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My husband Erskine is an excellent time manager.
A favourite activity of Bahamians is to fly to Florida and "shop 'til we drop"! I had never learned the technique and I'd waste days wandering around shops, achieving nothing.
Erskine's advice: "Make a list." I was to jot down the names of shops that carried the items I needed, then list each item under the shop that sells it. "Buy it when you see it," he said. "Don't wait for a better deal elsewhere. You might be wasting your time."
You can put business, personal and writing objectives into ABC "to do" lists:-
A= To be done that day
B= To be done within the week
C= To be done within a month
Store the lists on your computer or in note pads. As items on the B or C action lists become more important, they're bumped up to an A or B category.
Keeping my laptop exclusively for writing helps with time management. I use our real estate computer for my "day job" and when I move to the laptop I quickly shift into writing gear.
I find that "Pending" files are a waste of time. A decade ago, as executive secretary for a major wholesale and retail outlet, I had to extend my desk to accommodate the growing number of files.
Now, computers and the Internet simplify my life. I use the "Eudora" email programme, which I understand is popular with Internet marketers. I've created electronic "mailboxes" for "in correspondence", "out correspondence", fellow writers, etc. and am almost on my way to a "paperless office"!
Of course, you must back up regularly on a zip disk or CD.
Time Management Tips:-
· Be decisive. If you have a tedious project, tackle and complete it to the best of your ability, so you can get on with what you enjoy the most.
· Use your peak creativity period to write. Are you a morning or evening person? If you have a daytime job and are a "morning person", get up early and write before breakfast; if you like to "burn the midnight oil", write in the evening.
· Friends or family members often make unnecessary demands on you. Learn to say "no" (within reason).
· Telephone calls or visits from friends can prevent you from getting a story or article finished and off to a publisher (friends are important of course, but wait until later when you can give them your undivided attention - over lunch or dinner, for instance).
· Group similar activities together and make a list when setting out on errands, planning your route, so you don't have to double back and waste time.
· When reading magazine articles or book chapters, tick those you've read, so you don't waste time rereading them. I use 3M "Post-it flags" to bookmark important pages.
· Get rid of the "clutter". You can't get things done when clutter's in your way and a cluttered mind is not a productive mind.
· Set priorities and goals, but remember, you don't have to be perfect!
John Keats, one of the top poets of his era, wrote "When I have fears that I may cease to be before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,….."
He lived from 1795 to 1821 - only 26 years.
If you don't take time in hand, your pen might not "glean your teaming brain"!
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