Time Management Strategies - Revitalize Enthusiasm and Productivity Using the 3 Gratitude Exercises

Time management tips that inspire you to renew and deepen your gratitude also energize you, every single time you open your heart. If you really want to experience new zest, learn how to genuinely appreciate and care for your life, starting right now.

Cultivating the gift of gratitude is a powerful way to ground yourself and prepare yourself for any challenge. Gratitude enhances healthy humility that is based in self-respect. It also helps you assess your strengths and redirect your energy. The following reflections provide a fresh window of understanding to your inner powerhouse.

Finding Time for Gratitude - 5 Central Insights.

Gratitude's 3 Gifts to You.

Gratitude immediately enriches your life in 3 ways:

- How you look at your world,
- How you move through your days, and
- How you experience your moments.

It is a fundamental value, and the ultimate way to make full use of your time. In "Character Strengths and Virtues" by Christopher Peterson and Martin E. P. Seligman, gratitude is defined as "an enduring thankfulness that is sustained across situations and over time."

There are two types of gratitude, personal and transpersonal.

Personal gratitude is about thankfulness towards an individual, whereas transpersonal gratitude is a constant and fundamental appreciation of the world.

Gratitude is a very special gift to children.

According to studies, gratitude develops between 7 and 10 years of age. However, I believe that if a child is raised in an environment of appreciation, both specific and general, and if it is spoken about often and consistently, gratitude will begin to develop at an earlier age. At the very least, the child will be surrounded by positive energy.

Experience and express appreciation to others specifically and frequently.

How many times a day do you actively thank someone? And how often do you feel the energy of awe and wonder? Don't deprive yourself or others of this wonderful, free gift that strengthens relationships!

As an informative exercise, jot down each time you feel grateful for anything.

After 3 or 4 weeks, go over your documentation and identify patterns in your gratitude. Are there days when you are so absorbed in the activities of daily living that you "forget" life's gifts? What does this tell you? What happens to your energy? Do you habitually see the glass as "half empty" or "half full"?

There is a simple and wonderful exercise I've practiced for many years. It was reinforced in the Vanguard Authentic Happiness Coaching Course I participated in several years ago.

Enjoy the "3 Gratitudes" Exercise!

Each night, right before sleep, list at least 3 gratitudes you are aware of for that day. These blessings can be anything you notice and appreciate.

Recently, I asked a client if she was continuing her nightly gratitudes. She vigorously nodded. "It keeps me positive," she responded.

And it does. It helps you maintain enthusiasm, even in challenging times. Soon it becomes automatic to appreciate your moments.

Now ask yourself: How can you generate still more gratitude today by finding more time?

To take your next step, sign up for our free gift, "The New Finding Time Boundary Template: 9 Simple, Sequential Steps to Find More Time and Recharge Your Energy!" at http://www.findingtime.net/ezine.html

This time template will help you move beyond overwhelm, disappointment, and frustration. Using a workbook format, with room to record your answers, you will discover that 24 hours really are enough!

And for even more time thoughts and techniques, visit our blog at http://www.thetimefinder.com

Offered by Paula Eder, Ph.D. The Time Finder Expert.

The Essential Time-Saving Guide for Busy People

Your lives are always busy, I’m sure, but the holidays always seem to add even more craziness to everyone’s schedule. Christmas parties with family, friends and co-workers, gift shopping, decorating, Christmas pageants, caroling, bell-ringing, snow shoveling (unless you live on Guam like I do), making cookies, baking turkeys, and all the rest.

It’s enough to make you want to give up!

But it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. If you’re a busy person (and who isn’t these days?), I’ve compiled some of my favorite time-saving tips — things I use in my daily life that I’ve found to work wonders for freeing up the schedule.

http://adjix.com/6kx3

Using Outlook for time management

My list of New Year’s resolutions is about as long as my cash register receipt from a major trip to the grocery store. At the top of that list is time management (I'm going to need some serious scheduling for all these resolutions!). If it’s on your list, too, you might want to think about using Outlook to help you reach your goals!

Read on ...

