What would you do with $86,400?

Today’s motivation is about using up your deposits. I’m not sure who wrote this analogy, but I find it POWERFUL and it really gets the point across. Allow this to motivate you today!

Imagine there is a bank account that credits your account each morning with $86,400. What would you do with that money? It carries over no balance from day to day. Every evening the bank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. You can’t go to the ATM and just withdraw all of it out. You must slide a debit card in order to use the money. What would you do? I’m sure you would swipe that card until every penny of it is gone, wouldn’t you? I mean who wouldn’t, right?

Each of us have such a bank. It’s called TIME BANK. Every morning Time Bank credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night whatever amount of this you’ve failed to invest for a good purpose, it writes off as lost. There’s no carry-over balance and you can’t use the ATM. It allows no over draft. Each day there’s a new deposit for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours. You’re responsible for the loss.

There is no drawing against tomorrow. You can’t take out a loan. You can’t put it in a CD. You must live in the present on today’s deposit of time. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness, success and great relationships. You can’t just go to Time Bank and withdraw all of it out of the ATM; you have to use your debit card and put your time to good use. The clock is running!! Make the most of today. Don’t worry about tomorrow.

What are you doing today to get to the next level? Many people set goals and creates plans but they never put them into practical action steps. It’s not enough to plan; you must activate the plan by putting it into action. Otherwise, you’re just a good planner.

To realize the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who failed a grade.
To realize the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.
To realize the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realize the value of ONE HOUR, ask a wife who’s waiting to see her husband get off the plane coming home from Iraq.
To realize the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who just missed a train.
To realize the value of ONE SECOND, ask someone who just avoided an accident.
To realize the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal at the Olympics.

Treasure every moment that you have! And, treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with. And, remember time waits for no one! Every night Time Bank account deletes the deposit for today.

Don’t waste one second of your life. Ready? Set? GO!!!

5 Ways to Get the Most Out of 24hrs

Time is the one most valuable resources in business and more importantly, in life. Once time is gone, it’s gone; there’s no bringing it back. In today’s busy society, successfully managing time can seem to be a daunting task. With the full schedule you already have, it probably seems like more is added to your plate daily. Even though those things that come up are usually small, they also are usually unavoidable and could tremendously throw off your schedule. Well don’t fret because here are 5 tips and strategies that will help you successfully manage your time and get the most out of your day.

1) Realize that you’re always on the clock. One of the most important things in time management is realizing that you are always on the clock. You are always on it because the clock is always ticking. Realizing this will motivate you not to waste valuable time. Time lost is potentially money lost. The time you spend scrolling through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or watching TV, can be time you spend developing a new idea, maximizing on your gifts or perfecting your craft. There is absolutely no time to waste. And, by making a few changes to your schedule and lifestyle, you can successfully manage your time and maximize your day.

2) Write a to-do list. First, make a list of all of the things that you need to get done. Initially, don’t try to put them in any certain order. Just write them down to get them out of your head; because I’m sure it’s a lot of them. After you have them all written down, then go back and organize them from most important to least important. Using a numbered list usually works best. If you’re on a computer, you can just move them around using copy and paste.

Here are a few apps and software that will help:
ToDoIst – This is a task management software. You can create to-do lists and give tasks due dates. You can incorporate it with Google Calendar and use the mobile app to manage tasks on the go.
Teamworkpm – This is a project management software that allows you to manage projects, team, clients, to-do lists and track time.
Google Calendar – Keep up with events, meetings and consultations with Google Calendar. Of course it integrates and synchs across all of your devices (iPhone, iPad and Mac computer). It also has a task list, but it’s very basic.
iOS Reminders – Quickly set timely reminders with iOS Reminders app. It also has location-based reminders that can reminder you to do something when you leave or arrive at a specific location.

3) Stick to the plan. After you’ve written your to-do list, you’ve automatically created a plan of action. Having a plan will definitely help you manage your time. If you don’t plan to do something, it will never get done. You can’t expect things to get done without putting them in some type of organized plan. Things don’t just happen, they must be planned. Planning is essential in successful time management. If you don’t have a plan, then you don’t know what you’re going to do. But, when you do have a plan, you actually predict the future. You know what’s going to happen, how it’s going to happen and more than likely, when it’s going to happen.

However, don’t get so caught up in your plan that you don’t leave time for accidentals. There’s always going to be something that comes up that’s not on the list. There will always be something or someone to break your flow and throw you off track. So, you have to be flexible enough to handle that. Don’t come undone at the seams. Keep it together and stay focused. Which brings up the next point: the most important thing about a plan is staying focused and sticking to it.

4) Stay focused. You must remained focused on the task at hand to manage your time successfully. Things that aren’t on your list will come up; that’s inevitable. But when it does, determine if it’s important enough to break away from your list to complete. If it’s not, then put on the bottom of the list and re-organize it later. Working on tasks that aren’t on your list is one of the most time-wasting, time-consuming pitfalls that everyone falls into. If need be, turn off your phone, lock your office door or shut off all outside communications. Do whatever you need to do in order to remain focused. Sometimes you have to tell yourself that. Stay focused! Whispering to yourself may sound a little weird or off-pudding, but it actually helps.

5) Pick up where you leave off. The reality is, you’re not going to finish everything on your list, every time. You may not get done with the entire list in one day, and that’s okay. Just pick up tomorrow where you leave off today. But, be sure to organize your to-do list again since you’ve completed some tasks and possibly added others.

Don’t pressure yourself to get everything done in one day. Most people don’t get everything done in one day; especially if your list is long or the things on your list take a long time to complete. Do you know what happens when you pressure yourself? Two things happen. 1.) You tend to loose focus and 2.) you get in a rush. And, we all know what happens when you rush. Things get out of order, work doesn’t get done or get done incorrectly; and that’s just a bad situation altogether. That’s why it is so vital for you to write your to-do list in order of importance; this way, you know at least the important stuff gets done early.

If you have any time management tips or strategies, leave them in the comments section below.