Break away from old habits.

Staying Focused  and Setting a Routine is the Key

These are the sole tools that will allow you to break old habits and retrain your thinking. Once you have followed a Time Managed Pathway for a week, or a month if you are a tough nut to crack, you two you will have escaped your old disorganized ways and now be enjoying the freedom and benefits of streamlined planning.

Swap old Habits for Good ones.

You Have to Really Want to Change

Sometimes things do not happen in life unless you really want them so bad that you go out of your way to make them happen.

Avoid Slipping Back into Your old Ways.

Once you have made the first attempts of being well organized and on top of things you need keep it going.

Many people easily slip back into their old ways especially after a late night out or because of an unmotivated mood. Really the only answer I can give to this is to over ride your thoughts and only channel them to be happy, fresh and energized.

Stay fresh ,stay charged and keep moving forward.

Charge your everyday thoughts with only good thoughts and shut out any negatives.  Never dwell on mistakes and don’t give a toss about how others see you or what they think about you.

Love what you do ,do what you love.

The question gets asked time and time again,” How Can I Learn Time Management”? You see this very question asked on forums, in comments on Social Media and I get it. With the huge amount of info online the subject can appear to be a minefield with no clear pathway ahead.

This Got Me Thinking

For somebody that truly has no idea where to start with general everyday Time Management. It may be slid into the too-hard basket.

When people write online about a subject they write from their experiences or from their views.  This does not mean that their interpretations will fit in with or be what works for you.

Perhaps there is no straight or fast rule for all when it comes to Time Management.

What you need to do is seek out information on Time Management, Read, watch videos Check out some courses (there are many free ones). Then take from what you read or learn the best parts that work for you.

On top of this, I have a set of rules that can help with Time Management.

• Be routined organized and tidy.
• Follow a daily plan. (wite it down if that helps.)  Stop for breaks at the same time, wake up at a set time, etc.
• Set goals that are easily manageable and complete them each day.
• Above all Stay focused. Be mindful of Managing time well and staying organized.

Keep it Simple and Create Your Day so that it Works for You.

Work your Day and Your Time in to make sure that your day is comfortable mapped out. Work your day in so that it blends seamlessly together comfortably without confusion or stress.

Actively adopting good Time Managed routines will help to teach you as you go. In effect, the entire process will get easier as you go. You will soon work out what works best for you and what makes your day productive and happy.

Small steps at a time and being focused on using your time effectively will set you on course for learning effective time management.

Maybe you have tried time management practices yet your day just turns into its usual tangle. There are different means and ways of getting things done. Here is a very basic way to train yourself into being a very time-managed and well-organized person. Map your entire day out on a piece of paper.

This all sounds rather simple and basic you may be thinking but if you are having difficulty staying focused this can actually work.

Paper Train

How can this help.?

Staying in control with an entire list of things to do in your head is never going to be easy unless you have become extremely disciplined in the skills of Time Management. However, if you list everything you would like or need to do on one single day in a follow-through order, then you have a physical guide.

How can a guide help?

1. A written down guide helps you to keep moving forward and stay focused.
2. Physical prompts can spur you on.
3. Having a plan to follow allows you to work in sensible and productive steps.
4. Working to written instruction can help to keep your time managed.

I am sure if you were to adopt your day to a written plan then you will use your time a lot more wisely.

The Total Satisfaction of Making Progress.

How good it feels to just get things done. Complete each instruction on your list and tick each item on finishing.

This just simplifies everything

The  Other Bonus of Following Paper Instruction

Apart from the obvious the added bonus of recording daily actions on paper is that you have a record to go back over should you need to. You can see exactly what you have done. Leave a line or two between each entry so that you can take important notes should you need to.

How can this help future Time Management?

Following a plan can make you focus. It can create an organized atmosphere and enforce formality.

Don’t leave anything out, be organized, achieve your daily goals, and most importantly get things done.

