Time Management and Students: Questions About Menu Planning

I get a lot of questions about some of the time management strategies I talk about and one hot topic in particular concerns menu planning. Some common questions are...

When I'm already strapped for time how am I supposed to have the time to plan a full month's worth of menus?

The object isn't to plan a month's worth at one time but simply to work...day by day...toward creating a master menu plan. Each day as your family eats dinner and likes what they're eating then that meal...in the beginning...gets written down on an index card and filed away temporarily. Later you'll make your very own recipe book with the different...already family approved...recipes. So this is not going to require any more time than simply writing the meal down on a 3x5 index card for now...you can do that while browning hamburger.

I don't even know of 30 dinners my family eats!

You do not...I repeat, you do not...need to know 30 meals before you start this time saving task. You only need to know what your family's going to eat tonight. Here's the thing-the next 30 days are going to pass. They can either pass with you doing the same as you've always done...scrounging for ideas for meals day by day, walking like a zombie through the grocery store (even when it's not Halloween), and just feeling stressed out over the whole what-am-I-going-to-fix-for-dinner-tonight conundrum or 30 days from now, after taking 30 little bitty steps toward eating that proverbial elephant, you'll have a month's worth of menus to create your own recipe book and every single one will already be approved by your family.

If I make a month's worth of meals on paper there's going to be a lot of repeats and my family doesn't like that.

You don't create these menus all at once. They are created day by day for a couple of reasons.

First, because no one really has the time to just sit and think about 30 meals their family will eat.

Second, if we did create it all at once it would be very limiting because we would forget some of our family's favorite meals.

Third, that would simply fry my brain to try to remember all the foods we like at one time.

Fourth, by doing it day by day you get into the habit of writing down favorites and this is important because hopefully you won't quit experimenting.

Hopefully, you won't stop at one month's worth of menus. Keep trying new things and keep building your list of favorites.

Want more tips on time management? If so, then download my free ebook about Time Management and Students where you'll find ideas for time management in several crucial areas where we all struggle.

Time Management and Parenting: Save Some Time for Yourself

As Partners and Parents

We give, give, give and then give some more. Why? Because that's what we do.

Notice that nowhere in that did I say take...as in take time for ourselves. Why? Because that's not what we do.

We've Been Conditioned

That we come last. That if we want to be Good parents we have to put our children, our spouse, the house, and the job before our needs. Heck, even the pets usually come before we do.

We Take Better Care Of Our Cars Than We Do Ourselves.

Go ahead and laugh... then think about it.

When our car needs fuel... we get fuel because we don't want to be stranded on the side of the road waiting for someone to bring us some gas. However, when our body needs fuel we sometimes put it off or fill it with junk that's going to cause us problems in the long run. We would never put something in our gas tanks that we know is going to cost us a lot in the long term.

When our car needs tires... we (yes, grudgingly) buy them. We get the best ones we can afford and if the ones that aren't on sale aren't good enough well then we'll just pay full price... even if we have to put it on a credit card. This is especially true of parents with cars that their teens drive.

When we need new clothes we put it off and off. We'll shop bargain racks and even consignment stores (I'm not dissing them... I love 'em), but the point is they are used. How many of us buy used tires. Not the majority.

The Point That I'm Trying to Make

Is that we make sure to take care of our vehicle because we want it to last, to not cost us money by something that could have been prevented, and to be dependable.

Don't We Want The Same Of and For Our Body?

That is... to last, hopefully for our lifetime, to not cost us money (especially by some problem that could have been prevented), and to be dependable.

In Order to Keep Your Mind/Body in Tip Top Shape

You have to pay attention to signs and signals. Your body gives them... it's just up to you to interpret them and then do something (hopefully constructive) with the information. Consider them as important as a dash light coming on in the car.

Some of the "you" things you really need to make sure to pay heed to are:

· Recognize the need for and take time to de-stress when needed

· Make time for exercising

· Make the concerted effort to feed your brain by reading, learning, and growing

· Schedule "down time" especially following hectic days

If you do pay attention to these signs then chances are good that you'll have a pretty smooth running mind and body...along with your great running car.

And that, my friend, will assist greatly in any time management plan you create.

Are you ready to begin managing your time better? Download my free ebook about Time Management for some wonderful ideas. Also visit me at There Must Be A Better Way.

Time Management Tips - How to Create Your Personal Sanctuary and Assertively Use Boundaries

Time management tips go far beyond effectiveness strategies. You can use them to create an inner haven of contentment and gratitude. In this personal sanctuary, you can grow and change. And by transforming yourself, you transform your relationship with time.

Perhaps you wonder if this sanctuary can survive the onslaught of daily demands. If the special time you promise yourself keeps getting postponed, use these 3 steps to learn how to sustain your sanctuary!

