Keep Screens Out Of Bed

We all have our own distinct pattern of unhelpful behaviours.  One of mine is that my resistance to the temptation of pointless web surfing is lowest when I am horizontal.  This has two effects.  If I take my Kindle or my phone to bed with me I am quite likely to spend what should be sleeping time checking all my e-mails, looking for interesting conversations on Twitter and doing all the other obsessive time wasting things that you can do on the net when you should be dreaming.

Live Life Now

I had planned to get up early this morning to do a couple of hours work, but instead stayed in bed reading a book.  I don't read books anywhere nearly as much as I used to or would like.  I don't know if it was a really a rationalisation, but I decided to stay put. I think any time management system has to be flexible enough to cope with impulses like this.  By the time  I was up, I had to make breakfast for a not very well wife which involved a mammoth washing up session and a trip to the shop.

Make Planning Mean Planning

I have never been very good at planning, and as a consequence have never really wanted to do it and I put it off continually.  When I do do it I find that I am very prone to actually doing work rather than planning work.

It is so tempting to just do stuff. After all if I could just get everything done I would have some time free to do some planning.  That is what my inner voice tells me.

Who Knows Where The Time Goes?

Sandy Denny didn't know where the time goes. ( See  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oBMDcLf6WA&feature=kp if you haven't heard of her.)  Up until yesterday, neither did I.

But keeping track of the time I spent with colour codes on a Google calendar made it much easier to keep track.  I am pleased to have it, but it makes grim reading.  I worked from 9.45 to 17.10.  That is hardly stakhanovite, but there were some valid reasons for knocking off fairly early.  (I usually regard working to 6 as standard.)  I have no excuses at all for my late start.

Time Management - Using the Calendar

I am fast approaching the first anniversary of going self employed.  I had always wanted to get away from having a job and to become the master of my own destiny.  I was always planning to do it in about 5 years time from whenever I thought about it.  The thing that always held me back was the fear that I would not find enough work to keep me going over the initial period.

Keep it simple

At some point in my life I thought it was a good idea to subscribe to a search engine optimisation newsletter.  This was a mistake on so many levels.  For a start I don't do search engine optimisation.  I do my best to do compelling content creation and just get into a few habits that help people find them.  My logic here is simple.  The Beatles didn't become the Beatles by getting good at album cover design and retail distribution.  If your offering is strong enough it will get noticed.  If it isn't it won't.  So far mine hasn't, but no amount of gaming Google would have changed that.

Giving Up Twitter

I love Twitter with the passion of a teenage lover for a girl he cannot have or a heavy metal band cover artist for a book of Gothic fonts.  But sometimes you have to sacrifice that which you love to achieve greater things.