Poor time management thinking and action can undermine your best efforts. If you want to manage your time more effectively, start thinking about time management differently. You can begin to change your time management mindset by dispelling these 5 common time management lies.

Time Management Lie One - Time Management

That’s right… time management itself. What a big fantasy. In reality you can’t manage time. Everyday you receive 24 hours. You can’t add more nor do you get any less time. Erase time management from your brain and start thinking outside the clock. You want to organize the clock to fit your needs.

Sometimes the words time management can create mental blocks especially if you tried some type of time management in the past. Look at the meaning of the word manage: handle, deal with, control, cope, get by, make do, survive and direct. Now look at the word organize: put in order, sort out, arrange and systematize.

Which you prefer to do? Organize and arrange your time or deal with and cope with it?

I know I use the word time management, but that’s how people find us on the search engines. They think they have a time management problem. In reality it’s an activity problem. One of the first things I do when working with a client is shift their mindset from time management to "Thinking Outside the Clock" with organizing their time.

Time Management Lie Two - Working Harder

There is a rumor going around that if just work harder you can get more done. This same rumor perpetrates that hard work leads to wealth. The truth of the matter, if working harder supplied the answer, why do so many of us remain constantly busy but get very little done?

Time management operates on the philosophy of trying to cram more and more stuff into your calendar. You end up working harder trying to get everything done.

When my mentor told me to start working less, I thought her brain left her body. Imagine my surprise to discover that I didn’t need to work harder, faster, and put in long hours. I actually got more done working fewer hours.

Learn to use your time wisely. You will become more efficient and accomplish more without working harder.

Time Management Lie Three - Planning Take Too Much Time

Since time management myth two encourages you to work hard, long hours to get things done, it seems logical that planning would waste time. Wouldn’t you save time and get finished sooner if you just dove in and got started?

Studies show you get finish faster when you plan ahead. Planning ahead will allow you to stay on top of the situation! The 20-30 minutes you used to plan will not only save you time but money, worry and aggravation.

When you make planning part of your time management strategy, you begin with a good start. You won’t find it necessary to stop in the middle to get what you need, you get a better sense of how long something will take to complete and you can block your time accordingly.

Time Management Lie Four - Keep a To Do List

A To Do List by itself doesn’t accomplish anything. It simply reminds you of what you still need to do. It never ends. It probably grows longer and longer each day. The To Do List often turns out to be nothing more than a list of random intentional tasks.

The To Do List doesn’t allow flexibility in dealing with interruptions or how long it will take to complete the task.

The To Do List can undermine your self-confidence. You feel guilty when you can’t cross everything off your list at the end of the day. Traditional Time Management provides a solution to that problem; just move everything you didn’t accomplish to the next day’s list. Like that really helps.

When used correctly, the dreaded "To Do" list can turn into a highly effective time management tool.

Time Management Lie Five - You Need a "Time Planner" to Manage Your Time.

I receive this question quite often "What’s the best planner to use to manage my time?" The answer: The one that works best with your personality. What a cop out right?

Let’s go back to Time Management lie One. Remember you can’t manage your time. You get 24 hours and the end of the day it’s gone. And if God decides to give you another day, you will wake up with another 24 hours.

A Time Planner is used to organize what you do with your time. You either waste it or wisely use it. The true purpose of a planner aids you in using your time more wisely by organizing your activities.

It doesn’t matter if you use Outlook®, Palm® Pilot, Day Runner®, Franklin-Covey®, Planner Pad® or any of the other numerous band names out there or a legal pad of paper.

Time organizing begins with altering your mindset about the way you view time in general. Put time to work for you by applying Thinking Outside the Clock™ techniques. A great place to start begins with dispelling these time management myths from your life is with our complimentary eCourse… 10 Time Management Strategies to Gain Control Over Your Day and Profits.

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Who couldn’t use some time management tips in dealing with email. Email can drain your time and productivity. But if you’re an email junkie, you may need more than time management tips to gain control.

• Do you check your email first thing in the morning before doing anything else and make your cup of coffee while it’s downloading?
• It is the last thing you do before going to bed?
• Do you check you email at least a thousand times during the day?
• When you hear the words, "You Got Mail" does your heart flutter and your adrenaline gets going?
• Do you sign-up for every ezine, report, mini-course but rarely read them?
• If you don’t check your email for one day does it send you into a panic?
• Is some of your email growing mold because it’s been in your inbox too long?

Okay let’s face it… email is addicting…boy does it pile up fast! If all that email in your inbox was in paper format, you could probably create a stack high enough to climb to the moon.