So What Are Some Ways We Can Tackle a Deadline?

So you have a big task to perform. It could be an assignment, a physical product on order, or maybe paperwork for a lawyer to complete whatever you need to have done there is one thing for sure. It is not going to magically completer itself.

There is only one way, and that is to get stuck in.

Sometimes just the thought of needing to do something to a time limit is enough to sink you down and even get in the way of actually doing it. You put it off and put it off as the pressure has weighed you down. So you need to pull out all of the stops and begin working on it now, today.

First and foremost try to stay calm and relaxed. Don’t overthink it or allow the pressure to bring you down

Check out this article on deadline stress. Here

Focus on the positive and tune into moving forward. Work it one step at a time.

Once you actually step in and begin to work on whatever is to be completed then the going will become easier. Stage it out in doable steps, be consistent and you may even find you have finished ahead of schedule.

Staging the Deadline.

If you yourself are setting your deadline then make it a realistic one and give yourself the comfortable time that you need.

If somebody else has put the hammer down and set the deadline for you then accept it and put your head down.

You can do it. 

The Panic of Not Being Able to Meet Set Deadlines

Poss Solutions

If the work does not need to be solely your own you could recruit help so you could meet the deadline.

Putting in more hours even after hours may help.

See if you can have the deadline extended to meet your needs

Remember- Working to set deadlines does have its advantages. 

The is nothing like a deadline to get you moving. To enforce something to happen is often why we have deadlines for example having an assignment in.

With no deadline in place, you could only imagine how the work would drift in or not. Perhaps nothing would ever really get done a all.

Deadlines are set to allow consistency and order. It is in some ways it is how the world ticks by.

I believe the two, both Time Management and Being well organized are equal.

Here is how I see it.

Take a look at what being organized looks like.

You have the day well stepped out, you plan ahead, you know exactly what needs to be done next, you are always on time, your tasks are often completed ahead of time. All of this comes with ease and little effort.

Does this sound like being well time managed to you? Very much so I say.

Take a look at good Time Management

You have a schedule timed out for tasks of the day, you have put this in place ahead of time, You have set out the important tasks to complete first, you make progress through setting a plan in place for you to follow step by step. This allows you to complete all tasks on time. You are in control and well managed.

You can easily see from the top two examples how being organized and well time managed are one of the same.

If you are struggling with the concept of Time Management, finding it all too overwhelming then perhaps it may be easier to work on your organization skills and simplify things down a little.

As with good  Time Management, once you focus on being organized you will soon adapt naturally and it will just become part of your way of life. Begin with small steps.

Here are some ways that you could improve your organizational skills.

Wake up at the same time each day.

Make your bed first thing,

Set out the breakfast table before going to bed.

Keep a weekly Meal Planner and Shopping List

Plan your day ahead of time

All these things although small, are a good start to help get your thoughts channeled into being organized. Small steps lead to big steps and then eventually it will become just the way you are. Super organized.

Here is one way to learn how to be organized. These extremely popular books are available on the Amazon website.

This meal planner is one of my books. It is an example of how you can use a handy book each week to stay organized and on track with meals and shopping. There are a range of these books available from bookstores and websites like Amazon

To Note

There are also a variety of planners, logbooks, trackers, and more for many avenues of life. All are useful for staying on top of your daily planning.

It is amazing how just writing something down is helpful with being on top of things and helping to keep things on the pulse.

Is it a time-waster? Perhaps in most instances yes.

It is no surprise that whatever we take an interest in online soon jumps to our attention from every social media platform, website we visit, and even our inbox. It gets feed to us through sponsored posts and ads.

This comes with both advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage can be for eg, say you are looking for a particular product to buy. Ads popping up offering that very product with tempting sales may be just what you are looking for and in this case, may just play into your hands and even save much time wasted searching.