3 "Sanctuary Skills" to Develop

Simplify by prioritizing.

Whittle expectations and demands down to a bare minimum. Like a beautiful sculpture that's revealed by what's carved away, you delineate your values by removing the inessentials. Only as you learn to distinguish between your wants and your needs can you make the important decisions to safeguard your sanctuary.

Take a few minutes to review what time choices you valued most deeply over these past few months. Which still retain a special glow? What part of you emerged? What do you feel grateful for?
Write a few phrases that help distill what made those times special. Was it a rare moment of closeness? Quiet time to reflect and reminisce? Festive times with friends?
How can you incorporate similar touchstones into your life as the normal pace of life resumes? List some options quickly.

Safeguard Your Sanctuary with Boundaries

What activities must you cut back on to create and maintain your sanctuary? For every fresh activity you want to say yes to, you will need to identify activities, perhaps habitual ones, to say no to. Boundaries are the line you draw between what goes into your basket of time, and what you must remove from the basket to make room for the new.

In the same way you must build a dream cottage with a strong foundation and sturdy walls, you must construct your sanctuary with sturdy boundaries, to ensure you find the time.
You create and protect your sanctuary every time you say no to distractions that are less important than your sanctuary time. Whether you set these boundaries with yourself or with others, you will find it becomes easier with practice!

Use Soft Boundaries as Comfort Cushions.

Creating soft boundaries in advance of your hard boundaries does wonders when it comes to reducing stress. What is a soft boundary? It is "the boundary before the boundary" that provides a generous margin of time to handle the inevitable surprises and complications that pop up. Or explaining to friends and family that you will be taking more time to yourself, well in advance of reserving a specific block of time.

What matters is that you are realigning your time to address your core needs. So long as you fulfill your baseline responsibilities, no one needs to understand or approve of your sanctuary time.

As you will discover, developing this loyalty to yourself through your sanctuary time can transform your sense of power, no matter what other demands are made upon your time.

Now, what can you do today to create life-altering changes for finding 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.thetimefinder.com/

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!

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

You Can Never Manage Time

Time is only a concept that allows us to rationalize linear changes in our lives. The only reality that makes any sense to me is that we live in a universe without any beginning or end and that we are all an important and integral part of this eternal universe. We exist as intelligent energy within this infinite continuum and as energy can either be destroyed or created, only converted from one form to another, we must be eternal.

Time is therefore only a concept, over which we exert no physical control and as we cannot control the passing of time. We must therefore become as effective and efficient as possible at utilizing our available time. Effectiveness is all about discovering the right actions to take, that will deliver the future you desire and efficiency is applying a system to ensure that you carry out these actions as time effectively as possible.

You have 86400 seconds each day, if you don't use them, you lose them. This makes your time your most valuable asset, as it can never be saved, it can only be invested into creating the future outcome that you desire. Something this valuable should always be spent really wisely and invested into creating the life of your dreams. After you make this realization, you will have mastered your life and have a powerful tool that will help you to move your life in the direction of super achievement. Always remember that you can never manage time; you can only manage your use of your available time.

LEARN THE ART OF MANAGING YOUR ACTIVITIES AND ENERGY WITHIN YOUR UNIQUE CIRCUMSTANCES AND YOU WILL HAVE DISCOVERED THE SECRET, WHCH WILL ALLOW YOU TO TURN YOUR TIME INTO ACHIEVEMENT.

Spend your time very wisely as you can never save time, you can only choose to SPEND it more wisely. There are a couple of philosophies we can adapt, which will either keep us trapped in mediocrity or allow us to begin moving down the path to super achievement. The first option is to spend our time on frivolous pastimes that offer fleeting enjoyment at best and just remain trapped in a life of mediocrity. Or we can finally make the choice to invest our 86400 seconds into taking the right actions every day that will deliver on our dreams.

When you make the choice to begin investing your time and energy into preparing for opportunity, you have started the crucial process of preparation, which is fundamental to developing self-confidence, a resolute belief in your abilities and the best way to acquire the skills and knowledge you need to grow and develop, into the person you need to be to attract the success that you desire. This is one of the best investments that can only keep growing and is free from the ravages of negative sentiment.

