Master time management thinking. Master money management thinking. Learn what Tony Robbins has to say about both time and money management to achieve your ultimate goals. The original version of this article was published by TonyRobbins.com, helping you discover how to achieve massive success and long-lasting fulfillment. Ultimately, an extraordinary life = life on your terms.
Contents
Achieving More in Less
We must master time and money management thinking in order to take control of the flow and rhythm of our daily lives, instead of feeling bound by our commitments and responsibilities.
Do you want to live out the hours of your life and just get by? Or maximize every single minute and use time to your advantage, working toward your ultimate goals?
Why is time and money management important? With great time and money management, you can experience the joy of achievement, instead of wallowing in the regrets of “what I didn’t do.” As John Wooden, legendary former coach of The University of California, Los Angeles, basketball team, said in an interview with Tony Robbins.
“Failure is not doing the things you know you should have done. Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.” ~John Wooden, coaching legend from UCLA
Accomplishing the Right Goals
Time and money management is not just the ability to effectively accomplish your goals by planning and controlling how you spend the hours in your day and your pay check. Effective time and money management goes far deeper than that and speaks to a fundamental source of inner potential. It is a way of transforming the way you think so that you can consistently and sustainably use the time you have to create what truly matters the most to you.
Transforming your thinking with high-level time management means giving yourself the ability to accomplish all of your goals and dreams that have been sitting on the back burner, waiting for the day when you finally have more time. The truth is that you don’t need more time. Rather, you need to clarify your personal and professional goals and make better use of the time you already have by focusing on the outcomes that bring you the most value.
Advanced time management thinking is also related to highly developed self-control and crucial life skills:
- Setting goals
- Planning for the future
- Auditing your time to see how you spend it
- Analyzing your progress and prioritizing tasks
The loftiest ambitions are possible, but only when you have the right mindset, a concrete plan and a practical system for results to go along with your dreams and enthusiasm.
If you’re not getting what you want from life, and if you don’t feel the fulfillment that comes with achieving the things you truly desire, then it’s time to consider taking a fresh look at the way you think the importance of time management.
The Power of Time and Money Management
Time is actually a lot like money. We all wish we had unlimited money, but we don’t. That’s why we go to work every day to make more of it. There’s always more stuff to buy and bills to pay, so you have to work every day in order to earn money to fund all the necessities and comforts that help you maintain your standard of living. Knowing that there are limits to what we can afford, we ration our money toward what earns us the most value and sacrifice the items that matter little to us. That’s why you put money into savings and investments, rather than spend it on that brand new car you’ve been lusting over. It’s why we spend money on our kids instead of on ourselves – money is a limited resource, so it needs to be used wisely.
Both time and money are scarce. It should be spent in accordance with the goals and dreams that you value the most. If you spend your time and money wisely, you’ll achieve an amazing state of fulfillment, where not only are you achieving your outcomes but you’re also satisfied with your life and your role within it.
Assessing Productivity the Right Way
Focus is key to understanding the importance of time and money management.
What does this mean? Your brain is like a laser-guided missile. Focus on the outcomes – the specific results – that you want to accomplish and meeting them will suddenly become much, much easier. The how and when are secondary to clarifying and focusing on what you want and why, because once you concretely understand the value of the different things you desire your brain will start to pave a path toward meeting that outcome.
To put the power of focus and clarity into perspective, consider the difference between movement and achievement. Both involve you moving forward, in some sense, right? What sets achievement apart from movement is the fulfillment that comes with knowing that you’re moving towards the outcomes that really matter to you, rather than simply trudging forward for movement’s sake. Having an explicit target to aim for and clear criteria for success can help propel you forward toward that liberating feeling of success.
Empowering You to Do More with Less
Once you know what you want to accomplish, have a means of measuring your success and have the internal motivation to make your dreams a reality, it’s time to get serious about time and money management. What if there are many things you want to achieve? What if your most highly valued outcomes require meeting other goals first? Sometimes we have too much to do and other times the one thing we have on our plate has so many moving parts that we get frustrated and avoid working toward it altogether. This is where time and money management skills come into play.
