As a physiotherapist, I regularly prescribe exercises to my patients. It is an important part of their recovery. Although they know they should be doing their exercises, they sometimes do not follow through. They know their exercises are good for them and necessary to improve, but they may not get around to doing them. There are many reasons why people find it difficult to adhere to exercise. It is important to know what motivates them and what their barriers are. If we (and they) know what the barriers are, we can work together to overcome them.
Successfully adhering to a prescribed exercise program is very similar to successfully adhering to a good time management system. We can have the best of intentions, but we may still have difficulty following through.
Have you found this to be your case over the last few weeks? How has your adherence been with:
Designating time in your schedule to do the things you need and want to do and
Following through with what you planned to do?
Have you guarded the time you designated to focus on specific areas of your business and personal life? That is the first part of a successful time management system. The second part is working, and focusing on, the designated task.
Have you noticed any barriers to successfully implementing and following through on this important area of your business? Have you noticed success in one area more than others? Have you noticed any patterns of why you might be able to complete certain tasks and not others? As with my patients, it is necessary to determine what the potential barriers are so we can remove them and move forward.
Some of the barriers to exercise are things such as fear, costs, not knowing what to do, not having time, not having resources and not having someone to exercise with.
Five top barriers to successfully implementing and following through with an effective time management schedule:
Not taking time to pray to the Lord about your schedule. Have you been praying for wisdom and direction for managing your time to best honor the Lord? If not, make time to pray about it this coming week.
Not dedicating specific time to plan your schedule. Have you found it difficult to find time to plan your schedule? Look for 30 minutes each week to do this. Weekends are usually good times if your work week starts on Monday. By taking this 30 minutes to plan, imagine how much time you will save by being more focused on your work!
Over scheduling: planning too many things for the time you have. Have you been able to schedule your time but have not actually been able to do all the things you planned? One possible reason is that you had planned too many things. Do not be hard on yourself. If this is a new process for you, it may take some time to determine what will be feasible and what will not. Just make the best estimations you can.
Underestimating time needed for certain activities. Have you underestimated how long it takes to do some things? Again, do not be hard on yourself. Sometimes we do not know how much time a project may take once we start. Learning a new piece of software might save you time the next time you are working on a similar project. Try to determine specifically the issue that caused things to take longer than you thought they would, and address them.
Distractions: Have you noticed you have been distracted and have had difficulty focusing on what you are doing? Perhaps you are keeping your email open while you are supposed to be concentrating on something else. It is important to know what you are being distracted by so you can remove the distraction.
As you plan your week, consider what things worked well and what things were barriers to good time management. Choose at least one area in which you can try to improve. Just like my patients who reap the healthy benefits of adhering to their exercises, you will reap the benefits of adhering to a schedule that honors God and helps you successfully and peacefully manage your responsibilities and time.
May God richly bless you as you honor Him at work this week.
Bonny, Christian Women at Work