One of the biggest ways I sabotage myself – and maybe you do too – is through the sloppy use of time. Since time is the unit of measure used by most modern civilizations, the saying “time is money” has merit.

I’ll be the first to admit, however, that I find the concept of budgeting time like some bean counter in an accounting office frustratingly absurd.  I mean, whose time is it anyway?!!  If I want to waste a ton of it, so be it!!  Meetings?  Appointments?  Being prompt?  Forget it . . . I mean really…!

. . . Slam!

That was the sound of my customers, friends, and everyone else I come in contact with, leaving. Did I just sabotage my chances with doing business with them?  Getting to know them better?  Being of service to them – and them to me? You betcha.

Like it or not, time coordinates our activities and relationships on this planet.  While the dreaded timepiece (watch, clock, PDA, cell phone) is a constant reminder that we are “running out” of it, time also gives us the ability to rendezvous with friends and lovers, and create structure in our lives. Even our cavemen ancestors used it to measure the nights and days, seasons, and lifetimes. It was their connection to survival and to the gods.

Today we have that lovely invention – the computer – that thinks for us, remembers things for us, and does tons of work for us.  It also manages our time for us, right?

Wrong! While we may FEEL like we’re getting more done, our computers keep giving us more to do . . . consequently they WASTE more time than they save.

If you’re anything like me, you love your computer because it gives you the illusion that you can get a lot of things done at one time. It makes you feel powerful.  Productive.  All-seeing, all-knowing, and omnipresent, right?

The truth is your computer can only complete one task at a time . . . it just does it much faster than you can.

Don’t believe me?  Try this…

Open up as many programs as you can on your computer. What happens? It will come to a grinding halt and you will probably end up re-booting it and wondering what happened.

What happened is you proved that your computer sucks at multi-talking. The truth is it can only process a single instruction at a time.  It is an illusion to believe otherwise.

The same thing happens when you try to do too many projects at once. Like your all-knowing computer you, too, will crash and burn.

In the past, if you were to ask me what project I am working on, I would hem, haw, and throw out a laundry list of activities.   Recently, however, I have learned to focus and tell people the EXACT project I’m in.

I’ve also found that about 90% of people I come in contact with ALSO have that laundry list of projects they are working on.  This makes me a bit sad because I know the chances of them finishing any single one of those is almost non-existent.

Just as your computer comes to a grinding halt when you make it work on too many things, so will you.  You will simply end up frustrated, suffering from information overload and even worse… without a business that generates revenue. No product no revenue, right?

How much money are those TEN projects that are half finished making you? My guess is none.

Suggestion: Focus on ONE project that you can finish and create income or a cash flow.  Simply obliterate information overload TODAY and STOP the self-sabotage!!

If the time-wasting persists, you may have underlying hidden decisions that are dividing your priorities and causing the logjam.  Its easy enough to find out what these are, change the decisions, and get some focus back into your life.

Whatever you do, put the blinders on and decide in the next 5 minutes to take ONE course of action for the next 2-3 hours.  Then choose again.  Then again, etc.

Then rest. Your day is successfully completed.