You can lose, damage or waste some things in life, and then, get them repaired or buy them again. With time, you cannot do that. Once time has gone, there is no way to get it back! If you realise that a certain period of your life was less productive, or was lost in one way or another, there is no point in dwelling on it negatively; the best thing you can do is to learn from any mistakes, thus turning them, and therefore your time, into a positive use.

Riding the subway home yesterday, my typically silent car was enlivened by two young girls and their mothers who hopped on. The girls, 7 years old or so, immediately danced over to the upright pole in the middle of the aisle and started twirling around it. After several minutes of this, giggling and talking and having a marvelous time chasing each other (paying no attention whatsoever to anyone else in the car), they settled into a rhythm directly across from each other. Still twirling, but more slowly, one said to the other ... "everything's blurry except for you" ...

It's been said, "That no one has enough time yet, everyone has all that there is." Simple concept - except when you're living your life in the multi-tasking lane.

For most of you - your reality is too much work, information overload, struggling to balance your family and your work, and not enough time to get everything done.

Well, I struggle with the same things you do. While I don't have all the answers - I do have a couple of ideas that you may find helpful.

Here are four simple ways you can take control of your time and your life:

Whatever providence has in store for us tomorrow is not meant for us until tomorrow. It is foolish to burden ourselves today with cares and concerns that belong to another day. Todays challenges are sufficient for today and it behooves us to refrain from creating problems for tomorrow and then adding our creations to those of today.

Isnt it amazing that some people can produce huge results in the same 24 hours that we all have? Whether or not we realize it, we victimize ourselves by not appropriately deciding what to do with our time. Instead, we let our time decide what to do with us!

I find it interesting that the very cape I tried to use to fly, became so heavy it kept me grounded. --Brook Noel

One day I was racing around town, errand to errand, mission to mission. When I stopped at my house to grab a few papers, the phone rang. It was a dear friend, so I carved out ten minutes to tell him about the hectic pace I had been leading for the past twenty-four hours.

One question a lot of people ask me recently is: "how do I manage my own personal time and get so much done in the same 24 hours everyone else have? They wonder how I have time for my family, being a Motivational Speaker, Business/Life Coach, Writer, Publisher, and Toastmaster."

One day, I was in the gym with my very good friend, Joe De Souza, a highly
skilled Speaker who has impacted me immensely, when he asked me the same
question. He certainly got me thinking that I thought and deemed it appropriate to write about my personal time management.

"If you control your time, you control your life" - Alan Lakein (1973)

Time is Money. Time is a precious commodity and everyone gets an equal share, but we use it differently. Even different societies have different attitudes towards times.

One thing about time is that it is elusive; it cannot be changed, and once it is gone, it is gone forever. According to a saying, 'Time and tide wait for no one'. Our situation and needs influence our time orientation, but our time orientation (and needs) can be changed and that should lead to a more successful life.

When is the best time to plan your day? Well, everyone is different. Let's take a quick look at some of the different possible times:

1) Early morning before you go to work.

2) Lunch time

3) Mid-afternoon

4) End of the work day

5) At night just before you go to bed

I have prepared my daily plans during each of these times. Here has been my experience with each:

Morning

I have found the morning to be one of the least effective times to create my plan. Here's why:

Whenever you have projects that can't be done in one sitting, they have to be broken up into steps. Some people are marathoners and work best when they can spend long, uninterrupted hours on their projects. They hate to stop working because of piddly considerations like eating or sleeping, and they look forward to their next sessions. They're motivated by their goals, and they enjoy the process. That keeps them on track.