There are perhaps thousands of articles and writings up to date regarding Time management and its direct correlation to one’s overall productivity. We are reminded by those who have come before us and they cannot stress it well enough that if you want to take control of your life, you have to learn how to manage your time. Your life is what you spend your life doing. Your life is nested within the borders of Mother Time and our activities are dictated by her regular whims. And before you know it, another day has gone, you have not accomplished what you wished you should have, and you are unhappy thinking about the hours you wasted. How do we avoid this? How do we maximize our time well? Here’s how -

Step 1: Write your mission statement

When you write down your personal mission, your values and priorities become unbelievably clear. If you get to know yourself, then you are sure to find out what is truly important to you. Once you know this valuable information, your priority list will not be born out of confusion but out of impeccable clarity. You learn what’s really important to you so you are reminded where and what you should be spending more of your time on. It is imperative that you find out where your time goes so you can choose differently if needed.

Step 2: List your roles

Are you a CEO, Father, Husband, Chairman? Or a Mother, Daughter, Entrepreneur and Lecturer? List all your roles, both Professional and Personal. Cover everything. Underneath these roles, write down what is expected of you to be able to perform each role well.

Step 3: Acknowledge your Humanness.

For sure we all believe that we can do so much, but forgetting the fact that we are not built for ‘too much’ nor are we created like robots, this causes missed commitments and opportunities, massive stress and nervous breakdowns. You are not Superman. You are not Superwoman. Be realistic at what you can achieve for the day or for the week so you do not get frustrated when you are not able to accomplish everything in your to-do list. You wrote your mission statement and your roles, you should know your true priorities by now. No matter how hard it is to do, be smart and say ‘No’ to doing things that are not very important to you. Delegate the tasks to people who can do them instead. Relinquish your control-freakiness and embrace the freedom! The more you do this, the more productive you will become.

Step 4: Plan ahead

Now that you have written your mission statement, established a list of your roles and have acknowledged your Humanness, place your calendar before you and plan weekly at the beginning of the week. Under each role you have weekly responsibilities, note them all down. Your to-do’s, appointments, errands etc. Do this planning before the week starts, and review your planner or calendar for 10-15 minutes every morning so you get into the habit of setting your mojo for the day. Use a reminder system that works for you, they may be post-it-notes, your palm or blackberry, your filofax or a small journal. Whatever it is, use a system that you are most comfortable with and having organized your time, you feel good at having organized your mind. And by having organized your mind, productivity unclogs itself from your previously cluttered inner self – things will flow smoothly. They will move at a pace you are comfortable and happy with.

Step 5: Be Flexible

Flexibility and Versatility are indispensable character traits that we all must learn to have. For life never ceases to surprise and amaze us. And if we are too rigid with our ways and our time, then we will be fighting against the very nature of life! Even if you don’t want lemons, sometimes life will insist to give you some. Instead of complaining that you didn’t ask for it, be proactive and do something about it. It is true when they say that life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to what happens to you. Things will come up which will catch you off guard and create major chaos in your plans – don’t be rattled by this. Be flexible and welcome the change. Be prepared to alter some of your scheduled activities. Leave some room for the unknown and the unexpected.

So there you are, the five steps to taking control of your Time and your Life. Follow them and leave stress and nonproductivity behind! And remember to not take things and life too seriously. Taking control of your life means letting go of it sometimes too.