Many of us have probably heard of lifestyle time management and how it can be beneficial to your organization, but do you know where the concept came from? Some people believe that lifestyle time management is all about working smarter, not harder. Others believe that it is all about prioritizing and exercising self-discipline.
So what exactly is lifestyle-time management? It is a framework designed to help people effectively manage their time while working towards specific goals. In some regards, this is similar to goal planning, since you are trying to determine how much energy or effort you are going to use in a certain period of time. However, with lifestyle time management, there is an added twist: you are also trying to determine how you will spend that energy or effort. This is achieved by listing the objectives you want to achieve throughout a specific period of time.
Once you have determined your goals, you must then come up with a list of activities and tasks that you need to accomplish in order to reach them. This is done by listing your major objectives as well as the short-term and long-term goals that you would like to accomplish. The beauty of this is that you can then identify how many hours you will be able to realistically complete each task, per day, per week, etc. This gives you a specific amount of time that you need to work on your goals.
After you have listed your objectives, you then need to make a list of activities that will help you reach those objectives. Again, this needs to be done in order to make sure that you are really prioritizing your life. Some people believe that the true meaning of lifestyle time management is to cut out all non-priorities and spend the time that you do have to accomplish your goals. That may be true in some aspects, but in others, it is a means to an end. It should be viewed as a means to an end, rather than as a final goal in itself.
In order for you to truly succeed at lifestyle time management, you have to learn to balance the work and play side of your personality. You also have to realize that there is a difference between work and play, as both aspects of your life have to be balanced. If you do not balance these aspects of your life, you will find that you are easily distracted and will not have enough time left over to actually enjoy your life.
Finally, in order for your time management and overall success, you have to set goals and meet them. You may be able to set smaller goals along the way in order to measure your progress, but once you achieve one of your major goals, you should set larger goals so that you can continue to strive for success. Lifestyle time management does not begin or end at the level of your goals; it should begin with a strong desire to succeed.
