Time Management Essentials for a Productive Life

Effective time management is about prioritizing tasks, focusing on major activities, and avoiding distractions for a productive and fulfilling life.

### Jim Rohn's Time Management and Legacy Advice
* ⏳ "Old testament gives us a view of some people who live to be **five, six, seven, eight, nine hundred years old**. If I have a chance to ask, I will ask **how come we got short changed**."
* 📅 "Plan the day the best you can, leaving plenty of room for **improvising and surprises** and all the stuff that happens during the course of the day."
* 🌟 "Reasonable time is enough time. It's not the hours you put in, it's **what you put in the hours**."
* 📚 "The books that changed your life, the books to change your health, the books that rescued you from oblivion. **What a treasure to leave behind**."
* 📸 "Your pictures. Don't leave the event unrecorded. **A picture's worth a thousand words.**"
* 📒 "The notes you took that helped you to **live life as you lived it**, long after you're gone."

my father had 90 years, but it seemed 93 years, but it seems sure. In his seemingly long life of 93 years, it was short because it just seems like if we only had more time. Old testament gives us a view of some people who live to be five, six, seven, eight, nine hundred years old. If I have a chance to ask, I will ask how come we got short changed. Wouldn't that be a good question if you had a chance to ask? Imagine seven, eight, nine hundred years to watch generation after generation after generation after generation stay healthy and well. I mean you got to have, you got to be healthy to make it to 900, you got to take your vitamins. I'm pushing the bible, I'm pushing vitamins, I'm doing good today. So the key is time is precious. Now let me give you Bill Bailey's description of time. Life is not just the passing of time. Life is not just the passing of time. Life is a collection of experiences, their frequency.

and their intensity. Life is not just watching the clock tick away. Life is a collection of experiences, their intensity, their frequency. When my friend Mark died at age 44, someone says, That's young to die, but what if he lived four lifetimes in one? Might not be too young. So here's what it, whatever the span of your life turns out to be, here's what you want to fill it up with: experiences and the intensity of those experiences. But now let's talk about the management of time. Here's one of the best ones we covered earlier: when should you start building this hotel? Answer: as soon as you have it finished. Now jot this one down on time management: when should you start the day? As soon as you have it finished. Plan the day the best you can, leaving plenty of room for improvising and surprises and all the stuff that happens during the course of the day. But if you've planned a good productive day, now you start that day. You can't believe how much more valuable your time will be.

don't start the day until you have it finished. Now here's the next one: don't start the week until you've had it finished. Now to lay out a week is a pretty good challenge. Next, don't start the month until you have it finished: the places to go and the people to see and the productivity and the sales and the customers and the development and all the rest of what you want to accomplish during the course of 30 days. Don't start the month till it's finished. And then here's the big one, this is really challenging: don't start the year until you have it finished to the best of your ability. It can't be finished like minute by minute, but in terms of the sweep of what you want to accomplish in the year 2002, make sure that that's set and ready to go by the time January 1st rolls around. And it might get all upset, it might get torn up, and you do anew and you make so much progress the first 90 days that now you've

got you've multiplied it all by two by three 
because that happened to me. I thought, Wow, here's   how this is gonna be a great year. By the time I'd 
finish the third month, I'm rolling, I'm sore, and   so many things are happening. I revised my whole 
year's plan. Okay, now jot this down: approaches   to the management of time. Here's the first one: 
ignore the subject. I mean, that's good advice. Don't let anything overly bug you because you 
remember, now you don't have to do anything.   Someone says, Well, I got to get a handle on my time. 
The answer is, No, you don't. If you want to let it   all go, you can let it all go. I mean, this is good 
advice. Somebody says, You ought. You what you ought: jot this down. Ignore all the you oughts or you 
should, only if they're giving general information.   We should. It's better to say, If you're teaching, 
we should, not you should. We should. Then you let me

listen in without it being too confrontational. If everyone did this, see, that would be great, and then you give a person a chance to choose to do it or not to do it. But when you start the you ought, you ought now see, if I don't now see, we got some tension and maybe some problems. So you oughts seem to always create problems. When you're talking to your kids, you say no. If kids would do this, not always saying if you did this, if you did this, life would be better. But if kids did this, life would be better. It's like making a little talk and letting them listen in, and then it's a little less confrontational. It gives us a choice. In one of my seminars, here's what I teach: all life form strives to the max of its potential, except human beings. All life form strives to the max of its potential, except human beings. How tall will the tree grow? As tall as it possibly can. You never heard of a tree grown half as high as it could.

