Time is one of the few things you can’t buy.

Of course, you can purchase “time-saving” gadgets and gismos. You can pay a maid to clean your house, or a personal assistant to answer your emails. But you’ll never have more than twenty-four hours in a day.

Time is priceless. It’s also constant: you don’t have to do anything to make an hour go by. You’ll have experienced time flying past (at a great party) or crawling (at 4pm on Friday) – but you know that, regardless of how it feels, the minutes tick by at the same objective speed.

Once a day has gone past, you’ll never get it back.

In many ways, time is the most precious thing that we have. Yet most of us treat our time as though it has hardly any value at all.

How We De-Value Our Time

If a new friend asked you to give them $10, you’d probably be very surprised at the request. You might feel angry or awkward, and you might well refuse. The fact that they even asked would affect your friendship, and would make you see them in a poorer light.

But if that same person emailed and asked you for a favor that took half an hour of your time, you might well provide it. You certainly wouldn’t think that their request was cheeky or out of the ordinary.

Now, often, we do favors for friends because we like them and because we know that they’ll repay us in the future. That’s reasonable enough. But it’s very easy to end up spending your time on all sorts of requests. Because you’re being asked for time – which is hard to value – you don’t consider what you’re losing.

How Much Is An Hour of Your Time Worth?

It’s hard to put an exact value on an hour of your time, though you could start with whatever your employer pays you (or whatever you charge clients, if you’re self-employed). There’s a strong relationship between your time – the hours that you work – and your bank balance – what you get paid.

You could also consider what you’d pay for an extra hour of free time. What would be a reasonable rate to pay a child-minder to take care of your kids, for instance, or someone to cover your chores for you?

Time is, of course, worth more than just dollars. But putting a monetary value on your time can help you realize that it does indeed have a value.

Reclaiming Your Time

So, how do you take back more of your precious time? First, recognize how valuable it is. Realize that you won’t ever get back the day, week or year that’s just gone past.

You might:

• Look for a job that you find fun and fulfilling – instead of spending forty hours a week doing something that you dislike.
• Get better at saying “no” to people who ask you for a favor.
• Hang up on cold-callers who want “just a few minutes of your time”.
• Start to eliminate activities which take up time without giving you much reward.
• Avoid spending lots of money on things that you don’t really want or need. The more you spend, the more you’ll need to work.
• Conversely, don’t be afraid to spend a little bit of money to save a lot of time.

Your time is priceless. Are you treating it that way?

Have you ever taken something on because you felt like you should – only to regret it?

Most of us have way too many commitments, and you’re probably no exception. Whether it’s chairing a weekly meeting, making cakes for the kids’ bake sale at school, helping a friend clear their garage, designing a website (gratis) for your sister … it all adds up.

If you find it really tough to say “no” when you’re asked to take on something new, then I totally sympathize. I find it hard too – but I’ve learnt a few ways to make saying “no” a bit easier (even when someone persistent it asking!)

Step #1: Be Totally Clear

Make sure you actually say “no” and that the person hears it.

Silence can be interpreted as consent, whether that’s verbal silence or virtual silence in response to an email.

You don’t have to be rude, of course – but don’t get so caught up in being polite that your “no” gets buried under a whole bunch of qualifiers.

Step #2: Explain That You Need to Focus

Sometimes, it’s easier to get people off your back if you explain why you’re saying no. Try emphasizing your need to focus on what’s already on your plate:

• I’ve got too much on right now
• I need to focus on my job (family/kids/other commitments) at the moment
• I can’t do it justice – I have too many other commitments

You could even say that it’s nothing personal, but you’ve promised yourself to say “no” to all new commitments for the next month.

It’s hard to keep all your promises if you can’t say no – remember that by turning down this request, you’re ensuring that you can keep up with everything else that’s going on in your life.

Step #3: Don’t Back Down

Some people will listen to you the first time. Others will think that your “no” just means they need to talk you into it.

Once you’ve said no, don’t back down. If you constantly turn your “no” into a “maybe” then a “yes”, people will think that you don’t really mean it – they’ll pile on the pressure next time you turn them down.

If necessary, end the conversation: say, clearly, that you don’t want to talk about it any further. If the other person persists, walk away.

Step #4: Ask for Time if Necessary

If someone’s really pressuring you, or if you feel uncomfortable giving a straight “no” to their face, then ask for some time to think about it. Say that you need to consider their request in light of your other priorities.

That way, they’ll feel that you’ve given it proper thought – and you’ll be able to send a clear refusal by email or text.

