Is your past weigh too much on your soul? I often ask this question to myself and to people who show symptoms of regret and guilt. On other side, sometimes I find people too much obsessed with their dreams that they don’t value the importance of today. There are so much simple pleasures of life that needs to be experienced today else they would not be there ever again.  The irony is that most of us don’t realize the difference between things that we lose forever than the things we stand to gain anytime in our life. Money makes us poor but we always stand a chance to be rich again in life. But time lost today would take away important part from our age that we won’t ever get again. Considering this, does it make sense to lose time on things that are not under our control and to lose the joy of living in today?

It is better to start living in now and enjoy what we have than to make them part our regret list for tomorrow. How many times you have thought of things and then regretted losing precious time just because they were unimportant or something that could have been solved with little effort. Nothing can be more precious than Now because it holds a supreme power to mend the problems of past and resolutions of future.

Let’s talk more deeply about Past and Future and see how Living in Now holds the key to realize the importance of life. I will try illustrating it with examples so that the idea becomes more effective.

The Past- I have always believed that human being is emotional fool and it is these emotions that weigh too much on their soul. Situation becomes more serious when their past starts to affect their present. We do commit mistakes because they are very much part of human life. But then we tend to live with those mistakes just because our ego doesn’t let us do things that make life simpler for us. Two best friends may have fought in the past and may completely realize their mistakes. Everyday they try to avoid each other and may live with the pain of losing the best part of their life. But their ego won’t allow them to befriend again and in process they kill their now.

In another example, one of my friends lost his mother in an accident while he was driving the car. The incident weigh too much on his soul that he has withdrawn himself from everyday life. Some mis-happenings are beyond our control and they are more of the will of God than our own mistakes. Something’s are too precious and the loss makes us helpless. Unfortunately these are very much part of our life and have a deep impact on our psychology.

The Future- Each one of us want to be something in our lives. Yes it is all about human growth to reach where we have set ourselves for. But situation becomes little different when we dream much more than effort we put to achieve those dreams. There is always tomorrow and general habit is to postpone it for later. This happens particularly with our long term goals. And when we don’t get what we always want in our life, it reflects in our Now. Excessive day dreaming and no subsequent actions make us slave that kills the very essence of our being in this world.

Living in Now- You can live in now only when you don’t carry the weigh of your past and have vision for your future. Today is too precious to be missed and each missed minute won’t be there for you ever again in future.

The solution of past lies in Acceptance- Accept things on their face value and learn to admit them. Take an initiative to fix what has been broken. Do your best to remove what you can to best of your effort. Beyond that if something is not in your control than you need not worry about it. Mend it in future, if you can, or accept it as learning for life. That is it. Close the chapter and move on. Life is too big and you have only one of it. All you need to make sure is not to repeat same mistakes in future from what you have learnt in the past. On other end, some things in life are will of God and are written in prescribed way. There is nothing that can be done about it except that we accept them and make them part of our life the way it is. Once you have done that it is the time to move on.

The solution for future lies in planning and execution- There is no harm in dreaming but if dreams are not made reality then they lose their vary meaning. It is in now lay the strength to change our future than waste precious time dreaming about it. The essence lies in working hard towards our goal and making them real through proper planning and execution. Plan for future, work towards it and you would get what you have set yourself for. Achieving your goals makes sure we don’t regret the failures that eventually becomes part of our past.

There are simple pleasures of life that need to be experienced right now right here. You miss them and you miss them for life. What is the point in working hard in your job when you miss the childhood of you’re your children. What is the point in earning so much when you don’t know how to spend it. No matter how much you earn today, you would never be satisfied with it. I would never say that one should not earn more or work towards it but what we should not miss the everyday joy that makes up our lives. Plan your day, plan you hours and do everything that makes you productive.  Spend the time in things that brings you joy. There are things that bring you peace and there are things that need to be done for living. The essence is to bring a balance and not miss the precious moments of lives. Considering you have small time left to enjoy things you love, it is important not to waste them over things which are not important. Better start living in now and the only way to do it is to shed the past, plan for future, and enjoy your today.

Get a Life. Get Going.

Photo Credit- swanky

If you have read one of our previous posts ‘Importance of Time Management: Get Your Basics Right’, then probably you are better prepared to challenge the ticking clock. There is deluge of literature related to time management and almost every other person seems to be equipped with ‘techniques’ to get more out of your twenty four hours.

However, when it comes to actual application and utilisation of these theories and techniques, no one is sailing smooth. This is so basically because they have their basics wrong and approach confused. It is this need lays the importance of using the effective approach for learning time management skills.

Those who corrected their basics by reading our last post will certainly benefit from this one as it tries to clear your approach. Get rid of all confusing theories from your mind.  Do not dread about time management. It comes easily to everyone if we seek resort to our common sense. How? Here it is.

1. Keep your Mind Clear: This is the first and foremost of all requirements. There is so much of hullaballoo raised over time management that we tend to get confused and not guided by it. 

So, first of all, clear the clutter. Keep the blackboard of your mind blank as far as possible, so that whenever you decide to pick up some task, it can be clearly ‘written’ on it. Once the task is clearly defined, it can be easily understood and that creates the scope for thinking over it. It will become easy for you to allocate available time accordingly.

2. Keep your Goals in Mind: If you are spending time on anything that is not taking you towards your goals, then you are wandering and wasting your time. Of course, do have your share of fun. But just a bout is sufficient and this recreational activity itself should not become time consuming.

You shall never lose sight of your goals. Your energy and time shall be always directed towards the goal. This will help you in deciding your priorities. Goals present an important step in understanding the effective approach for learning time management skills.

3. Decide your Priorities: Our life is a clamour of unending demands of all dimensions coming from all directions. We must be able to distinguish sound from the noise. It must be clear to us as to what we must pay attention and what to neglect.

Family, health, finance, career, society, business… your priority could be anything. But once you know your priority, it becomes clear as to what needs to be catered to first. This clarity and priority will tell you which job is important and for which needs more of your time.  

4. Delegate or Seek Help:  It is absolutely non-sense to try doing all of your jobs by yourself and end up short of time. You can sort out many tasks from your routine, which can be delegated to someone. There may be many of your own people who do it as a favour, and there may be other who does it for money. But if the resultant is saving your valuable time, you shall not mind paying for it.

Do tie up with people and friends for this. There are certain jobs that everybody needs to do. Share those together and delegate one kind of job to one person. This shall save plenty of time for everyone. It is important to expand out than relying on yourself alone to make learning time management skills effective.

5. Use Technology: In our fast paced world, technology is certainly a boon. Do not feel overpowered, but rather get empowered by it. Thanks to technology, especially in the field of communication, most of our jobs can be done over a telephone or internet. Payment of bills, booking tickets, buying items, seeking information, applications, grievances… everything can be done through internet or telephone. These activities, though important, often consume much of our valuable time.

Identify the areas of your life where technology can share and salt away your burden. This will provide you with extra hours in hand to cater for other important tasks.

Learning time management skills becomes more effective once you follow the approach listed above. So, put all complicated theories to rest. Put your common sense or ‘instincts’ to use. Do not get bogged down by the number of tasks. Your inner voice and common sense will help you segregate the trivial from the vital. Take simple decisions guided by common sense to untangle your life and clear channel for better time management.

Do look out at the same space for more tips and tools of time management coming your way.

Post By Sanjeev Raspaile

Photo Credit- ~I don't have a DSLR, but…

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