no trees don't grow half a tree. Drives its roots as deep as it can, reaches as high as it can, produces every leaf it can, every fruit it possibly can, to the max. Every life form strives to the max, except human beings. Now why not human beings? Jot this down. You've been given the dignity of choice. You're not a robot. You don't have to repeat this year the same as last year. You can tear up last year's plan, develop a new plan. So the dignity of being a human being. Now here's the choice on being a human being. To be part of all we were meant to be, or to be all, to strive for all, or half, or part, or some. The choice is up to you. To develop one skill or ten skills. Someone says, Well, I'd be happy with just one more language. Well, some say, Hey, I'm going to learn six or seven. And this is all a matter of choice. And when someone says, No, you ought to learn four, you've got to resist all

that because this is personal dignity and you 
don't want to destroy someone's dignity by by   doing all the odds and they feel reluctant to 
do it. Now we've got problems so if you want to   just ignore this subject on time management. Now 
here's the next one step down to something easier. The guy's in sales and he says, Oh, I want 
to own the company. Finally owns the company,   now he's got no time to play golf. 
He said, When I was in sales, I was   making big money playing golf three days a week. Heck with this own and something. Heck with 
managing my life was never my own after I   started to manage. I'm going back to sales. 
See, this is the key. If you're getting too   pressed, you might consider stepping down to 
something with a little easier time pressure. Little girl says to her mother, Daddy comes 
home, brings his briefcase and pats me on his   head and says hello, disappears and works 
on his papers. How come my daddy doesn't

play with me, and her mother said, Look, your daddy loves you very much, but he's so busy at work. He can't get it all done. He has to bring it home. He loves you, but that's why he can't play with you. And the little girl said, Why don't they just put him in a slower group? So jot this down now: if you don't have time for your kids, you might consider joining a slower group. Remember when I said some things I went for cost me too much, so reconsider. Next key to time management, and that's work longer and harder, but see, there's a limit to that. I almost lost my health the first year I went so crazy about personal development and achievement. I just went bonkers, you know. I told you I was skinny. By the end of that first year, I was a walking shadow. And then it suddenly occurred to me, what if I got rich and too ill to spend it? I mean, that was a shocker. So I started, you know, developing a little more reasonable, because I said

if 12 hours won't do it, I'll work 14. If that won't do it, I'll work 18. I mean, how many hours it takes, and sure enough, it cost me too much. So, see, working longer and harder for some might be appropriate. You know, if you're just sitting around not doing that much, this might be good work longer and harder. But you can only work so hard. Here's the key, not to work harder but smarter. When you've worked as hard as you can, doing the best you can in terms of physical output in the time reasonable time. Now, here's the ultimate in the management of time, and that is you simply become more skillful. When I first got into sales, you know, I was around people that could get you know, nine out of ten, eight out of ten. And when I first started, I could only get one out of ten. But here's what I did, I worked around the clock, around the clock.

