organise your time

2 Oct 2013 by Marcia Francois Leave a Comment

The most important time management question ever

I always remind people that if you remember nothing else about what I say, please remember this very important question:

What is the best use of my time right now?

That, right there, will keep you mostly on track.

I’m attaching a lovely print for you – save to your desktop, ipad, etc. to remind you throughout your day.

***************************

This month’s resource

Organise your time

***************************

The Organise your time system will walk you through some important mindset changes about the value of time, and also on which activities are worth doing yourself vs delegating or outsourcing.

Contrary to most time management experts, I don’t believe in multi-tasking and trying to cram as much as you can into your time; however, I do believe in choosing which activities are right for your life and making the time for those ones.

http://www.marciafrancois.com/products/i-need-more-time-e-course/

Of course there are tons of tips and tricks on how to maximise your time in all the important areas of life 🙂

If you could use a time makeover, then please take a look at the information page and see what you think.

http://www.marciafrancois.com/products/i-need-more-time-e-course/

I know this will help you!

17 Apr 2013 by Marcia Francois 2 Comments

Which is more Important? Time or Mo.ney?

I’ve said this before but I honestly feel time is much more important than mo.ney.

You can always make more mo.ney (in theory) but you can never recover lost time.

Last year when I flew to the USA, I was a bit conflicted between spending R3 500 extra for a direct flight to NYC or doing an extra leg via Heathrow, therefore taking longer but saving the mo.ney.

I eventually decided to fly direct because I wanted the extra two days with my kids.

Most time/ mo.ney decisions have a payoff – I realise that – but it’s up to us to decide which we value more.

***************************

This month’s resource

Organise your time

***************************

The Organise your time system will walk you through a mindset change on time/ mo.ney, but also on which activities are actually worth spending your time doing.

http://www.marciafrancois.com/products/i-need-more-time-e-course/

Of course there are tons of tips and tricks on how to maximise your time in all the important areas of life 🙂

If you could use a time makeover, then please take a look at the information page and see what you think.

http://www.marciafrancois.com/products/i-need-more-time-e-course/

I know this will help you!

Filed Under: Intentional living, Time management Tagged With: how to organise, organise, organise your time, time management, time or money

25 Feb 2013 by Marcia Francois 8 Comments

5 tips: Finding time while the kids are awake

I posted this pic on Instagram the other day when I was choosing our holiday pics for printing.

My other lovely friend, Roz, asked me how I find the time to do things for me while my kids are awake.

Here are my tips:

1. Lower your definition of success

I never count on doing substantial work/ play that will need huge amounts of focus while the kids are awake. Át 3.5 they’re still at the stage where they want to be very involved in everything and things can get out of hand fast. If I expect to get huge projects done while they’re awake, I’m just setting myself up for failure.

2. Use those 15 – 20 minute bits of time

I always have a list though – sometimes written, but definitely mental – of quick little projects I can do while my kids are awake. Some of those involve cooking, editing some photos (I can at least do a folder or two before they want attention), wrapping a birthday gift and writing out a card, organising a drawer or shelf, writing out my goals for the month ahead, and, of coures, reading.

3. Always have a loose plan

I’m going to blog more about Laura Vanderkam’s book, What the Most Successful People do on the weekend (highly recommend, by the way) but she talks a lot about anchor plans.

That’s not what I mean. I write a to-do list for myself every Friday night. Some of it is errands, some computer stuff like photos, blogging, and some are house stuff – decluttering, organising, any quick little project. I like to have at least 2 house things on my list so I have one for Sat afternoon and one for Sunday afternoon.

4. Set yourself up for success

Based on my list, I try and put out the things I’ll need so I don’t waste any of those precious minutes gathering instead of doing. Last weekend, I wrapped 5 gifts and attached gift cards in 20 minutes, purely because all the gifts were out and ready with the tape and gift wrap/ wrapping paper nearby.

Another thing I do to set myself up for success is to always have things ready to involve the children – paper to draw on in the kitchen while I cook, etc.

5. Don’t give up

Sometimes my plans don’t work out. I don’t throw it all out and say, “oh well, it’s useless”. I just try again another weekend. One of my favourite scriptures of all time in Lamentations 3:23 talks about how His mercies are new every morning. I like to think that’s a scripture for parents of toddlers because you have to constantly give yourself a pep talk and try again another day 🙂

What are your tips for finding time while your kids are awake?

Filed Under: Intentional living, Time management Tagged With: organise your time

11 Jan 2011 by Marcia Francois 2 Comments

The number 1 reason most people don’t achieve their goals

I am passionate about goals and goal-setting for the simple reason that if I didn’t set goals, I would have achieved little to nothing over the last 13 years.

Seriously.

People often wonder how I manage to get so much done from my life list.

The simple answer which is very short and sweet is that I set annual, monthly and weekly goals, and I work towards them.

That’s it – it’s not magic.

Do you know what is the number 1 reason most people don’t achieve their goals?

It’s not lack of motivation.

It’s not lack of willpower.

It’s not lack of planning ability.

It’s the inability to manage their time.

I get it.

How can you even think about writing your book/ going on a mission trip into Africa/ starting a home for pregnant teenaged girls when you’re rushing around the whole day just putting out fires?

Almost impossible.

If you don’t set out to manage your time and life with purpose and intention, chances are you’re going to stumble through life and keep wondering, “where did that year go?”

At this time of year I love blog browsing and reading all the wonderful dreams people have about being more present, living more fully and impacting others around them.

Can you tell I read lots of inspirational blogs?!

The sad thing is that after a few months these same people think these Big Dreams are merely flights of fancy or that they were silly to think that they could actually do it.

It’s not silly.

It just takes some work.

My challenge to you

1. Grab a piece of paper and jot down just 3 things you want to accomplish this year. Let’s keep our expectations low and take the pressure off.

2. Choose the ONE most important thing to you right now.

3. Create some time to work on just that one thing. I like to work with time blocks per week so that I don’t feel pressure on a daily basis. For example, you may say, “this week I’m going to spend two hours (which you can break down into 4 X 30-minute sessions) deciding on my next holiday and figuring out how long I want to stay there and how much it’s all going to cost”

4. This is the most important step – schedule the time in your planner and mark it as sacred, in other words, keep the appointment!

If you have no idea where you’re going to find time to do the thinking let alone the doing, have a look at the organize your time system.

And if you want a customized plan just for you, book a Success Strategy Session with me. These sessions pay for themselves around the 20-minute mark with all the ideas you get and then it’s free sailing after that 🙂