That’s the good side

The Disadvantage can blow your mind with information overload and make you totally lose focus. eg I will use an example that I have experienced in a big way. This literally took me off my path for a very long time and although I did learn and pick up valuable tips along the way. It took my focus away from my true goals and brought me close to what can only be described as professional scammers. Who each promise that they have what you need to succeed online. For a small fee. (to get you in the door.)

Tip Save time and trust nobody online. 

Save heartache and time by doing a little research before stepping in.

Here is my Story.

Some years back I stumbled upon the concept of affiliate marketing and it appealed to me so much that I paid money to learn more about it. I began following the blueprint in the course. Submitting articles with my affiliate link then placing free adverts and also signing up to free email blasters. Of course, nothing ever came from doing this accept I was suddenly targeted as candy from other affiliates with very well worded capture pages offering an easy solution to my online dreams. As a total newbie, I fell for many of these offers and eagerly handed over more coins to find out more about their false hopes and promises.

In the end, all I really had was bits of useful information and a ton of confusion. The more information and offers that sprung out before me, the more overloaded my head became. In the end, I had learned small snippets from every angle of affiliated marketing and making money online but with no solid footing or pathway ahead. Many of the ideas that were presented in these flashy sales pages appeared to me to be unethical once I watched the training introductory webinars.

Escape the Information Bombardment

I have since learned to take no notice of new flashy promises and offers and they no longer get fed in front of me which has allowed me to think and see the path that I wish to forge ahead with for myself.

The Way Forward

The internet is both useful and unuseful depending on how you use it. You need to work out what you really want to do and stay on track no matter what, even if it takes time to see results. Keep your eyes on the goal ahead, keep at it, and with luck results will soon show.

What really brings this thought to the foreground is when an anniversary or something is spoken of or is televised on the news and we can hardly believe that a number of years have passed since an event. It is almost scary and certainly incredible that something that seemed like yesterday actually happened years ago.

My Thoughts

When analyzing the scenario myself I have always thought that as we get older we just have too much going on. So much more crammed into our lives, that it creates an illusion of speeding time. However, after looking into what others have researched about the subject, time speeding as we age has been proven. It appears that as we get older our processing times affect our perception leading to time passing faster. Weird you may think but yet a reality.

So the answer to is time speeding up as we age is yes, it sure is. It is not just the imagination.

What to do, can we slow time down?

Where does that leave us as we get older?  Can we adjust and slow Time down?

Due to the fact that I myself would love to be able to slow my days down a little, it is worth noting that some people have ideas on how to slow time down. These are what I have read on ways to try and slow things down.

Try new things  I really like this idea as we just get so set in our ways and stagnate a little as we age, We need to try new things, keep busy and enjoy new experiences to keep life interesting. So this is well worth a try.

Practice Mindfulness  This is another goodie, slowing down and being mindful of all that is around us and especially of what counts can only be a good thing.

Keep a Daily Diary  Write up the good stuff from each day, the things that you have enjoyed and got the most out of. Why not slow down a little and take time to reflect and capture those moments that count.

NOTE, I have been creating low content books recently. Here is a Daily  Positivity Planner that I recently designed. It is now available on Amazon. There are many books that you can have on hand like this to help you record and make the most of your day.

Slow life down

Try not to think of too much stuff at once, take time out more. It is also helpful if you don’t try to keep up constantly with everyone around you. Say no sometimes and do less for others and more for yourself. Live your day on your terms and make the most of each day.

When I ask myself now, is time speeding up, I know it truly is and that it is time to make each day count.

Of course, ideally, you would have just one project which would simplify how you spend your time online but what if, like myself, you find yourself caught up with a few projects on the go? It is too easy to neglect a blog or a social media following that you are building up when you have found a much sweeter cookie jar to play in.

So How do you Make each day Count?

Or putting it another way. How do you make sure that you are giving quality time to each project?

I often praise a good day Diary, and yes I still do. Just having a physical item to work off can somehow keep your feet on the ground and encourage focus. If you have a few online projects that put pressure on your time, I can see just two options to ensure you stay moving forward in a positive and productive way.

