Maximizing Leisure Time

Maximizing Leisure TimeDo you ever find yourself so focused on your professional goals that you just feel burned out? This happens to me frequently, despite my best efforts to plan and schedule things effectively. Let’s face it: there really is a lot to do and time is at a premium.

I sometimes find with my writing that I’ll be on a roll for a while and then get stuck. When this happens, I step back and do something else. Ideally, the activity meets the following criteria:

  1. It helps me meet another one of my goals.

To Do Lists Are Useless

To Do Lists Are UselessTo do lists really are useless. The remind me of the pile of junk mail on my desk — they keep growing and growing until I finally get frustrated and just wipe it out. Throughout the years I’ve experimented with various type of to do lists: paper based, electronic and I even created several types of my own. But I’ve found a tool that’s been around a lot longer that works much more effectively: the calendar.

Are You Present?

Living in the present is much easier said than done. Ever been in a meeting but your mind is drifting elsewhere? Perhaps you’re thinking of a conversation you had right before your meeting or you’re planning out the rest of your day. It’s amazing how so many of us spend our days at work thinking about our next vacation yet when we’re actually on vacation, we spend so much time worrying about work.