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I AM YOUR MASTER!
I can make you rise or fall. I can work for you or against you. I can make you a success or failure.
I control the way you feel and the way you act.
I can make you laugh…work…love. I can make your heart sing with joy…excitement…elation…
Or I can make you wretched…dejected…
morbid…
I can make you sick…listless…
I can be as a shackle…heavy...attached…
burdensome…
Or I can be as the prism’s hue…dancing…
bright…fleeting…lost forever unless captured by pen and purpose.
I can be nurtured and grown to be great and beautiful…seen by the eyes of others through action in you.
I can never be removed…only replaced.
I am a THOUGHT.
Adventures in Attitudes®Participant’s Guidebook©
Copyright 1995, Carlson Learning Company.
As one’s thinking is, such one becomes.
-- Philosopher Vedic Sanskrit
What are your “thoughts” about controlling your time? Psychologists have determined that on one extreme are the “internals.” These people believe that they can make a difference. They cannot control everything, but they believe they can have some charge over the things that happen to them. On the other side are the “externals.” The people who believe they are at the mercy of their surroundings. They don’t believe that they have any control or influence over what happens to them. They react to the demands from others. Which one are you?
In Viktor Von Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning, he says, “One’s ultimate Freedom is the ability to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.” Why not use your own thoughts to choose a better attitude about your control of time? The more you believe you can control, the more you will control.
In Stephen Covey’s book, First Things, First, he tells a story of a seminar leader who started with a large glass jar. He proceeded to put several large rocks into the jar, and asked the participants if the jar was full. They said, “Yes.” Then the leader put some gravel into the jar. “Is the jar full now?” The participants weren’t so confident this time with their affirmative answer. The leader then added sand to the jar and filled it to the top. “Now is the jar full?” Onto the leader’s plan, the participants said, “No.” The leader took a pitcher of water and filled the jar to the top.
What is the leader’s point? You can always fit more into your schedule? (i.e., There’s always room for Jell-O.) Noooo. If the leader hadn’t put the big rocks in first, there would have been no room for them after the gravel, sand and water had filled the jar, without displacing something.
What are the “big rocks” in your life? What is really important to you and your time use choices? (Family, Faith, Education, Career, Community Service, Health, etc.) Have you chosen to put them into your schedule first? Or, are you trying to fit them into a life full of less important activities?
Time management is really self-management. If time seems to be out of control, it may mean that we are out of control. You and I may never have enough time, yet we have all the time there is. The problem is not too little time, but how we use the time available to us. Choose wisely and put the “big rocks” into your schedule first. Then, fill in the rest with the less important.
Habits are the key to effective time management. Our time use “habits” are learned behavior and can be unlearned or changed. “Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
We usually act in ways that are consistent with our beliefs. To master your time, believe that you can. To get started, use the following:
- Identify a habit you want to change. Think about what you do, when you do it and why.
- Define the new habit you want. Collect information you may need to make the change and then visualize yourself in that new changed habit. Develop an action plan that is realistic for you, and get started.
- Begin the new behavior strongly. Tell as many people as you can about this new habit you want to practice. Set up a routine to help establish your new habit. Put up signs to remind you of the new behaviors.
- Never deviate from the behavior until the new habit is firmly established. It takes at least three weeks to establish a new habit. Practicing the new behaviors part-time will not end up changing behaviors. Consistency and persistence are the only way to develop new time use habits.
- Ask other people to help you change. Very few of us can make significant changes in our time management without the support of other people. Think carefully about who might be able to support you in these new behaviors. How will you ask them to help you? Focus on a few things at a time (no major time management overhauls!), and then when you have established some new habits, choose to develop a few more helpful time use habits for yourself.
When you choose a habit, you also choose the results of that habit.
– Zig Ziglar
SE HABLA ESPANOL.
Would you like to communicate better with your Spanish-speaking customers, co-workers and clients? WorkplaceSpanish® learning manuals include industry specific vocabulary and phrases, plus CDs to practice beyond the classroom. Christine can customize a training program and facilitate learning and practice at your location.
Public Workshops of Conversational Spanish and WorkplaceSpanish® for Healthcare are offered by The Kern Center at Terra Community College.
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Christine Schneider Smith
Certified Professional Consultant
CASS Enterprises
Management Consultants
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