Goal Setting and Time Management

The computer age was supposed to make our lives easier and leave more time for leisure pursuits.  Wrong.  What has happened is that our lives have become overwhelmed with work and personal demands.  We now have actually less time than before for family and personal pursuits outside of work.

Are we doomed to race through our lives like hamsters on wheels?  Can goal setting help us organize and manage our lives so that we can get the most out of them?  The answer is yes.  Goal setting can literally save our lives.  Here's how.

One of the obvious answers to goal setting and time management is to use an appointment calendar and organizer.  Appointment calendars and organizers allow us to schedule our daily personal and professional lives.  There are a number of good ones available.  A trip to your local office supply store will solve that problem.

However, appointment calendars and organizers, if not used correctly, can actually add to our time management problems.  When goal setting, be sure and avoid over-committing yourself.  That's often easier said than done.  We have so many personal and professional commitments vying for our time that it's often difficult to make choices.

This is where goal setting helps us the most.  We have to decide what is truly important in our lives.  We have to choose what our most important goals are in the business, family, relationship, spiritual, and leisure areas of our lives.  Once we have decided what our most important goals are in each area, we can then get on with the process of daily goal setting.

Our goal setting should include daily planning with an emphasis on only those things that we must get done that day.  We should be careful to stick to our daily plan and not take on too much in one area.  Taking on too much will only erode time from other important areas of our lives.

In our personal and well as our professional lives, we can learn to delegate responsibility to others.  We do not have to be responsible for every thing.  Effective goal setting means letting others help us.  We don't have to be "super mom or dad" or "super boss or employee." 

There are things we can do with goal setting in our business lives that will make things easier.  Keep meetings brief.  Agree on an agenda and time frame before the meeting.  That way we respect everyone's time including our own.  Show up on time and be ready.  It is surprising how much time we waste by being late and not prepared.  Lead by example and expect the same from others.

Our person life goal setting should include planning time for our families and friends, time for meals that aren't rushed, time for exercise, and time for sleep.  If reading is important to you, include that in your goal setting.

Another time waster is the TV.  Turn it off for certain periods in the evening.  Spend that time with those who are important to you or doing things you never seem to have time for.  Our lives are multifaceted.  Don't let one area dominate the others.  Goal setting can help us get more out of and into our lives.