Ten Tips to master self management

Managing yourself as a person can be a taxing job. It is certainly one that I have let slip for a while. In fact if I was employing myself I would sack myself. A lot of people do not put enough time into managing themselves and sometimes it is very clear when you see some people that they pay no attention to themselves what so ever. I must admit that I have noticed a lot of small things lately, not just about myself but about people I see everyday and people I interact with over a weekThis got me thinking about myself and areas that I feel need some attention in terms of how I handle myself and how I conduct my life. I have decided there are ten areas I should concentrate on or ten areas I should practice to better my self management. Those are as follows:

1 – Have control of what I say and how I say it. I do not know about you but I sometimes say something to someone without actually thinking about what I am saying and why I am saying it. A lot of thought should be given to what you are going to say to someone. For instance, will it upset them? Is your tone of voice correct for what you are saying? Are you coming across to harsh for the point you want to make? I certainly should be more conscious of what I say and how I say it.

2 – Do not lose yourself control in anger or temper. This is not too much of an issue for me because I do not generally lose my temper in a situation. I am quite restrained and laid back when I am in a difficult situation. If I feel that things are getting out of control I sit back and think things through and look for ways to resolve a situation without the need to turn to anger..

3 – Always do the job you hate first. I know this but I do not always employ it. It makes perfect sense to do the job you hate first. Why? Because once you have done it you can get on to the jobs you enjoy doing and be more positive about them. Let’s face it, if you leave the job you hate till last you have nothing to look forward to and you will probably prolong the amount of time you spend doing the jobs you love to do which in turn decreases your productivity levels.

4 – Reward yourself. When you achieve one of your goals, reward yourself. For instance, if your goal is to lose ten pounds in weight and you achieve it, reward yourself. By yourself something nice, some new clothes or something that gives you a feel good factor. I am not saying go out and spend all of your money every time you achieve something, I am just saying give yourself something you deserve for sticking to you guns and achieving what you set to achieve.

5 – Use a time management system.This could be a diary, a wall calendar, a day by day planner, your mobile phone. Anything you can use to plan your time accordingly. I have been using a Filofax to write down everything I need to achieve in a day. The only problem is I find it a burden to carry around with me. I may look at changing my phone for something that incorporates some time management software. Let’s face it your phone goes everywhere with you, and it fits in your pocket. You should find something that you are happy using and something that will help manage your time as efficiently as possible.

6 – Keep yourself fit and healthy. I have found that when I exercise and eat well I feel more alert and more upbeat about things. When I am not in good shape I feel lethargic, sluggish and negative about things. So really staying fit is a good way to focus your mind and can lead to a more productive and enjoyable life.

7 – Do not over indulge. It is good to indulge in things sometimes. I mean you work hard, you earn your money, so why not? Well sometimes we indulge in things too much, whether it is food, shopping or just something we have to have. This is when we have to stop ourselves. Indulging to much can lead to bad habits or unwanted problems. As an example, if you are on a diet, you stick to it for a while; you treat yourself for being good. This is ok, but then we do it more often and eat more of what we reward ourselves. Then we end up putting more weight on and before you know it you have lost sight of your goal. Enjoy your life, treat yourself but be firm with yourself and manage yourself.

8 – Say positive statements to yourself. Tell yourself something positive everyday. Something like “I have tremendous will power”. Say it in your mind it in front of a mirror. The more you say it the more you believe it. When you start to believe it you will see great results in different areas of your life. It is amazing what this can do for you.

9 – Do not procrastinate. That’s a big word; I almost had to check the dictionary on how to spell it. Do you procrastinate? I know I do sometimes and it is one bad habit I want to eliminate from my life. Procrastination is delaying something, putting it off until later and just behaviour that is considered to be counter productive. It is really just being lazy. I am certainly going to check how productive I am with my time and remove elements that are adding to my procrastination. “Every minute spent procrastinating is a minute of life wasted”

10 – Believe in yourself. Seriously, if you do not believe in yourself, who else do you think is going to? That’s right, nobody. We only truly have ourselves in life and believing in ourselves is a major part of leading a fulfilling life. It helps us stay positive and strengthens our belief in our ability to achieve things. I consider myself to be pretty confident in most areas in my life but there are areas that need to be worked on. I will be addressing those areas soon and you can be sure I will believe in myself a lot more.

Mastering self management is not really hard if you put these ten simple steps into place in your daily life. After a couple of weeks you will most likely find you will start to do it without thinking about it and that is a big positive step in the right direction. Thank you for reading.

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