Part Four- The 4 D’s of Time Management

Today we are going to talk about some letters. Most of us look at the letter D and think vitamins but today we will talk about what you need for self-management under four separate D’s.

Let’s jump in:

The first D we want to look at is the word Do.

Not everyone can do all things and certainly someone is not talented in everything. Doing what you like to do is very important because you will feel satisfied when you do it. Also doing what you do well is very confirming. It confirms who you are as a person. It just feels good to do something that you do well. But here is the catch, if you don’t do it then you could fall into procrastination and that is not an easy habit to break.

The second D is Delegate it.

Again if you are not doing what you love it might just take you twice as long to do that project. Who wants to do something longer than they have to? Give the job to someone that is happy to do it. I don’t like to do certain things and the satisfaction of giving it to another capable person that loves doing it, well, we both get a gift don’t we? I get to do something else with my time that I love to do and can do well and they get to do something that they love to do. Win-Win.

The third D is Dump it.

When we talk about getting rid of something we really have to think why we are doing that. Does it replace something else we might do? Does it repeat something that we are already doing? Does it create a bigger mess to deal with if I keep it? I at times work with Senior’s who are downsizing their homes. They don’t know what to keep, give away, store, or just Dump. One of the great things that we do together is to take pictures of items that they are not going to own any more for whatever reason. We take the picture of the item alone or we include the Senior or a family member in the photo with the item. Then we bind the photo’s where one side of the page is the picture and on the right is them writing something about the item and the experience or memory around it. Then we find a home for the item where it will be loved and cherished from hence forward. What a great tribute to our cherished moments that is for me to work with them on this project. It is total joy for me. Be creative. You are not dumping, you are passing on memories. Get rid of your STUFF!

The fourth and final D is Defer it.

This is the difficult one for most people believe it or not. At times more difficult than dumping it. This is why an item or project got in the to-do pile in the first place. I think sometimes people think that if they just don’t see something then it really is not there at all. Kind of like a magic trick. Consider that this D does not even exist if you really want to get things done. You really only have so much time. The bottom line is if you didn’t get it done up and until now you probably will not find the time to do it in the future either. Humm interesting thought right?

Now with all of that information we are still left with four D’s to work with when considering any task. In your average day you can pretty much take these D’s and work your system to get rid of your stuff on your to-do list.

Your last assignment for the month:

Take out your binder and make four pages with one D on each page. During the week write down the projects and to-do’s that come across your day. Write them on the page that best describes this item. Then next week start getting rid of items off of your list so that you can free up some time.

Let me know how many hours you saved this week? What do you plan on doing with this extra time?