A self improvement guide is intended to offer you the best solutions to eliminate negative factors in your life. Or at least to reduce them drastically.  

Work, meetings, deadlines, appointments, telephone calls, shopping, taking the dogs out, etcetera – all these are things most people have to accomplish daily.

Most of the time, on the waiting list there are other things like: family, friends and even ourselves.

Sometimes we discover too late that the points mentioned on the waiting lists are, in fact, the most important.  Unfortunately, there are times we may not realize this at all leaving ourselves wondering what is the reason we are so unhappy.

Everyone knows that time is more than money – time means, first of all, life and, more than that, it means our lives.

We have the obligation not to surrender in stressful situations and to go fighting for the joy of living.

However let us also not forget that deficient time management can produce tremendous health problems, both at the physical and mental level.  

But there is good news!  Time can be domesticated – we can make it obey us if we take charge.  The first step in implementing this process is to identify the elements that rob you of time. Normally, they are divided into two groups:

The external factors (unexpected phone calls, extremely long phone conversations, unplanned visits, an “open door” policy, insufficiently trained personnel, frequent / unnecessary meetings, interruptions caused by colleagues, friends and family etc.)

The internal factors – those related strictly to our own personal makeup(changing priorities /objectives, non-existent daily working plan, lack of self imposed deadlines, extreme multi-tasking, disorder, unresolved conflicts, incapacity of saying no, indecisiveness, tiredness).

Upon review, you will probably recall similar situations that you went through. Now, all you have to do is to find a way to defeat and eliminate them, so that you can be the master of your own time again.

Here are three possible ways in which you can do that:

Write everything down. This is useful, especially if you have a bad memory. Otherwise you might fail to remember to go to important meetings, make important phone calls, or answer messages you promised you would answer.

You can also write down great ideas and inspirations that occur to you in the most unexpected moments.

Make a list of priorities. It takes you very little time to prepare it and you can even do it while you’re having your morning coffee. Simply sit down and write out the things you need to do that day, in the order of their importance and urgency.

Learn to say no. One big mistake a lot of us make is that we put other people’s problems in front of ours. Nevertheless, by helping them in a bad moment we give rise to our own frustration, stress and finding ourselves unable to respect previous engagements.

For more information check out Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber’s book “New Art of Time Against Stress: Gain New Mastery over Your Life and the Power to Live Your Time Instead of Simply Spending It”.   This 1984 study of time offers guidelines on how anyone can cast off the pressures of the clock and organize their lives in order to complete daily chores without stress. The newest edition has a new chapter on managing time in the 21st century.  This particular book reminds us that time management is not just a weapon against stress but also a philosophy for life.