Change Your Life -- Now! -- In 3 Ridiculously Easy Steps

Regardless of upbringing, education or privilege, we all
get 168 hours in the week. That's it. Everyone
from serial entrepreneur Elon Musk to the guy pouring
your coffee at your local bodega -- even Beyonce (who
run the world?) -- gets 168. So it’s natural to wonder
why, despite having the same amount of time, some
people achieve so much while others accomplish so
little. Why is it that some people seem to be present for
all their important family events while others always
seem to miss them?
By the age of 30, I had five multi-million-dollar business
success stories behind me and had spent more than a
year traveling the world. And it comes down to
this secret: The high achievers understand balance and
know how to manage their time. I didn’t say, “They know
how to work hard to make it then live the good life. That
is not the key. Instead, they simply know how to manage
and maintain a balance in regard to the one resource
that, for most people, is in short supply: time.
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Becoming someone who excels at balance and time
management starts by recognizing you need a change.
Here's an exercise I do with my clients that always
provides shocking and transformative insights. It's basic,
yet it never fails to deliver:
1. Take a piece of paper and break it into three sections.
Name these sections ‘work,’ ‘home’ and ‘social
relationships’ to denote the major areas of your life.
2. List every commitment you have and activity you
must perform in each section, and approximately how
much time you spend per week on those tasks. Don’t
forget to include activities such as sleep, TV and time
with friends. And be honest with yourself, otherwise the
exercise won’t do you any good.
3. Analysis: What do you see?
The findings should be pretty obvious, and many people
are shocked by their results. Often, they first discover
that nearly 100 percent of their time is consumed by
work. Next, they see that they spend little or no time
with their family. Many also find that the time they do
try to have with their loved ones is tainted by the
exhaustion they feel from work and therefore spent
staring blindly at the TV.
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Email
Think about where you spend your time. Is this the case
for you?
Ask yourself:
Is this what I want?
Do I wish I had more time to spend with my family,
friends, or pursuing something I’m passionate
about?
Most likely, these questions are all you need to see that
you’re not living the life you want. There was a point
when I, too, worked all the time. But I saw I was
neglecting things and important people. And I wanted a
change. When you spend much of your time at work,
and much of the remaining time answering work-related
calls and emails, you can’t even enjoy the time you do
set aside for loved ones. In short, your life isn’t the one
you want to be living.
Rather than feeling enslaved by your job or
business, focus on what you really want and learn to
manage yourself effectively so that you can accomplish
more without sacrificing precious time. You’ll be
surprised just how easy it is, and making the decision to
fully embrace time management is the biggest step.
Look to books like Tim Ferriss’s The 4-Hour Work
Week and Spencer Johnson and Ken Blanchard’s The One
Minute Manager. Using time management in your daily
life is a journey; there are many skills to learn and habits
to build -- and they won’t all come immediately. However,
any time you feel discouraged or frustrated, focus on
what you want out of life, and you will be motivated to
make the necessary changes.
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