Email is both and blessing and a curse. So how do deal with email effectively?"

Try These 5 Strategies to Help You Gain Control Over Your Inbox and Increase Your Productivity

Close Your Email.

Don’t have your email open all day. Close it. You won’t be tempted to stop what you are doing when you hear those 3 words, "You Got Mail" or your "new mail" alert. For the Junkie this is hard. But believe me, you’ll survive.

Dedicated Email Time

Set aside designated time slots to open and answer email. I set aside 3 half hour blocks during the day to deal with email. Some days I need the full one and half hours, other days I don’t. I’ll use that extra time to clean out email.

Use Folders

Create individual ones for your ezines, mini courses etc. Configure the filters so these items will automatically download into their folder. Your urgent message are more noticeable since they aren’t mixed in with the your subscriptions.

Going Beyond Folders

I love Gmail and Thunderbird. Thunderbird can manage multiple e-mail and supports multiple identities within the accounts. Using Gmaill, I created email accounts for my coaches, social networking, receipts, membership sites, ezines etc. In Thunderbird, I get the choice to either make an email account part of the default email or individual. By choosing individually, each email account is listed separate in Thunderbird menu. I can configure each email account to my preferences.

Now I don’t need to download all my email to view new messages in the "priority" accounts or reply. The latest edition of Thunderbird automatically configures your Gmail accounts. I found this approach saves me a ton of time.

Use a Spam Filter Software

I like Mailwasher, that gives you control over which email to receive. This software lets you preview the messages while they are still on the server. It also marks potential spam and blacklisted email. Just by looking at email addresses you can determine friend or foe and delete from the server without ever downloading it.

I discovered this was a great way to preview friendly mail before downloading it. Many times I was able to obtain the information needed without downloading and opening it in my email box. This is has been a big time saver and helps keep the email down in the inbox. http://www.mailwasher.net

Good news: You can become a reformed email junkie using these tips.

What time management strategies work for you when it comes to email? Why not share them in the comment box below.

Did you miss the 5 Secrets to Getting Out of Overwhelm Interview with Morgana Rae interviewing me?

The replay is below. Listen with plenty of paper and pencil

@KReschke: I loved your webinar today - Groundhog day is one of my fav films too

Marge Carter:
Your conference call 5 Secrrets of Getting Out of overwhelmed yesterday was fabulous.

IMPORTANT: At the end of the call I offer a limited number of complimentary time strategy sessions. Your personal time strategy session helps you discover your unique best strategy for your biggest time challenges and get control over your day. There are only 4 sessions left. Reserve yours today. http://howtocontrolyourday.com/session

Due to a major problem with event confirmation emails arriving 24 hours after the event… I’m doing this telecall again…but even better… Morgana Rae - "The Money Magnet Coach" is interviewing me for this TeleCall…

Rumor has it she’s really good at pulling out "hidden" secrets… good chance you’ll walk away with even more secrets.

Tired of "Too Much To Do"?

Feel Like You Never Get Caught Up?

Not Getting Big Projects Done?

Juggling Between Family, Friends and Business Time Leaves You Feel Exhausted?

Procrastination Takes Over More Then You Would Like?

Discover 5 Secrets You Can Use Now to Get Yourself Out of Overwhelm

• How to deal with too much to do
• Controlling interruptions and distractions
• A trick to stay focused
• Simple way to prioritize
• Enjoying "Me" time without guilt

EVENT: 5 Secrets to Getting Out of Overwhelm
DATE & TIME: Join me this Monday Sept 15 at 2:30pm Eastern Time
11:30am PT / 12:30pm MT / 1:30pm CT / 2:30pm ET
FORMAT: Simulcast! Attend via Phone or Webcast — It’s your Choice

"Feel Like You Never Get Caught Up?

"Feel Like You’re in the "Too Much To Do" syndrome?

Does "Me" time feel like a forgein country?

What are you doing Friday Sept 12 at noon (EDT)?

Get some answers to your burning time questions.

Melody Campbell " The Small Business Guru" is interviewing me on her very popular Get More Business Internet Radio show.

www.blogtalkradio.com/getmorebusiness

Entrepreneurs wear so many hats… especially the solo business owner. Our days tend to be one endless task after another. We all start our businesses for a variety of reasons:

• Wanting to working from home,
• Set your own timetable
• Spend time with family and friends
• Knowing that the hard work you do is for your own company
• Quit climbing the so-called corporate ladder

It all comes down to lifestyle and often our jobs couldn’t or wouldn’t deliver the that lifestyle.

