : The dissatisfaction related to your habits about time grows big enough to make you commit to the decision for a change. You commit yourself (you will try, and try, and try again) to find and incorporate new mechanics to get more things done, reach your expectations and/or have more free time.
3. “Ready, Set, Go!“ : From here the effective Time Management strategy comes into play. You research, you apply, you adapt, you repeat. But clearly, if you do not internalize the purpose for what you are trying to optimize and you don’t commit to a change, you are going to give up on the first adversity.

And it is also logic : nobody likes to spend energy and then experience fatigue on something they are not excited about.

Of course there are things to be done anyway, I get it, no matter if you like them or not.

This is when you need to be creative and create some game out of the situation…

Why Do You Need A Strategy?

You could for instance agree to reward yourself (and with something exciting) right after you have completed the task.

This process will also reinforce your “commitment muscle”.

Your brain is going to store the information that, as long you stay true to something you committed to, the end result is going to be PLEASURE.

And since there is an emotion attached to reinforce the result, it is going to make a lot more sense in the future to go the same way to receive the same pleasure as a reward.

In the end, we are just civilized animals, and like any animal, we run from pain and run after pleasure.

We Lose Commitment for Lack of Strategy

For most of us, Commitment is just a beautiful word. But our experience with it is mostly disappointing!

We enthusiastically commit to our next goal, just to give up and forget it in a matter of weeks.

But everybody lives in a rush!

We do not like planning at all and we even brag about being a “Free Spirit”.

We find it awkward to imagine ourselves following a plan every day (for Goooood sakes!!…)😁

To the inexperienced, it looks like a prison, a cage to one’s freedom, the prohibition to “live following our natural inclinations”.

But nothing could be further from the truth. There is no point in committing on any goal without a strategy to reach it.

Actually, the only way to remain true to a commitment is to see some result from our hard work along the way. And the best chance to guarantee it is to incorporate “points of control” in our plan.

Choose Commitment!

Again, commitment is our fuel to start a process. And as for the fuel, the tank must be refilled.

We refill our tank with results. We show ourselves that our work has brought the awaited fruits.

This positive emotion (Accomplishment) brings fresh energy to our commitment and the cycle starts again.

To maximize our chance to gain results optimizing time and resources we have to employ a strategy.

This is why the energy coming from a commitment has to be invested in a process.

The best thing you can do for yourself is to learn Systematizing.

The Big Elephants of business, all have systems in place to run their multi-billion operations.

I am talking about The McDonalds’, IBMs, Toyotas of the world…

Man, no one improvises big success, but we can choose ourselves anyway to remain broke “free spirits” if we want to…

Conclusion

As centuries of experience and knowledge have now revealed us :

And, since the time for our journey is limited, it is a great idea to learn how to make the most out of it, isn´t it?

Now, hundreds of people in the world have devoted their lives to research and experimenting about how to systematize things in a way to reduce every waste and shoot for the best version of themselves.

And we can enjoy most of their findings just googling them, so knowledge is not the issue.

This is a BIG, profound, even painful topic to discuss…

We will maybe discuss the whole subject in a coming article, here let me just tell you that nobody is born knowing the correct use of Commitment or some modern Time Management techniques.

I hope you understand that the overall quality of your life is at stake: and that your own level of happiness is going affect that of your loved ones (especially your kids).

I heartily wish that this post will inspire you to take time to reflect and make any adjustments that put you back in the direction of the best expression of yourself.

…And God knows if we need happy, positive, loving, powerful people nowadays…..

Now, like always, I would love to read your opinions on the subject.

Leave a reply in the comments!