Time Mastery: Part 2

Learn the six time mastery techniques and principles that take over where most traditional time management skills leave off.

Yesterday we introduced the concept of time mastery and focused on time management.  Today, we will explore time mastery techniques used by those who want to do more than squeeze an extra hour out of their day. Making use of these techniques and principles will allow you the time for pursuit of your life purpose and other goals.

Here are the six techniques and principles that take over where most traditional time management skills leave off.

Get assistance.  How much is your time worth? Can you be paying an assistant or delegating authority to someone else on some of your activities?  The successful individual knows that others' labor is one of the best investments that can be made. 

Do multiple things at once.  The mind is much more powerful and capable than most people think.  It is possible to overlap some of your activities and get twice as much done in the same period of time.  For example, you can listen to educational material or enjoy a good book on tape (or CD) while either driving to work or exercising.  Look at your day's schedule and get creative.

Get up earlier.  You can read 100 medical papers on sleep and the human body written by 100 top scientists and doctors and you will come to the same conclusion... nobody really knowns for certain how much sleep the "average person" needs.  The consensus is, our own bodies will let us know.  So get up an hour earlier each day and see how your body responds. That's an extra 45 eight-hour work days a year or 365 more hours you can spend on your hobby, family, goals, and/or life purpose.

Don't confuse relaxing with wasting time.  If you get relaxation from spinning in your chair then trying to walk a straight line, playing a game or two of Solitaire, or blowing spit bubbles, then do it!  The body and mind need relaxing activities throughout the day. However, make sure these activities are for relaxation and not for procrastination.

Get exercise.  While a good workout schedule may take about one to three hours of your week, it will allow you to be much more productive.  It is like a racecar stopping for fuel and a tire change; if it kept going, it would go farther in the short run but very soon slow down or just stop. Like a racecar, your body is a complex machine that needs to be fueled and properly maintained for peak performance.

Push yourself. The reason most people fail to reach even a fraction of their potential is that they do not push themselves hard enough.  We end conversations with "Don't work too hard!" or "Take it easy!" and this is exactly what the average person does.  The average person goes on frequent coffee breaks, socializes when they should be working and "takes it easy".  The other two percent of the population (those who consider themselves successful) get their high not by caffeine, but by accomplishment.  They save social banter for more appropriate times and don't "take it easy".  They work harder and smarter than the rest of the population and are rewarded for it.

Here is the big secret of time mastery: once your life purpose activities begin to replace your daily "have to" activities, your motivation increases, your work becomes your play, relaxation is obtained from your work, and productivity will increase exponentially!  Don't just be a manager of time, be a master of time.

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