Question: What do you have in common with billionaires Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey?
Answer: 24 hours in each day.
As rich and powerful as they are, even Bill and Oprah only get the same 24 hours you get. The difference is what do you do with that time? They each employ effective assistants to help them make the most of their waking hours. If the days, weeks, and years are flying by with not enough to show for it, follow these tips:
1. Grab A Notepad
Start writing your goals and dreams and action plan. The act of putting these things down on paper is the first step to making them happen.
Examples:
Short-Term Goals- (1 month) – Go to the gym, visit my sick friend, make that doctor's appointment and actually go.
Longer-Term Goals- (6 months) – Begin house-hunting, plan the birthday party, organize finances.
Really Long-Term Goals- (1 year) – Lose 20 lbs.
- (5 years) – Update your will.
- (10 years) – Buy a vacation home.
2. Hire An Assistant
An effective assistant can make the difference between having your time being eaten up with administrative tasks and getting to do the things you actually want and need to do. A professional assistant is worth their weight in gold when she becomes invested in your success.
3. Know Your Time Wasters
What if you are the assistant? Assistants need support too in order to make the best use of their 24/7. It works both ways. Get clear about the time-wasters in your day and ask for help from family and friends. Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook says, “The most important career decision a woman makes is her choice of a partner."
4. Buy A Large, Laminated One-Year Calendar
Buy a calendar to hang up on your office wall so you can literally keep the big picture close at hand. It's not easy to get a handle on your life when you look at a calendar on your smartphone. Plug in the big events of your work life and personal life such as the big annual retreat which automatically tells you that the two weeks before will be insane. It will become obvious when you can take a vacation or plan your root canal.
The Bottom Line: Time is precious no matter who we are. As someone wise said, this is not a rehearsal. You will make more money, enjoy more leisure time, and be free to focus on the things that only you can do when you take on the task of wrangling your 24/7.
Just like Bill and Oprah.
Article submitted by Bonnie Low-Kramen 
