This is the first of four installments in the Time Management 1.0 Series: Prioritizing what’s Important in Your Life

Time Management 1.1: What Makes You Happy?

Dear Writer:  If you want to get organized and manage your time effectively, the first step is knowing what’s most important to you. Chances are you may feel so overwhelmed with everything in your life that you don’t even know where to begin. I know.  I’ve been there.  The next four blogs are designed to help you discover what’s essential to your happiness and success, and how to make it first and foremost in your life (like writing!) Before the rest of the unimportant, and often very insistent, things overrun your day.

The first step is to make a list. Stop! Don’t run away! Yes, I know. If you’re struggling with managing your time and organizing your life, then there’s a good possibility you hate lists. But, trust me. This is a good list.

Drum roll please. Write down a list of things that make you happy.  Really happy; joyfully, blissfully happy.

There’s no right or wrong answer. Put your censor/editor in a padlocked box for this exercise. The only criteria is it makes you happy – don’t worry if it makes anyone else happy (or sad). Use a pen, pencil, crayon, typewriter or computer. Write it on a napkin, in your journal or on your eight-year-old’s report card. I don’t care, just get it down on something you can find again later.

Take note, you may not know what makes you happy.  Not right away.

I didn’t.  I really had to think about it…for awhile.  I was stunned: How could I not know what made me happy?  I thought for days about my list and slowly I began thinking of things and writing them down.  Once I started, I made a very long list.  I still have it saved to my computer.  It has things on it like, listening to the sound of thunder, working on a story, and playing with my kids.  It may sound goofy to make such a list.  However, if you want to manage your time, it helps to know what you’d like to be doing with it.

You don’t need to do any of the things on your list (unless you want too!), just write them down. It might take a while, but they’ll come to you. Add to your list throughout the week, and next Monday, I’ll share the next step.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at christine@litsisters.com.  Check back regularly for more LitSisters™ writing tips and resources.

Next Week: Time Management 1.2: Determining the Important Stuff

Tags: getting organized, happiness, happy, list, organization, organizing, time management, writer, writing

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