10 Ways to Find More Time

You have a sink full of dishes, three loads of laundry, 17 bills to pay, you're not sure how many e-mails to answer, a big stack of novels you'd love to read, and zero — count them — ZERO minutes of free time. "Where does the time go?" you lament. Here are some ideas to get you started on your quest to have a life:

Read on ...

the AGe of Speed - Learning to thrive in a More-Faster-Now World

A current TV commercial for an insurance company says "Life comes at you fast," as it shows some unimagined disaster striking.

Dallas author Vince Poscente thinks it's time to harness that full-throttle life force so that it works for and not against us.

His book The Age of Speed: Learning to Thrive in a More-Faster-Now World became a business best-seller because he hit a raw nerve: Most of us are in a dysfunctional relationship with our lifestyles.

We love our ability to live in the fast lane; we just wish things would slow down so we could enjoy it more.

We crave speed but feel chained by it.

Mr. Poscente believes we can turn this addictive dope of the new millennium into a helpful drug for fulfillment in 2008. It's all in what we do with the time that speed can save us.

Read on ...

Using To-Do Lists: No One Can Use Just One

One important planning consideration is what you’re going to accomplish each day.

In his role as the dean of creativity for the Walt Disney Companies, Mike Vance had a strategy he called DO-DOING-DONE. The idea is to start a task in the DO column, move it to DOING quickly, and then move it to DONE as quickly as possible.

That’s a fine idea, but it doesn’t really matter how you format your list. What does matter is that you have a list. In fact, you need several lists. Without them, your brain forgets many of the things you have to do as well as the cool ideas you come up with.

Having lists will enable you to plan your day most effectively and will relieve that nagging sense of “what did I need to get done…”

I use several types of lists, outlined here:

Read on ...

How to Apply "Less-is-More" Thinking When Creating Daily Actions and 3 Ways to Leverage it to Get More Done!

We’ve all felt that at one time or another.

There are our priorities, our boss’s priorities, our family priorities and the priorities that seem to land in our lap at the last minute - like a leaky toilet that floods, dropping water from the ceiling.

But there is a way to manage all of this effectively and I’m going to show you how in this article:

http://www.persistenceunlimited.com/2008/01/how-to-apply-less-is-more-thinking-when-creating-daily-actions-and-3-ways-to-leverage-it-to-get-more-done/

Stop Procrastination- Just do it!

What stops you from 'getting things done?'Have you ever started your day with good intentions of completing a task or project only to find that by the end of the day you've hardly worked on it? Or have you ever set a goal to attend a seminar, learn a new skill or just have more time out for you?
I'm sure you have. I'm not going to write a long-winded explanation about the art of procrastination or "putting things off" but what I will do is share with you the secret of actually "getting things done"…putting an end to procrastination and just getting on with it.

Read on ...

E-mail Management: An Overlooked Time Saver?

You can save time by managing your E-mail.

The problem is that you probably have several E-mail accounts. School, home (from your Internet Service Provider (ISP), night school class at a college or university, and several "free" or throw-away accounts.
Tips fall into two categories, i.e.,

http://classroomtoolkit.net/serendipity/archives/67-Top-Tips.html#extended

Great Time Management Advice!

From: Jim Rohn

I often talk in my seminars about the importance of time and time management -- how rich people and poor people both have the same amount of time every day - 24 hours (which by the way, I find fascinating).

This week, as we continue to celebrate the Anniversary of the Weekend Event, I want to share with you four great time management ideas we've excerpted from the Event Speaker Round Table Session - Enjoy!

Brian Tracy:

I always give the principle of: Begin the day by "Eating That Frog". It basically says that if the first thing you do in the morning is eat a live frog, then you will have the satisfaction of knowing it is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long.

And your "live frog" is your most important task. Now there's two corollaries to that. The first one is if you have two frogs to eat, eat the ugliest one first and the second corollary to that is if you have to eat a frog at all, it doesn't pay to sit and look at it too long.

So the key to high performance is to plan every day the night before, in advance, and set priorities for it. And then say, "if I can only complete one task on this list before I was to be called out of town for a month, which one task would it be?" And whatever that is, it becomes your frog and the next morning discipline yourself to start in on that task, the most important thing on your list, and do only that until it is complete.