Make the shift today and make better choices about how you intend to utilize the withdrawals, you are forced to make, every day from your "BANK of Time". You don't get to manage the size or frequency of the withdrawal; you only get to manage how you make use of them. I choose to allocate each withdrawal to activities that fulfill me and make me happy, how do you choose to invest yours?

http://www.andrewhorton.co.za

Hi my name is Andrew Horton; I am an inspirational Speaker, Master Teacher, Radio and TV Host, Global Traveler and Author. My area of focus is in the field of human behavior, expanded awareness and enlightenment. I travel the planet constantly researching, learning and seeking ways to unlock the mysteries of the human mind. I delve into the inner workings of the universe, always looking for ways to understand my role in making things better and contributing to the improvement of the human experience. Please visit my website to sign up for a daily inspirational message, by following this link Daily Inspirational Message. This is your daily call to action, a reminder to do things better each day. Visit my website at http://www.andrewhorton.co.za/

Where Do You Start When Feeling Overwhelmed? Tips to Manage Your Life

Feeling Overwhelmed

In today's world could almost be called a typical feeling. Sad, isn't it? That feeling stems from simply having more to do than you feel you can possibly manage. It's a very real feeling but, fortunately, the solution is also very real.

In this article I'm going to help you answer the question of where do you start when feeling overwhelmed. Later in the article I'm going to give you some tips to manage your life.

OK... let's start.

First,

Write down all you need to do. I know it seems counterintuitive but this step is necessary because it will give you an overall idea of all the things you need to schedule, but also because it will probably let you know things aren't as bad as they seem.

Second,

Take just a few minutes and write down a priority beside each of these tasks. Some may be high priority in that they have to get done really soon and some may have a lower priority and can be put off.

Third,

Consider delegating some of these tasks. Can your spouse help? How about the kids?

Fourth,

Take the high priority tasks left and figure out an order for them. See if you can multitask with some of the lower priority tasks.

Last time I did this exercise I ended up going for days with the same list and noticed day after day the same tasks getting put off. I finally realized that they weren't so important after all if every single day the importance of other tasks always trumped them. I think I finally just either scheduled time to get them out of the way and finally get them off my mind or just took some off my list altogether.

Tips to manage your life

· Learn to create a to-do list - This is an invaluable tool which can help keep life from getting out of hand.

· Learn to delegate - There's no reason you have to do things that others can do just as well.

· Get accustomed to not getting everything on your to-do list done today - Sometimes we can only get so much done before we're just mentally done for the day. Learn to accept when your Super woman cape gets repossessed.

· Learn to ask for help - There's no shame in this. It isn't a sign of weakness...it's a sign of strength.

· Learn to say no if needed - I love this word because saying yes to something is automatically saying no to something else. Just remember that.

· Learn speed cleaning techniques - Everyone loves a clean house and it can be done.

· Create and follow menus - This is a super time-saver and stress reducer.

· Watch less TV - Regardless of what you think this does not enhance your life. Taking photos of your family and creating albums does. Singing does. Taking long walks with your spouse does. Reading does.

· Check your e-mail less - Just schedule time for this. Don't do it 15 times a day when 2 times would work.

Want more tips on managing your time better? Download my free ebook about Time Management for some wonderful ideas.

Pickle Jar Theory of Time Management

The proverb that time is money is not true in the literal sense, as one can gain money if lost, but time cannot be made up by any means, once it has been wasted. The proverb, in its true sense, means to treat time with the due respect it deserves and utilize it wisely.

Regardless of your intentions, it is easy to come to the end of the day and feel like you have not really accomplished anything. Unfortunately, this is a cycle that often repeats itself, even when you tell yourself you will change.

Time cannot be saved. But if you plan your time, you can manage it wisely. Consider a pickle jar containing stones, pebbles and sand where stones denote your life activities, pebbles denote your secondary activities and sand denote the fun and entertainment in your life. If you fill the jar with sand fully, then you will not have space for the stones and pebbles.

The daily tasks can be categorized into three states of materials. They are stones, pebbles, and sand according to their importance. As stones are bigger they refer to important tasks which are to be done as quickly as possible. They are our steps to reach our goals. They are rigid and somewhat difficult to work with. But they have to be done. Next comes the pebbles. They are less important tasks which may help the stones that are the more important tasks. The last is the sand. It is our daily tasks which don't help in reaching ambitions but to satisfy our needs for entertainment or social interaction.

When one fills the pickle jar with sand, we find that it can only be filled with that and nothing else can be accommodated. This is similar to the real-life situation where we fill up our life with a lot of unimportant tasks and find no time for the important ones. The same situation can be changed; this is given by the prioritization theory of the pickle jar. When we put stones inside the jar we can find a lot of gaps in between them. Consider these are the most important jobs. We can then fill the lesser, but considerably important jobs in the gaps, that is using the pebbles and then the other jobs can be accommodated in the gaps left by pebbles using the sand. Now, we have accommodated all kinds of tasks.

