Listened to an audio recently on time management & heard a great quote: “Be where you are.” In other words, we should be focused on the task or activity we are currently engaged in & not feel guilty or allow ourselves to get distracted. Example, if I have an hour block of time with my kids, the phone goes away, I don’t do anything work-related. I give 100% of my energy to what I am doing during that pre-determined block of time. Same goes for work: if I have to make a bunch of phone calls, I block out a full hour to do it. I do NOT check email, do any research etc… When we live this way we become more productive & the feeling of guilt like we are not being effective goes away.
I am not perfect at this & have caught myself on my phone w/ the kids. What it shows them, indirectly, is that I am not putting them first. It is VERY important to have a schedule. In fact, I would go so far to say it would be a great idea to have an old-fashioned print calendar so everything can be written on it in blocks of time. This is my approach that I have adopted & I am already feeling more productive & accomplished.
A great complementary article offering solid nuggets to help gain perspective & direction with the concept of time management.