Time Management

Peter Drucker was a time management consultant for successful businessmen in the mid 1900's. He had a system for helping businessmen control their time usage and take control of their lives which can seem an impossible task at times. THis is what he said:
"First, do not start with the task. Start with your time. Determine where your time is going. Then, attempt to manage that time and cut back unproductive demands on your time. Consolidate your 'discretionary' time into the largest possible continuing time units.
Drucker refers to the second step as time management. After listing the activities to which we devote our time, he suggests that we ask three questions about each of these activities to help us minimize the amount of time we waste: "What would happen if this were not done at all?" And if the answer is, 'Nothing would happen,' then obviously the conclusion is to stop doing it. Next, which of the activities on my time log could be done by somebody else just as well, if not better? What do I do that wastes my time without contributing to my effectiveness?*
Drucker closes by saying 'Know Thyself,' this old prescription for wisdom is impossibly difficult for mortal men. But everyone can follow the injunction 'Know Thy Time' if you want to, and be well on the road toward contribution and effectiveness."

David said this in Psalms, Show me, O LORD, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life" (Ps 39:4).
I am one to struggle from time to time with managing my own life. A lot of people say that they are amazed that I have such good control over my time but in reality I feel like it is spiraling out of my grasp every day, all day long. Never before have I had so many people demanding so much of my time as I do now.
Drucker's theories are good ones, but I learned a little trick in college. A teacher of a college success class taught us to take back our time by writing down our time. You pick out a week, and for that whole week you track what you do each hour of the day for the whole week (5 days will do, you don't need to keep up on the weekend unless you absolutely want to). At the end of the week you add up the time spent in certain areas for that week and then you decide what's important and what could have more time, what could have less time. Regardless, I still do this about 2 times a year and every time I find myself cutting out a little bit here and there to find more time for my family. It's a great way to test yourself regularly. So keep in check, figure out just how "fleeting your life is" and how much better it could be.

Have a great day!