THE ENEMY WITHIN

You have a time management problem? Stop reading right now and talk to your smart, resourceful self. Brainstorm five ways to more effectively manage your time.


Knowing how to manage your time is a pretty easy assignment eh? Now, is your time being managed effectively? Pretty hard eh? So easy to know, so hard to do.

Think of all the things you know how to do and say you want to do, but don't do. Is it possible you really don't want to do what you say you want to do?


Take the time management example. You say you want to manage your time more effectively. You just self-talked five ways to do that very thing, and you're still flitting around like Captain Hook in a juggling contest.


Why? Because to do what's required in order to gain the benefit of effectively managing your time, i.e., discipline, organization, and prioritization, is to you simply not worth doing.


Think of all the elements of your life you say you would like to be different than they are. Would you like to spend more time with the kids (or spend less time with kids)? Train your Lab to be an acceptable member of the family. How about going back to school, changing jobs, moving your career forward or watching every Star Trek episode? You know effective ways to grab whatever carrot is perpetually dangling in front of you -- guaranteed.


You're just choosing not to do what's required. That's OK, provided you stop complaining about the things you don't have or aren't doing. Recognize we as sharers of the human experience get exactly what we should get, given what we're willing to do to get it.


Lesson: To get something you don't have, you must give up something you do have, and it's not always worth the giving up.