Life Efficiency Advice?

I'm having one of THOSE days. Everyone has them I'm sure. It just seems that I have them more often than other people. Or maybe other people are just better actresses than I am.

I ran across an article today about life efficiency. Right now if I was to make my life a metaphor on efficiency, I would be about as efficient as a gas guzzling hummer. I want to be like the cute little Honda that I drive. That is about the only thing that is efficient in my life these days.

Do you ever feel like you can't see the problem that is right on the end of your nose? I need a third party who doesn't know me to come sit me down and tell me where I can tweak my tasks to be more efficient. Is it my housework, dealing with my kids, my school work, my yard, the time I get up or go to bed, phone calls, church commitments? Where can I improve so things can get more done? I haven't the foggiest idea.

I am going to try something new that I learned from that article. Here is a snippet:

Around 100 years ago, Charles Schwab, president of Bethlehem Steel, wanted to increase his own efficiency, and of the management team at the steel company. Ivy Lee, a well-known efficiency expert of the time, approached Mr. Schwab, and made a proposition Charles Schwab could not refuse:

Ivy Lee: “I can increase your people’s efficiency – and your sales – if you will allow me to spend fifteen minutes with each of your executives.”
Charles Schwab: “How much will it cost me?”
Ivy Lee: “Nothing, unless it works. After three months, you can send me a check for whatever you feel it’s worth to you.”
Charles Schwab: “It’s a deal.”
The following day, Ivy Lee met with Charles Schwab’s management executives, spending only ten minutes with each in order to tell them:
Ivy Lee: “I want you to promise me that for the next ninety days, before leaving your office at the end of the day, you will make a list of the six most important things you have to do the next day and number them in their order of importance.”
Astonished Executives: “That it?”
Ivy Lee: “That’s it. Scratch off each item after finishing it, and go on to the next one on your list. If something doesn’t get done, put it on the following day’s list.”
“Each Bethlehem executive consented to follow Lee’s instructions. Three months later, Schwab studied the results and was so pleased that he sent Lee a check for $25,000.
If Schwab, one of the smartest businessmen of his day, was willing to pay so much money for this advice, don’t you think you could benefit from it too?


Taking advantage of this time management technique is as simple as it gets…just 4 steps:
1.Each night, make a list of the top 6 things you want to accomplish the following day
2.Prioritize the list
3.Start working on task number one, and keep working on it until you complete it. Do not move onto the next task until you complete this one.
4.If any tasks are left at the end of the day, move them to the top of the next days list. For example, if you finish tasks 1-4 today, tasks 5 and 6 become tasks 1 and 2 on tomorrows list."


Any way I tried it today with a little tweaking. I made a list of 6 things; 3 for school 3 for home. I think I have discovered that I am ADD because it is so hard for me to focus on JUST these 3 tasks without sidetracking to anything else. I got them done and it felt GOOD. More sense of accomplishment than I have had in a while. Tomorrow I will try out my school list. I'll let you know how the experiment goes. I'm committing to two weeks in front of all of cyberworld.


In the mean time if you have any time management advice or want to be the non-biased life efficiency coach that I spoke of let me know!


Enjoy this hilarious commercial shown to me by one of my grade 9's