But somewhere along the line….you end up with a to-do list a mile long that never seems to get any shorter, no matter how many soccer games or nights-out-with-friends you miss No matter how hard you work, how many hours you put in, you never seen to get ahead.

Your business never seems to grow past a certain point and yet you can never quite seem to get a handle on that.

The reality hits you… your business is supposed to give you a life, not take it away and you are knee deep… neck deep or perhaps even over your head deep in the "Multiplicity of Stuff Syndrome."

If the above sounds like you, you’ll enjoy our new free eCourse "10 Time Strategies to Control Your Day and Profits."

There are 5 symptoms of being trapped in the "Multiplicity of Stuff Syndrome" and you’ll discover what they are and how to relieve them and get control back over your day. Sign up for the course at http://HowtoControlYourDay.com

When you sign up this fr~ee eCourse, you receive several bonuses:

• The 15 Minute Communique Weekly Digest delivered to your inbox on Friday sharing more strategies and tips on getting control over day.
• The Flip Your Time Personal Time Assessment to reveal your 3 biggest Time Challenges
• And you may even qualify for a free one-on-one strategy session with me… Ann Rusnak, The Time Diva

Take back control of your day with the "10 Time Strategies to Control Your Day and Profits" eCourse. http://HowtoControlYourDay.com

Twippin’ wid da Time Diva!
Time Strategy Tips Twitter style in 140 seconds or less.

Time Twips Video -2. Studies show we loose an hour and half each day due to a messy desk. This Time Twip will show you to gain it back instantly. If you give it a try, I would love to hear about it.

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The other day I made this comment on Twitter: "Why can’t product creation be like microwave popcorn… done in 2 minutes." Apparently many others were feeling the same pain.

How would you respond? Entrepreneurs are rarely lost for product ideas…. no wonder turning all our ideas into products in 2 minutes appealed to many people.

@AmyMiyamoto made this comment: "Yes,yes, I totally concur.. wouldn’t that be just a grand windfall? Just think of how many you could produce in a day?! ;)"

Nothing wrong with Amy’s comment. She responded the way most people do when given the opportunity to reduce the time do something. It’s not her fault. We’re conditioned to think this way when some new technology comes along promising to increase productivity and efficiency and free up our time.

I proposed Amy look at it slightly different… to Think Outside the Clock… Instead of looking at how many products she could produce in a day… but rather how much time it would free up for her to enjoy or do other things in life.

Amy replied " it’s an excellent way to look at it."

Technology originally was suppose free people from the pressure of the clock to perform at breakneck speeds. Increase the leisure time to enjoy time with friends and family, doing things you enjoy and even working fewer hours. Yet some how technology didn’t deliver the promise of more leisure time but instead often keeps you working at frantic pace.

Don’t blame technology… Blame Time Management mentality. It’s the mentality of doing more and more and cramming as much as possible into your day.

There is still nothing wrong with Amy’s response. With a different mindset about time, Amy can consciously choice how to use the "Microwave Product" Technology. She can crank out many products in a day or finish a product in 2 minutes and enjoy the rest of the day.

If you want to discover the "Thinking Outside the Clock" mindset, try our free online class "10 Time Strategies to Gain More Time and Profits at moretimenow.com

PS.
Amy’s a pretty cool tweeter, so if your on twitter, start following her. http://twitter.com/amymiyamoto

What is Super Focus Mode?

I recently twittered I’m about to go into Super Focus Mode. @CindyMorus asked if I could tell her about Super Focus Mode. Here we go with the official launch of "Flip Your Time Quick Time Twips."

Time Strategy Tips Twitter style in 140 seconds or less. Enjoy the video about Super Focus Mode. If you give it a try, I would love to hear about it.

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The Art of Time Blocking can bring control and balance in your life.

What exactly is time blocking?

You allocate designated 15 minute time blocks for specific activities or tasks throughout your day. During that time block, you stay 100% super focused on the task at hand. No multitasking.

The most I can stay focused is 3 time blocks or 45 minutes. Since this time requires high concentration, I schedule these blocks during my peak energy times. Each day will consist of 2-3 super focused zones of high profit activities. This is one of the best time management strategies my mentor Margaret shared with me.

When one of my clients applied this strategy, he was amazed at what he got accomplished. He increased his productivity by 33% not to mention his income too.

Always set your timer when entering a super focus time block. Using a timer keeps you more focused and deters you from engaging in multitasking. You may find it difficult to stay 100% for 15 minutes, especially if you fancy yourself an expert multitasker.

If you desire to complete a project, try time blocking over the next 5-7 days. Stay 100% focused on the activities for the project. Share how much you actually got completed.

I’ll bet you’ll astonish yourself.