so that i would make up in numbers what i 
lacked in skill. That's good in sales. You   got to jot that down when you're new. You 
make up in numbers which you lack in skill. Now when you become more skillful, the numbers can 
go down because now your persuasive ability   and all of that is now so high that you don't 
need to put as many numbers out. But at first, if   you want to compete or if you want to really 
get good, you've got to put in the numbers. But if you get more from yourself, develop more 
of yourself, now the time management becomes an   easier task. Now here's the next thing, either 
you run the project or it runs you. I've found   out when you start something, at first you're in 
charge, all of a sudden a year later it's in charge. Some of the companies I started, I'm telling you, 
I'm in control. A couple of years later, I'm out of

control. At first, I've got it on the run. Two years 
later, it's got me on the run. I haven't got enough time. I'm dizzy with trying to get it all done. 
So here's part of the key, and that's to get in charge. Say I'm gonna take charge of my health. One 
of my albums is entitled Take Charge of Your Life. Take charge of your time, take charge of your 
resources, which we're going to talk about next. Take charge of your health. You're 
the one that's responsible for it. It's not a requirement of society that you not 
have a heart attack and take care of your family. That's not a requirement of society, but 
you must make it a requirement of yourself. Society doesn't require that you build a financial 
wall around your family, nothing can get through. That's not a requirement of society, it's 
a requirement you impose on yourself. To build a financial wall around your 
family, nothing can get through, okay.

so impose on yourself the self-development of being in charge taking charge of your life and your health and your future and your responsibilities and all the rest next reasonable time is enough time to achieve all of your goals just shut that down reasonable time is enough time i had to learn that reasonable time is enough time here's why it's not the hours you put in it's what you put in the hours if you start depositing greater ideas into the hours you've got later than now i'm telling you later you can't believe the productivity that will flow the ideas you can't think of now a year from now they'll start to flow and when you deposit those ideas in the hours you've got productivity multiplies by two three five ten next time management essential we've already covered the first one a written set of goals and then do priorities on your goals what's important this week what's important this month here's the next one often review just go over your goals to make sure

that your list is working for you. It's got you inspired, it's got you turned on. Somebody says, How come you're up so early? Say, If you were headed where I'm headed, you'd be up early too. Well, if you were going to meet who I'm going to meet, you'd be up early. If it was gonna stack up for you like it's stacking up for me, you'd be getting up early. Here's some more time management essentials. Learn to study what we call majors and minors. You pick up the phone. Here's what you must say when you pick up the phone. Is this a major conversation or a minor conversation? If it's minor, a few pleasantries and you're done. If it's major, maybe you've got to make a few notes. So here's the next one. Important conversations. Make an agenda before you make the call. Just jot down a little agenda. It's so easy now to just talk out of your head. Do you ever hear

a conversation end like this, like this. Let's see. There was something else, see. You don't look that swift. I can't think of it right now. I'll call you back. See, you look a little incompetent. Let's see. There was something. It escapes me right now, really. So if you got this now, make an agenda before you make a call. If it's an important call now, later, that saves you all kinds of stuff. You call John in the salesman. Say, John, remember those four things we went over. He said, No, we didn't talk about that. And then you pull out your daytime or whatever, and there's the list you made when you made the call. He said, Oh, yes, seems like I do remember. And you've got him with your list. If it's just salespeople, especially, can talk you out of what's in your head. It's true. No, we didn't talk about that. And if you don't have a little proof, I'm telling you.

it's gone, so make an agenda before you make a call. So what's major, what's minor. Now here's the key on this: don't major in minor things. If you take up major time to do minor things, I'm telling you, you'll be behind the curve constantly. Here's what we learn in sales training: what's major time and what's minor time. Here's minor time: thinking about prospects, here's minor time: making a list of prospects, here's minor time: keeping books on prospects, here's minor time: going to see the prospect, here's minor time: evaluating the prospect after you've been there. That's all minor time. Here's major time: in the presence of the prospect, that's mine, that's major time. And if you took a look, if you're in sales and you took a look at a week, you'd say, My gosh, I'm spending 90% of my time on the minor stuff and so little time on the major stuff in the presence of.

