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Find Out Exactly Where Your Time Goes

If you think you are too busy to figure out exactly where your time goes, then you are precisely the person who should compile a detailed time log.

So, for at least three days or, better yet, for a week, keep close track of how you spend your days - how many total minutes on important and unimportant phone calls? How many minutes studying papers or restudying papers you have already read? How much time socializing, planning, daydreaming, being interrupted, and making significant headway?

Then, figure out where you are wasting your time in relation to your priorities. Being too busy to come to grips with time management is like putting off getting your roof repaired because it is the rainy season.

Make Your Wardrobe Work For You

We have all had days when we’ve looked into our closets in the morning and, while it was full to the bursting, felt like there was nothing to wear. We hate those days, yet instead of fixing the problem and creating a cohesive wardrobe, we just keep buying more and more clothes without any sort of plan, in the hopes that something will end up working.

Often we acquire our clothes haphazardly - a sale item or an impulse buy here, a Christmas gift there - without much thought as to how they fit our image, or even if they match each other. In fact, you have probably seen folks who have expanded their wardrobe only to hobble themselves by wearing a plaid shirt with a striped tie, or to go overboard with jewelry that clatters and clangs when they walk. In other words, unless you know how to put it all together, you can improve your wardrobe but still project a poor image. So make sure your colors, patterns, and accessories are complementary, not clashing.

Most of us have at least one or two outfits that make us feel especially good when we are wearing them. We tend to save those for special occasions. However, why not try to increase that number to three, four, or more such outfits and, thus, try to make a particularly good impression every day? At the same time, clean out your closet of older clothing you never wear.

If you are vague about what you look best in, consult a friend or co-worker whose taste you admire, or go to a wardrobe consultant. They often spot things that you would look good in but probably would not consider trying on.

A wardrobe consultant may sound like a costly luxury. However, many times their advice is free if you buy clothes from them, and some will even shop for you at an hourly rate, which can save you a lot of time. Combine that time-savings with greater selection and the likelihood of a superb fit, and it all may add up to a terrific value.

Here’s to more personal insight,

Tony Alessandra, PhD

Dr Tony Alessandra is a lecturer and author.
http://www.alessandra.com