If you can develop that habit, you can double and triple your productivity, you'll take full control of your life, you will eventually become wealthy, and the personal feeling of pride, accomplishment, discipline and achievement you get will be absolutely extraordinary. It is one of the most important of all lessons to learn, and one of the hardest things to implement if anybody has tried to do it.

Denis Waitley:

Stop watching in prime time and start living in prime time. Prime time is 7-11 pm EST, when all of America is watching other people making money and having fun in their professions. So if you want to watch other people making money, having fun in their professions, which gets their ratings up so they make more money, go ahead and do things that are tension relieving, instead of goal achieving. But if you truly want to live YOUR life in prime time, then write in prime time, have intimacy in prime time, talk with your children in prime time, live and do in prime time instead of unhooking and engaging in tension relieving activities.

Every book I've written, all seventeen, have been written 7-11 pm weekly and on Saturdays. And why? Because I am earning money the rest of the time, and I don't have time to write a book except in prime time.

So stop watching and use the television set as an appliance. It has doors on it. Close the doors and use like an iron, when you need to iron your clothes, bring out the TV set.

Jim Rohn:

Regarding the television, I knew a guy who wasn't doing too well and he wanted some advice from me. I knew he had a television set and knew he watched a lot of television, so I asked, "How much did that television cost you?"He said, "about $400."I said, "No, you're mistaken."He said, "No, this television set cost me $400."I said, "Well that's to buy it. To watch it, I am sure it is costing you about $40,000 a year to watch."

He finally got the message and he called his brother-in-law, who had a pick-up, and he and his brother-in-law hauled his television out of the house. His brother-in-law did say, "Well, you can just shut it off."

And he said, "No, for now I don't trust myself, Jim Rohn is right. I'm not going to let this television set cost me $40,000 a year anymore."

Vic Johnson:

My biggest tip would be in an area that I struggle a lot. About 15 years ago I heard someone say to never handle the items in your inbox more than one time. So I adopted that for email. Now I get over 300 emails everyday even though I have all kinds of filters, some of them going to other people, etc. My biggest challenge is to touch that email only one time. Either I forward the email, I return the email and delete it or drag it to a folder for action by someone else or delete it. If you continue to have to go back and revisit that email over and over trying to make a decision that's time -- that's wasted time -- plus it's on your mind until you get rid of it. So if you are in a profession and you handle a lot of emails and you're still getting a lot of items in your inbox, only touch them one time.

Reproduced with permission from the Jim Rohn Weekly E-zine.Jim Rohn International2835 Exchange Blvd., Suite 200Southlake, TX 76092800-929-0434International and/or Dallas/Ft Worth - 817-442-5407Fax 817-442-1390 or visit the website at www.jimrohn.com

How to Make More Time For Your Life

Do you wish you could work less and play more? Are you so stuck in the rut you can't see a way out? Have you ever said I wish I had more time for me?
Well there is hope. First of all you have to be aware of your situation, have a strong desire to change and then take action.

Read on ...

Trying to "Keep up"?

And I thought it was only me ...!

From the Creating Passionate Users Blog

Do you have a stack of books, journals, manuals, articles, API docs, and blog printouts that you think you'll get to? That you think you need to read? Now, based on past experience, what are the odds you'll get to all of it? Half of it? Any of it? (except for maybe the Wired magazine)

So you let the stack of "things to read" pile up, then eventually when the pile gets to high you end up tossing half of it--or worse, moving it to a deeper "stuff to read someday stack. We have selective amnesia about what we'll ever get to, but mainly because most of us keep feeling like we have to keep up! Keep up with what?

Read on ...

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time management

Time Management

The Power Of Time Management Training

The goal of time management is to use your time more wisely. As you become more proficient with time management, you will be able to accomplish daily tasks with ease and you will feel better about yourself. The problem usually arises, not because you have too much to do, but rather, because of the way you manage your time. In today’s world, there are a lot of distractions out there that allow you to divert your attention to things that are more fun to do.

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