1. Take time to sit down and have a good think. If you have lost interest in one or two of them then perhaps it may be an idea to close them down or cut them loose. Any time of year is a good time for a spring clean.
2. If you want to tackle them all without neglecting one. Then you need to allow time for each one in your diary each day. You may even find a way to incorporate one into another, for example, perhaps one project would be suitable for pinning on your Pinterest board or as a post to a Facebook group. Share the love so to speak.

You may be asking why do you need to put the time in. Why not just ignore one project for a while. 

Depending on your project this may work out ok. But many people run online stores, blogs, and even big social media accounts.  These all need or work better with hands-on time put in on a consistent level. You need to be prompt with your customers. sales.

Ignoring your blog or social media can make it fall back in the search engines which brings me to my next reason to keep up. I am guilty from time to time with this and it does not take long for the search engines to cool off and stop sending you visitors.

Don’t let all the hard work and hours of time that you have put into something previously, just waste away. Your Time Online is precious.

When Interest Wanes

It is just so easy to lose hope or to let your dreams of online success fade away. One of the biggest reasons people become successful online is because of their dedication and consistent efforts. Even in the face of seeing no results. It just takes time to get there yet so many give up when they may even have been only days away from success.

So coming back to the original question. Where to spend time online?

I say where it is going to count. A little quality time into your projects each day will keep them fresh, alive, and moving forward. If you want them to work out you need to make it happen.

What you do not have time for is neglecting what is important to you.

If you struggling to keep up with what you are working on either delegate some projects out to freelancers or cut some of the workloads you carry down. Simplify it. You may just be expecting too much from yourself. Many people write up too much each day in their diary’s and that just makes them feel like they have failed the day when they are unable to complete all the tasks for the day. Best give extra time for each task as there are often unavoidable hiccups when working online or even from home for that matter. Make each task count, make it add value to what you are trying to achieve and most of all give yourself time to complete quality work. Then as you tick them off as completed you will know that you have spent your time well.

First I have to say that I totally relate to the latter of the two. The passive income to me seems to be the perfect scenario to living the way you choose while not having to worry about where your income is coming from.

It truly can be a set-and-forget option. Time in now get paid later.

Chasing the Online Dream takes time and Commitment.

I have literally spent many hours, days, weeks, months, and perhaps even years if you added them all together chasing the online dream. I have walked many roads Tried this and Tried that. Perhaps without the dedication needed to bring success from any of the ways that I have looked into. All of that said I do not believe that I have wasted my time for two reasons.

1. I am so interested in the subject that I have enjoyed learning so much about it.
2. I do not believe all the time I have spent online has been for nothing. I also have photo websites,  blogs, 2 t-shirt stores, a good Pinterest following and so much more to show for it.

Let me explain myself more clearly.

Time learning can not be a waste of time

From all of the time, I have spent online I have learned so much. A multitude of strategies to earn an online income and should I have chosen anyone and stuck to it consistently perhaps I would have made my passive income.

You may be asking why I have not stuck to anyone in particular.  There is a multitude of reasons.

For some, I stopped the training as I did not like where it was going. Earning money by riding somebody else’s back, dropping links to products that involved an element of trickery or spamming social media tend to send up a red flag with me. That’s where I turn a corner and try something else.

There were other methods I have followed, photos, T-Shirts, Pinterest, and blogging. I am still learning with these and enjoying it so I certainly do not mind putting time in.

Blogging sparked an interest in photography and so I now have reasons to walk and do coastal trips with my cameras.

I would be dishonest if I said that I haven’t at times wondered about what I am doing.

Working part-time just to come home and glue myself to my laptop.

Like many, recently I hit a wall.  I stopped and wondered whether I should just give it all away.

But just as my thoughts were to pack it all in.

