Prioritizing my time!

[trainlady]

I have learned in this past week that I really need to make sure I am prioritizing my time well. I have come to LOVE this forum and could easily spend all day here writing away!!!
I took the past week "Off" to get some cleaning, organizing and some Christmas gifts started.
I started writing here again last night and feel better having gotten my housekeeping type stuff under control.
I need to start thinking of "Hanging out here" as a treat after my household stuff, quiet time and chores are taken care of.

An old James Taylor song says, "The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time." Undoubtedly true. But for most of us time presents a huge problem, we just don't seem to have enough of it.
I want to use my time well.
My priorities are:
God.
Mark.
my family and friends.
my home.
my health and body (which leaves a lot to be desired.)
leisure and activities I enjoy.

I am looking for a job, which has not been easy but once I do that will be another transition in using my time well.

Does anyone else have any thoughts on time mangement or setting priorities or is this just me?
peace,train

[Juliecc913]

Of course, it is not just you. I strive to have calm and balance in my life. When I am not happy I can almost assure you that something is out of whack balance wise. You've done great setting a priority order--one that is very close to what I would consider balance. I don't achieve it as often as I'd like, but it is something to always reach for.

I'd say my priorities are:

God
Marriage
Immediate family
Quiet Time for self
Home
Friends and extended family
Hobbies
Health

[trainlady]

Hi Julie, I agree with you 100% with trying to keep my priorities straight and living a balanced life.
I feel better about my time spent on the computer this past week. Having finished all my chores, etc., first, it DID feel like more of a treat. The week before I took the break I was typing away THINKING of all the other things I SHOULD have been doing!
This week I did good!...today is Friday, all the housework is done and I am going to have a fun day!!! If anything I will have to get off this computer soon because I just read TREE3Branches menu thread and I am now starving!!! LOL!!!
peace,train

[P Sue]

train lady,

I too was looking for some way to prioritize my life when I stumbled upon a website. Here's the address:

http://www.FlyLady.net

She makes it soooo... simple. You can join her Yahoo group and get daily reminders of what you should be concentrating on. Be warned...there are a lot of daily emails, but she tells you herself to simply delete any or all of them.

It does work. By the way...Fly stands for finally loving yourself. Check it out. It helpled me.

[yesdear]

My suggestion would be FlyLady . A lot of people say she's overwhelming at first (including myself), but if you read far enough, FlyLady tells you to take Baby Steps--not to try to do it all at once.

Also, if you need help getting started, I belong to a group that helped me get a basic morning and evening routine started, and now I am 'flying' with more advanced routines and evening have a Basic Weekly Plan. The site is called
FlyBabiesinLondon. You can view our routines, weekly plans, and daily posts on how we are doing.

Tami
yesdear@sbcglobal.net

[sugar_n_spice]

flylady sounds cool i just joined too!!! sounds like you are on the right track you know your priorities!!! i am a list maker and a scheduler it works for me and no i dont follow the schedules to a t use as a guide only but i t really helps. i get up 30 minutes early make me coffeee ste with pen and paper and make a things to do list froma master i make on the weeekends .usually saturday morning is my quite time i have my coffeee and work my weeekly lists. i call master list and schedules. i make grocery lists craft lists that i need to make while im studying all thi i have no time to worry or think about prollems clears my head once a month i get he callendar all my billlls make a payment schedule and budget.sounds hard and time consuming but i hardly ever spend more than 30 minutes to 1 hour making lists and schedules then each mornig i make the daily one mark off things doen add things that come up and it helps me greatly iff you need more tips ill be glad to try to help email me at [edited by moderator. Please don't include your email address in your posts. This is to protect your privacy. Thanks!] relax and enjoy life!!!!it will all fall into place somehow!!!!

[trainlady]

Hi Sugarandspice...you sound like you are very organized!!!
I have read on the flyladies sight about making a home organizational journal? Is that what you do, or if not, how do you organize all your lists?
Do you have any sort of dayplanner?
Actually I AM pretty organized, but I love to hear others ideas for inspiration.
Tho I am organized, I came to realize I was letting my priorities get out of order when I first discovered this forum. I found it so easy to just get on the computer and start typing away!! I STILL enjoy this forum but I make sure I get all my other daily chores, errands, visiting friends, etc, done first...or in the case of the past few weeks, packing our house. LOL!!!
peace,train

[megrayau]

Time to bump this one up and see what priorities are for each of us and how we do at being true to them. . .

[DeBora4BobbyL]

I am an overachiever. During school, I am doing many things at once and have to meet many deadlines. I have to trick myself.

I give myself little treats when I meet certain deadlines. For example, once I do such-and-such things that day, I am allowed to watch my favorite program or have my favorite food treat. The program motivates me to get things done by a certain time. Then, I have a big treat for myself. In my case, I will tell myself that if I do well on my exams, turn in my papers early, and so on, I will treat myself to a NASCAR race. Last semester, I will getting so discouraged, so I promised myself that I would take myself to the NASCAR race in Texas in November.

I personally believe that a person should "put a carrot" in front of themselves (yes, like a donkey) to motivate themselves to do what they need to do and not procrastinate. (Even being allowed to procrastinate for a weekend could be a treat if that is your thing.)

One other thing that I have found to be beneficial is to write things down! If you had a gun or bow and arrow, you wouldn't be able to shoot your target unless you had a target up to shoot at. You cannot make your target or reach your goals if you don't write them down.