how many hours in the presence of in my day how many hours in the presence of during my sales week because the time that really counts is in the presence of the prospect majors and minors here's another key time management essential don't mistake movement for achievement it's easy to get faked out by being busy god comes home at night all exhausted falls in the chair and says oh i've been going go and go and here's the big question doing what it's not to go and go and go and some people are going going going and they're doing figure eights their progress is small so don't mistake movement for achievement here's another one in sales we learned don't mistake courtesy for consent if somebody's pleasant and they nod you say oh they're going to buy no they're courteous you can't mistake courtesy for consent now here's a big one concentration i had to learn this all those years ago i'm

in the shower, trying to compose a letter. Found it turns out to be a strange letter, so here's what I learned to do: save the work till you get to the office. Save the work till you get to the work. Don't try to get to the office on the way to work. On the way to work, enjoy the way. In the shower, enjoy the shower. Then go to work. When you get to work, I found this to be helpful: concentration. Here's another big one: learn to say no. I'm telling you, in such a social society we have now, it's so easy to try to be a nice person, saying yes, yes, yes to everything. Find yourself overloaded. Now you got to call, make the, well, gosh, you know, all the time it takes to back out of something that you should have said yes to too quickly. Here's what might be better: I don't think so, but if that changes, I'll call you. Little things you can use not to commit over.

commit yourself, my friend. Ron Reynolds says, Don't let your mouth overload your back. It's a good one. Now here's a big one on time management: when you work, work; when you play, play. Don't mix the two. Don't work at play. I used to take my family to the beach, and I would bring my briefcase. I learned not to do that. Or at the beach, I'm saying I should be at the office. I should be at the office. Now my family's upset because I'm at the beach, and I'm thinking office, office, office. Now when I'm at the office, I'm thinking, What I got to get my family to the beach, the beach, the beach. So things are not going too well at the office because I'm thinking beach, and things are not going too well at the beach because I'm thinking office. Here's what I learned to do: at the beach, be at the beach; at the office, be at the office. When you work, work; when you play, play. Don't mix the two.

don't work at play. Now, here's one of the most important ones: don't play at work. Work is too serious. You don't want the reputation of being the office joker. It's not a good one. Yes, there's time for some pleasant stories, yes, there's time for a little humor, yes, best if it's a happy office, of course, but I'm telling you, you got to be serious about work because you're parting with a piece of your life for the work you do. Your work costs you a piece of your life. Here's what it's called: serious business. Not grim, not unhappy, but serious. Key: don't play at work. The old expression, I don't think we use it anymore: horse around at the office, play around, play jokes, play tricks. No place, not at the workplace. At the beach, yes, at the bar, yes, somewhere else, not work. You got to treat work with all due conservative passion because it's leading you to your future. Here's another key phrase: all work is good.

you may not like your job, but if it's the stepping stones to get you to where you want to go, you got to appreciate your job. You don't have to have a passion for your job. Here's the ultimate passion: a passion for incredible success in every department of my life. That's the passion. But don't look down on some menial job you have to do to finally get you to where you want to go. No job is menial. Menial no job is not. No, every job is noble: training life for pay, making a contribution to society. Next, analyze how you are and if you have some weaknesses. If you can't, doesn't seem like you can change, here's the key: get it covered. I used to keep promising myself I'd keep the books, keep the books, keep the books. Finally, I gave that up, and back then, it only took me an extra 50-60 bucks a month for some accountant to keep the books. I said no, I'm going to save the 50 bucks.

you can't believe what i started losing in productivity because i tried to save the 50 bucks. So the key is a lot of time you can stay like you are, but just make sure you get it covered, okay? Next, beware of the telephone and all other systems of communication, especially the telephone at home and systems of communication at home. And here's one of the best lines i've got for you for the weekend: let all communication systems serve you, but don't let them intrude when it comes time to have dinner with your family. You shut off all systems unless the ones that can take messages silently. Don't let the phone ring, don't let anybody intrude, come through the front door, nor the back door, nor through the telephone or any other device so you can't reach John and his family when he's having dinner. The president of the United States couldn't get through if you develop that kind of a reputation. Father, mother, when we have dinner, when we're visiting and have this time with our family, nothing intrudes.