Dedicate your mindset into accepting and vowing to use time management skills to use your time wisely. Write a list of actions you can take, personal action items that will help lead you to your goals. Do this right now, or at least before you go to bed tonight. List your priorities first and then think of some secondary tasks. View your priorities as large stones, your secondary goals as pebbles and the small everyday stuff as sand which acts as filler.

One should first set some priorities. We should first decide what is most important to us in life. We should learn to prioritize between family, money and health. We should set the goals and then allow the most important tasks which are important to achieve the goal to get most of our time and we should give them top priority. Now, after deciding over what is important we can decide what we can do in the spare time we have. There are many things we can do, some of them are: volunteering for doing something good, being a part of your community's workforce or just chilling out for some time with friends. These are the pebbles that we can spend some time on after we finish the most important jobs needed for our goal. After all such things have been done, we can do a little bit of detailing on what kind of work we like to do in the rest of the time that would be great to do though not so important as they are not needed to be a part to achieve our main goal it might give us something to enjoy. Things like going for a pleasant walk or having a break for tea.

Let us consider that the whole amount of space in the pickle jar is equivalent to 24 hours of the day. Ask yourself what jobs you will give highest priority if you are going on a vacation next week and do what you will have to do for sure before leaving, these jobs will the stones that you will put in the jar because of their priorities. One has to repeat the same process of prioritizing till all the top ones are identified. We can just stop with prioritizing only the most important things in life that is required to achieve the next target rather than prioritizing everything. Pareto prioritization, Maslow time management or the Eisenhower matrix might help us in helping us give priorities to things that pop up unexpectedly or in places where we find some extra time to do some extra work.

Goals and efforts to accomplish the goals are important in one's life. It depends on the efforts we put forward based on the priorities. As per the pickle jar theory, too many stones cannot be fit into the jar at one time. The stones must be added carefully. Success of achievement depends on the time you manage to accomplish them and it is the key feature. Unless you prioritize your efforts and fit in time to acquire your major goals as the stones in the pickle jar, you will not be able to attain them. Whether they be obstacles or goals to be achieved, they are important in our life. Try to achieve your major goals carefully and let the sand and pebbles fill in the cracks.

Steve Wilheir is a project management consultant, teaching successful management techniques to Fortune 100 companies looking to build a better tomorrow. If you're enjoyed learning about the pickle jar theory of time management and are interested in better time management techniques, checked out time-management-training.info for more information on Abraham Maslow's theory on time management and Pareto time management principle

Time Management Tips for Taking Action

Taking action is skill. It's one of the best skills you can use in conjunction with time management. The trick is to combine your time management skills in a way that helps you take more action.

Here are 10 ways to take more action and improve your time management:

Start your day early. "Get a jump on your day." Rather than feel like you are always behind or playing catch up, take the lead.
Just start. Avoid analysis paralysis, and just start. By just getting started, you will quickly have a reality check that will help you adjust your path and take new action in the right direction.
Start with something small. Sometimes the best way to start is to break it down into something small. Even the small wins count and will help you chip away at the stone. If you are having trouble getting started, just find a small win and go for that.
Worst things first. Do the worst thing in your day to get it out of the way and avoid looming over you.
Take decisive action. Deciding to take action builds momentum. The more decisive action you take, the more momentum you will build. Start the ball rolling, and give it a good kick whenever it gets stuck.
Do it now vs. do it later. Avoid and reduce procrastinating. Things can pile up fast. Don't let them. Instead, find excuses to get things done now vs. pushing them off to later, where they will weight you down or overwhelm you. This will help you get on top and stay on top of things.
Don't be a perfectionist. Think in terms of "good enough for now" and treat perfection as a "journey", not a "destination." Don't let your inner Critic or Perfectionist get in the way of your inner Doer.
Make it a routine. Things get easier to do once you make them a routine or habit. Establish routines for your recurring activities.
Reduce friction. Establish glide-paths to simplify your day and make your routines friction free.
Leverage your personal action patterns. Find and use your personal patterns for taking action. For example, maybe you are a morning person. Use the morning to make things happen. Maybe you are more productive with a clear desk. Maybe you find it easier to take action after you work out. Experiment with what works, and pay attention to when you find it the easiest to take action, and use that to get your edge.

Action really is a habit. If you get in the habit of taking action, you'll start to find more creative ways to take action in more scenarios. The better you get at taking action, the better you'll get at time management. As you find more ways to take action, you'll start to ask more questions, like "What's the next best thing to do?" If you can balance taking action with embracing "non-action", you will gradually master the art of time management.

About the Author

J.D. Meier created the time management system, Getting Results the Agile Way, which is a simple system for meaningful results. You can take Getting Results the Agile Way for a test-drive by checking out the free time management training system, 30 Day Boot Camp for Getting Results.