Chunking is a method for packaging all of this information into ideally-sized blocks, or ‘chunks.’ By getting all of your ideas down on paper, you can start to organize your outcomes according to commonalities, like those that relate to your finances and those which have to do with your relationships at home or at work. By focusing on these groups of outcomes, or results, you’ll be able to more efficiently distribute your time and you’ll feel the motivation that comes out of focusing on what matters, which is the value of what you’re working toward.
It’s amazing how much more efficiently we use our time when we know exactly what we’re hoping to achieve. Rather than spending an hour stuck in traffic every day listening to the same old songs, you might instead listen to audio or podcasts for work or self-development. Instead of exercising and unplugging your mind when on the treadmill, you might read, watch or listen to self-development resources. Instead of zoning out while you are in the kitchen, you might also use that time to learn whatever information you need to get that much closer to your desired outcomes. When you achieve clarity and focus, you’ll find the time you need to make your dreams a reality because you’ll be propelled by a motivation and passion that you weren’t even aware of before.
Remember, it’s not about the number of hours you have. It’s about using the hours you do have to maximize value.
Everybody Needs a Little “Me” Time
As long as you interpret time management as a tool to connect your desired outcomes and the time available to you, free time isn’t necessarily “wasted time” anymore and may turn out to be much, much more productive than what you were doing before.
The time that you spend with your partner with your kids or even the time you spend alone produces real, tangible value. Suppose that you’re spending a weekend with your partner in a small cabin out in the woods, giving each other the undivided attention you seek from each other. Now imagine that your mobile is ringing every 30 minutes while you’re trying to relax and strengthen your relationship with your loved one. Imagine if you answered those calls. How disruptive would that be? Incredibly disruptive, of course. How much value are you really getting from that? Despite the urge to pick up the phone and see if you’re missing out on something important, by choosing to dedicate some time to connect with your loved one, you’ll be able to get that fulfillment that you’ll otherwise be distracted from if you lose focus on what matters.
Don’t be afraid of using time for things other than work and self-improvement in the material sense. What really matters is what is important to you and, if that’s your relationship with your family or your health, let those outcomes be the ones that you allot time toward.
Stress Relief and Health Improvement
Time/money management and stress are linked. This means the better you are at managing your time and money, the less stress you’ll feel and the healthier you’ll be as a result. You’ll also feel more confident and optimistic when you’re more organized and in tune with your goals.
When you don’t have clarity on what you’re working toward, there’s an inherent lack of the flame of passion within you. What happens is that you start to dread what you’re working on, and you put it off or you’re driven purely by deadlines. This can create a lot of stress, which oftentimes manifests emotionally before it does physically. First, you’ll be frustrated, sad and maybe even purposeless. Then, you’ll feel a lack of energy and you may experience headaches, other pain and twitches. The stress that comes with poor time and money management can be incredibly damaging to your well-being and self-esteem, but the right time and money management system can help shift you to a better quality of life.
When your desired outcomes are clear in your mind and you’re invested in them, then you start to be driven by passion and your internal energy. Rather than feeling overwhelmed and out of control, once you integrate time and money management skills into your life you’ll experience life in the driver’s seat, fueled by the excitement and thrill that stems from knowing where you’re headed and why.
More Resources for Self Development
Time and money management thinking gives you the gift to have more resources available to improve your other skills. Sharpening how you manage projects allows you to improve your ability to make better decisions as you chunk your time and prioritize tasks. You learn to take your time and make calm, measured decisions based on value rather than last minute, panicked choices. You’ll also learn assertiveness as you delegate and say no to commitments, patience as you manage your goals, persistence as you complete your tasks, and self-discipline as you follow through on your plans.
Do you want to live your life with the passion that comes with having certainty in the direction you’re moving? With the right time and money management skills, you can learn what will transform your career, you can get fulfillment out of your relationships with your friends and loved ones and turn your project goals into realities.
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