Is Preparation Your Missing Link?

The English Dictionary defines time management as— n — the analysis of how working hours are spent and the prioritization of tasks in order to maximize personal efficiency in the workplace.  I consider Time Management an Action… a verb not a noun.  What’s missing in the dictionary definition is preparation.

If there is one thing I learned as a Girl Scout, it is to be prepared.  Boys learn this skill too in Boy Scouts so it must be important.  If you aren’t prepared to complete the prioritized tasks within the allotted time for the tasks, how will you check anything off your To Do List?  Let me paint several pictures for you in relation to the Holidays, & you can decide if you agree.

1. Gift Wrapping for the Holidays:

Unprepared

2.You are headed out the door to another holiday party & realize you haven’t wrapped your hostess gift.  You race to to dig through your selection of gift bags & tissue to find a holiday-ish option.  When you are finished, the gift wrap is a disaster & you are late to the party.  Time Saved – 10 min.  You still have the gift wrap clean up to handle later.

3. You are headed out the door to another holiday party & realize you haven’t purchased your hostess gift.  You fight holiday traffic to end up settling on a gift card.  Time Spent – 25 min.  Time you could have spent picking up gift during a free moment – 5 min.

Prepared

4. You are headed out the door to another holiday party & remember the lovely hostess gift that is wrapped & waiting in your Holiday Wrap Station—the one you set up when you decorated for the season.  Crisis averted, you arrive calm, collected & stress free.  Time spent setting up Holiday Gift Wrap Station – 20-30 min.  Time spent wrapping each gift ahead of time -10-15 min.  Time Saved each time you gave a gift – PRICELESS.

5. Cooking for the Holidays:

Unprepared

6. After arriving home from grocery shopping, you store items in their packaging in refrigerator, cupboard & pantry. Time Spent -15 min.  Later, you come in after a long day to cook holiday treats, a dinner for friends, or dinner for your family.  Now you must fight through plastic or paper wrappings, wash veggies/fruits & hope the sugar doesn’t explode when you rip open the bag.  Time Spent – 20 min added to your cooking time.

Prepared

7. After arriving home from grocery shopping, you unwrap water bottles, multi-case cans, & snack packages; open milk; rinse veggies/fruit; move cereal, flour, sugar, oatmeal, etc to canister containers Time – 25 min.  Later, when you come in to cook holiday treats, a dinner for friends or dinner for your family, your kitchen almost feels like you have a Sous Chef assisting you because everything is prepped & ready.  Time Saved – 20 min. 

Time management isn’t just about scheduling time on your calendar & prioritizing tasks.  It is also about preparing your environment for the task at hand to create efficiency of the time scheduled.  So the next time you decide to “deal with that later” remember, later usually takes longer, is more stressful & is rarely rewarding.

I’m here to help you by disclosing my knowledge of how to organize & be prepared for any situation.  I will show you tips & tricks through posts on the Styled & Organized Living Facebook page, @StyledOrganized on Twitter & the Styled & Organized Living Pinterest page.  Some posts will be simple tools while others will be ideas to consider.   But all will show you how to gain a little more control over your life through organization because Life is Better Organized!