so don't let these clever little devices keep intruding. You've got to have a place that's sacrosanct. It's valuable. You don't let anything in for that period of time. Okay, isn't it good advice, excellent advice. Here's the next one: read all the books. You know, I've only got a few notes here on time management, but if you've got some particular challenges, you run a big organization, a big corporation, you've got some challenges, there's plenty of books. Now here's what's next: just be more alert to the things that might be stealing your time. Here's why time is like capital. You can't let someone steal your seed corn. You can't let someone steal your capital, and you can't let someone steal your time. You must designate your time, and some of the time that you designate, you must not let anyone steal. Casual time, you might let someone intrude and steal a little bit and take a little bit, but not serious time.

next one of the great time management 
savers is to learn to ask questions up front. Sometimes you talk to somebody for 
an hour, then you ask questions and find out   if you would have asked those questions up 
front, you could have saved yourself an hour. Asking questions up front helps you to get 
to the problem. Now, but if you just launch   into some discourse, you might waste 30 minutes 
waste an hour. When here's what you should have   been talking about. After you've finished an hour, 
you say, John, what's really the problem? He said, Well, it's something personal. See, that's what you 
should have been talking about this whole hour. Okay, next, learn to think on paper. And we're going to take a break. Some ways to think on paper: one, we've covered 
one solving problems. Take it out of your head   and put it on paper. Another one is setting 
goals, making these lists. We've already started. Here's another good way to think 
on paper: it's a projects book.

each person you're working with in each project, you're working on, get a loose-leaf binder and a tab, and some pieces of paper behind the tab, and do a little continual summary of how it's going between you and that person, and between you and that project. I call it a project's book. It is so useful to me. But what's going on between you and this person when you last got together? What did you talk about? And you got a few notes. Here's what we talked about the last time we got together. Now, when you get together again, you can review that so you'll know better what to talk about. When the president gets ready to travel and he's going to meet some important people, guess what? They bring him all these briefing books, right? The last time you were with Khrushchev, Kennedy is informed. Here's what he said and here's what you said. Kennedy said, Oh, that's valuable. I need to remember that. If a person is important, it's worth a little running account.

you might even have a project's book for your children. Here's what's happening between me and my child. We've talked about this and we've talked about this and we've talked about this. Next, a day timer keeping track of all of your appointments. You know, mine is all filled with you know when to catch an airplane and when to do a seminar, when to sit down and have a conference all the rest. Next is a game plan. You know, if you've got a house and the you know insurance is going to come due and some other things are going to come do, you just put it on a spreadsheet, make sure it's taken care of. Key phrase: take things out of your head and put them on paper. And the key is to just experiment with different ways that helps you to do that. Now, here's the last one: thinking on paper. And that's to keep a journal. One of the things I'm known for around the world have been now for 39 40 years is keeping a journal.

now my journal is not a, you know, it's not necessarily a, it's not like a diary. It might be part diary. You know, I'm flying over Ireland and I write down a few little things that impressed me. Today I met this person, wow, what an extraordinary event. Today, this I conducted this seminar in Rome, a thousand people stood up and sang for me. I've got a little bit of a diary in there, but here's what primarily your general is for: collecting good ideas. A journal is to collect good ideas on your health, good ideas for your business, good ideas for your future, good ideas for time management. Because I used to take notes on pieces of paper and torn off corners and backs of old envelopes and restaurant placemats, and I threw all this stuff in a drawer. It did not serve me well. I foundly learned to get a bound copy, right, and just keep a journal, right. If I was here, I had my journal. I'd be taking notes, right. These two days in my journal. Now, if you're caught without

your journal you just take the notes when you get back home you've put those notes in your journal throw the paper away because we don't usually go through paper to review but see my journals now make up a significant part of my own library my journal's all reserved privately for my children and my grandchildren can you imagine what i've collected over the years it's unbelievable there are three treasures to leave behind i think you've already got those notes right here they are number one your pictures don't leave the event unrecorded it takes only a fraction of a cent of a second to say here's who i was with when i travel the world right we take all these pictures and here's one of the gifts people send me the pictures they took of me and them it's part of the treasures i have on the farm incredible a picture's worth a thousand words to describe the scene the emotion what happened say wow this was an extraordinary day for me when i met these people

