Every moment of every day, we are faced with a decision on how to spend that moment.  Most of us complain that we never have enough time to get it all done.  Its honest, we likely don’t have the time we need to accomplish everything we want to do and see in this life.  We can, however, inch ourselves closer to achieving more by making deliberate choices on our time management.

The Book “The 5 Choices, The Path to Extraordinary Productivity” is one of my go-to manuals for help in achieving my goals and ensuring each moment is time well spent.  There are, as the book title suggests 5 key choices to make with each task and role you play:

1. Act on the important, not the urgent. The book includes a fantastic 4 square graphic that illustrates this point.   Every single decision on how to spend your time should be placed  in one of the four boxes, and spending time in Q2 is what will lead to greater productivity.
2. Decision Management – Define Your Roles- think about all the roles you lead in your life – wife, mother, business owner, mentor, hockey coach – and rate your performance in each role from 1-10. From here, you can make actionable goals on how to better your performance for each role:

• Mother – to be my sons’ greatest fan
• Actions – schedule all my sons’ games in my calendar; spend time each Thursday helping son #1 with his school calendar; help coach son #2’s baseball team

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3. Attention Management – Schedule big rocks, don’t sort gravel – this is the easy one! This is where you put all the important stuff IN THE CALENDAR so it doesn’t get missed.  Have a big project coming up and need to spend time planning?  Schedule time with yourself in the calendar; it shows you and others that that time is sacred to you being your most productive.
4. Attention Management – Rule Your Technology, Don’t let it Rule You – this is the hard one ☹ This is where you create a plan for how to manage all the incoming information, in a way that keeps it organized but creates less pressure on your time
5. Energy – Fuel Your Fire, Don’t Burn Out – by exercising, eating right, sleeping well, relaxing and connecting with others will help you through the stressful Q1 and Q3 times in your life.

We will dig into each of these choices in more detail in future blog posts; grab a copy of “The 5 Choices” book and join me on the journey to better productivity!

By mastering the above choices, not only will your productivity increase, but also your well-being and relationships with others.  We have but one life to live; make the most of every moment!!

(comment below on what “choice” above you have mastered and how, or on the choice you’re struggling with – your insights may appear in the future posts)

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