Courage of Convictions

In my twenty plus years as an entrepreneur working on my own schedule, I have found the most difficulty for any entrepreneur to be the issue of “time management”. Today, I am absolutely sure that managing time is an impossible task!

Let me explain. There are exactly 24 hours in each day that we are blessed to live. You can break this down in any measurement tool you want, but there is only 24 hours. I have yet to find one person on this earth who can “make time stand still”, or actually stop the day’s clock.

There are two critical points to acknowledge on this topic:

1) you can do nothing to change how much time you have today

2) you are not guaranteed another day

If these two points are the focus of your calendaring for a successful balance and profits, or success, then it becomes clear that you must focus on managing the activities not the time, and prioritizing those activities for the results that are most important.

What are the most important things to you? I do not know what is important to you, but I have learned through much trial and error that you always schedule what is really most important to you no matter what you verbalize. For any schedule to reflect balance and priorities, I have found it most beneficial to break it down to only four areas of life: faith, family, fitness, finance.

Faith: for you to grow and mature in your faith, you must spend time in the activities of study, prayer, meditation, and praise. Scheduling this activity first allows you to have your day full of positive, affirming, confident concentration that allows you to release the rest of the day to your god for his guidance and protection. Most of us work this in when time allows finding only that you are falling asleep in the middle of that prayer at bed time.

Family: for you to enjoy time with family and not be distracted by work (finance) items during this special time, it is important to put your family time as a priority. What classes, ballgames, recitals, practices, meals, date nights, hobby times do you need to include? If you are in charge of your activities then this should be scheduled first and work time next. Many of you at this point are struggling with a faith issue and wonder what is left to produce an income. Your family will greatly enjoy time that you spend with them when they know you have no guilt about the time you share. Prioritization of your activities is crucial in managing your emotional state as well.

Finance: the area of finance is what describes your activities to create an income for your family. As an entrepreneur it is vital that you have a routine that is predictable, accountable, and productive. When you break down the hours you will work and what activities are to fill those hours consistently then you will notice a dramatic improvement in your accountability to family, self, and clients. A sample of activities on my calendar that has worked best for me is attached. You will want to adapt the activities to your own business regimen, but it is very important to stay accountable to this schedule with everyone so that you are not ever in a reactionary state. Once you move from a proactive state to a reactionary state you have lost all control of your business.

Fitness: if you are not scheduling your fitness routine for exercise, eating, and sleeping, then you are in another reactionary state and have little to no control over your other activities. You cannot take care of anyone else, or anything else if you are not in good physical and mental shape. Again, this area, like the priority of faith, gets put on the back burner for most people. It is another vital area of your life. The great news is that if you participate in at least thirty minutes a day of physical fitness activity, other than running to the refrigerator for that last bowl of ice cream before bed, that you will improve the quality of your life tremendously.

A few other tips to help the success of managing your activities for balance and profits:

1) If you have a tendency to hit the snooze button on your alarm clock, then move your clock to a place you have to physically get out of bed to turn it off. Also, change the name of your “alarm” clock to “opportunity, or blessings” clock. This will help you jump out to enjoy the day.

2) Whatever you can do the night before to prepare for the next day do it. Set your coffee maker the night before to be ready when you get up. Have your faith based material opened and ready for you when you jump out of bed. Have your clothes laid-out, meals planned and packed, and all briefcases/ backpacks ready then night before.

3) When you get home for family time, make it family time. Do not take any calls from work. Turn your cell phones, blackberries, etc. Off until the next scheduled event. Be proactive. What good does it do to go on a date with your wife and be on your blackberry throughout the date? She may not enjoy interrupting the date with your phone. Be careful you may end up sleeping on the couch with your phone…Relax – no guilt of not working during this time.

4) The best idea is to be proactive so that you are not always rushing to your next event and remain behind on all schedules. Have complete integrity on your schedule. Keep appointment times to a specific time limit. Know what you are going to accomplish in advance. Make sure that you are accountable to your family for that time, they have hobbies too!

Remember, you have no guarantee for tomorrow, so make every moment count!

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