here's what they told me happened to them when they went to my seminar ten years ago. Wow, the drama comes back if you've taken the pictures. It's one of the treasures to leave behind when you go. Remember the old photographs that we have now, you know, 100 years ago, 70, 80 years ago, just a few photographs. What would it be like if you had thousands of photographs of the past, of your history, your mother, your father, right, grandparents? So, change all of that now for your children. Leave all your photographs as a record. Here's what's next to leave behind, and that's your library, the books that changed your life, the books to change your health, the books that rescued you from oblivion, the books that you passed on to other people, they were so exciting for you, the books that made you financially independent, the books that developed your leadership, the books that gave you wisdom to ponder when things were tough, the books that got you through the winter.

the books that helped you to plant in the spring 
and harvest in the fall. What a treasure to leave behind. If you do that, here's what's for sure: your 
books will be more valuable than your furniture. Wow! Now, the third treasure to 
leave behind is your journals, the notes you took that helped 
you to live life as you lived it, long after you're gone. A treasure that children, 
grandchildren, great-grandchildren will find so fascinating. They may use it to help guide their

Jim Rohn Time Management - Greatest Lessons from Jim Rohn

Learn with Vishal

Some people in the Old Testament are described as living for hundreds of years, prompting the question of the value of time and longevity.

Time is seen as a collection of experiences and their intensity, rather than just the passing of time.

Effective time management involves planning and finishing, from the day to the year, in order to maximize productivity and progress.

Using "you ought" creates tension and problems, instead, offering choices makes the conversation less confrontational.

Human beings have the dignity of choice, allowing them to strive for their full potential.

When feeling overwhelmed, it's okay to step back and reconsider, as there is a limit to working longer and harder for success.

The Key to Productivity and Time Management

Working longer and harder may be necessary at first, but ultimately, working smarter is more important for effective time management.

In the beginning, putting in more work may compensate for a lack of skill, especially in fields like sales.

However, as you become more skillful, you can achieve more in less time.

Taking charge of your life, health, and responsibilities is crucial for effective time management and productivity.

It's not just about the hours you put in, but the quality of work and ideas you invest in those hours that significantly impacts productivity over time.

Regularly reviewing and prioritizing your goals is essential for efficient time management.

Learn to prioritize major tasks over minor ones to avoid falling behind.

Focus on the most important activities, especially in sales, to maximize productivity.

Avoid mistaking busyness or courtesy for real achievement or consent, and instead, prioritize concentration and meaningful work.

Tips for Work-Life Balance and Time Management

Save work for the office to improve work-life balance and focus.

Learn to say no to avoid overloading yourself with commitments.

Separate work and play to increase productivity and avoid distractions.

This is a friendly reminder to focus on work during work hours and fully enjoy leisure time.

It's important to avoid mixing the two and not to play around at the office.

Additionally, it's crucial to appreciate every job as a stepping stone to success and consider getting help to cover your weaknesses, instead of trying to do everything yourself.

Saving small amounts of money can end up costing you in productivity.

Set boundaries with communication devices to protect your personal time.

Learn to ask upfront questions to avoid wasting time on unproductive conversations.

It's important to designate and protect your serious time from being stolen by others.

Thinking on paper can help with problem-solving, goal-setting, and project planning, improving time management.

Keeping a project's book allows for a continual summary of interactions and progress with individuals and projects.

It is a valuable tool for staying organized and prepared for future meetings.

The journaling process is not just for keeping a diary, but primarily for collecting and organizing good ideas for various aspects of life and work.

The Three Treasures to Leave Behind for Your Family

Your pictures are a valuable record of your life and experiences, providing a visual treasure for future generations.

Your library of books, which have impacted your life, is a valuable legacy to pass on, potentially more valuable than material possessions.

Your journals and notes are a treasure trove of wisdom and personal history, offering guidance and fascination for your descendants.