Something new came along that has totally blown me away. it is like putting on a shoe that fits so perfectly. Not sure why I haven’t found this idea before but I have stumbled upon a passive income idea that is just so suited to me.

The best part is that it is bringing everything, all the time that I have spent online, everything I have learned together. Creativeness, marketing skills, confidence, and a light at the end of a tunnel. I believe I may have found what I was looking for all of this time. The perfect passive income.

The fog is lifting and I have a newfound hope. A way forward and I am loving it. The online dream is alive and well and I am excited about the future.

So if you are asking yourself if you are wasting your time. I would say don’t give up on the dream. But what I would say to you is to balance out the time you spend chasing the dream with the quality time you give to the rest of your life and move forward with no regrets.

You see I believe you would not put the time into something unless deep down that it’s what you really want. If the way is unclear ahead just keep working on it and keep moving forward. Until the sun comes out and shows you the path. Sooner or later you will find something that fits and that works for you.

If an online income is really what you want especially if you are just starting out.

There will be much time spent online before you find what is going to work for you.

Putting the time in to train and try all ways, learn new skills, finding solutions is often the way forward unless you have been lucky and found the first way that you have tried has worked for you.

You need to ask yourself, do I really want this. Am  I willing to put long periods of time in beforehand to find a way and to make it happen? At the end of the day, it is your choice.

Live it with no regrets.

I now keep a notebook beside the bed as some of my best ideas tend to come to me at strange hours of the night. If you do not write them down immediately they can be lost forever.

In essence, having a notebook on hand and jotting down tips, ideas that pop into your mind, websites to check out, keywords worth persuing, reminders for later and so much more is a great tool when working online.

Let your notebook be your motivator on days when all appears flat.

Here is another useful reason to keep a notebook.

Think of those days when you are struggling to see the path ahead, you are feeling unmotivated and can’t come up with a fresh idea. Perhaps for a post or a new design for example. You pick up your notebook and flick through the pages and there it is. A great idea that you wrote down on a day that you were filled with eager inspiration. Just waiting to be acted on. Suddenly you feel energized and ready to move forward and get back into it.

Keeping notes can turn past thoughts into future success.

Without a notebook, your positive thoughts and ideas may be lost forever.

Why keeping notes is so valuable when working online.

From my experience working online is like being stuck in a maze. It is extremely to navigate to where you wish to be when new avenues constantly pop up and bombard you.  The leftover effect can be that you have been shown a whole load of nothing useful but there may be threads of interest and useful tips amongst all the rest.

That’s where your notebook comes in. See a good idea that may work in your favor. Don’t let it slip by, write it down for a time that you can take a better look at it.

There is so much information on the internet. We can’t deal with it all at once. Write it down and save it for a rainy day.

We need to grab on to the useful stuff while trying to stay on the planned pathway.

Those sudden moments where you suddenly see a pattern that works or realize the sequence of steps that need to go together may never be acted on as tomorrow some other idea has flooded your mind. Taking notes can be as good as a map showing you the way.

So What to Jot in your Notebook.

There are so many things that you can write in your notebook.

Perhaps a new software that you may like to take a look at at a later date.

Keywords that look good or even the layout of a title that seems to have been very successful for someone else.

Maybe a blog you want to check out later.

Or even a new marketing strategy you may give a try.

If you do not take a record or write it down it more than probable shall just get lost and never be acted on.

Keep your notebook on the ready.

The power of keeping notes should not be underestimated.

There are 2 ways you can keep notes while working online. My choice is a physical notebook. I do have to confess that I love little books, however, you could also go for an app that records notes for you. A digital or physical one may work better for you than the other.

Here are 2 of my design notebooks available at Amazon. A recent side project of mine.

Taking notes is also a must if you are on a webinar or learning new things. but for that,

You may like to take a look at an online system to help manage notes. Evernote and online notepad.

Check it out here

You may also like to check out an earlier post on 7 Ways that a Diary Helps with Online Management