If none of those steps work, or if you’re having a really hard time saying “no” to someone who needs help, then see if there’s some other way to assist. You might suggest a resource they could use, or another person who can help. You could even agree to a small, limited-time-only commitment:

I’m sorry, Sue, I just don’t have time to help you create a website. I’ve got a great book you can borrow, though – it’ll teach you all the basics.

No, I can’t commit to being secretary of the club. How about John instead? Have you asked him?

I’m happy to organize the cake sale just this once, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to do it on a regular basis.

If you struggle to say “no”, what tips have worked for you in the past? Feel free to share your ideas in the comments…

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Why are so many of us struggling with productivity?

We set out positively when we start our working day and we’re determined that we’ll do a lot of things that will bring us a step closer to our goals, but when at the end of the day we look back at what we have actually accomplished, we realize that not much has been done, despite having enough time.

We’re not productive because we are not AWARE of our moments of being unproductive. Our minds get distracted by a cool video on YouTube, or an interesting article we read on Yahoo News, or a phone call or one of a myriad of other things.

And every time a minor distraction happens, we might even be aware for a split second that we’re not being productive, but we convince ourselves that,  ‘this won’t take long,’  and that we’ll be back to work in no time.

The problem with this is that these distractions add up during the day and eventually constitute more of our working time than actual productive work.

The reason why this keeps happening is because we don’t measure our productivity, and measurement is crucial if we want to control something:

‘Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement. If you can’t measure something, you can’t understand it. If you canít understand it, you can’t control it. If you canít control it, you canít improve it.’ -  Dr. H. James Harrington

So, how do we measure productivity?

Very simple: we measure the time we had available in each day and then we measure the time we were productive, the time when we were working on the projects that led us closer to our goals.

We can then divide our productive time by the total time available to calculate our productivity in percentage form.

For example, today I started work at 9:30 and I am finishing this article at around 11:30.

For this system to work, you need to be brutally honest. If I am, then in my two hours of available work, I spent around 40 minutes writing this post and about 20 minutes answering emails related to my business.

The other 60 minutes I spent time chatting with two friends on Skype, reading emails not related to my work , and reading internet marketing news not crucial to my business.

My productivity then was 60 minutes of work / 120 minutes of available time = 50%

When I do this again in the evening, I then realize that my daily productivity was maybe only 25%.

I have now measured my productivity and realized the painful truth: I spent only 25% of my available time working towards my goals and wasted the rest of my time doing unimportant things.

Life is short and I believe it’s crucial that we become aware of how much time we waste doing nothing important, because only that painful realization will drive our determination to make the best of our time while we’re here and make us more vigilant about our wasted time in general.

A productivity percentage of only 25% means that I could be progressing four times faster towards my goals than I am now.

Consciously being aware of the benefit of greater productivity and of our wasted time are then the necessary ‘carrot and stick’ that will drive us to success and fulfillment.

Tomaz blogs about unique home business ideas where he shares tips and advice on how achieve financial freedom with the power of the Internet.

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Do you wish you had an extra hour in the day?

Perhaps you struggle to get everything done – or you find that you only manage to get projects completed in a huge rush before a deadline.

Maybe someone’s told you that you have “poor time management skills”. Maybe you believe that’s simply who you are. You envy people who seem to be on top of everything – but you don’t think you could do the same.

The truth is, time management is a skill, and one which you can learn. There are a huge number of books, blogs, audio programs and seminars on the subject – and you probably feel a bit overwhelmed by all the information out there.

Here, I’m going to stick to the basics. These are all simple – but hugely effective – ways to improve your time management, starting today.

#1: Make a To-Do List

Your to-do list takes a lot of pressure off you. Instead of getting to 11am and wondering what the heck you’re supposed to do next, you’ll have a clear list of tasks which you want to complete during the day.

It takes less than five minutes to make a to-do list at the start of your morning – but it can save you hours of wasted time over the course of a day. Plus, having everything written down means you’re not wasting mental energy on “must remember to buy milk”.

Don’t get hung up on making your to-do list perfect. Just jot down, in a few words, any tasks which you want to get done.

You can write out your to-do list on paper, in an online calendar, or in a specific piece of software – whatever works for you.

Do it: What tasks are on your mind for today and tomorrow? Get them onto paper.

#2: Pick One to Three Important Tasks

Having at to-do list is a great start. But if you’re like most people, your list may well contain more tasks than you can get done during the day – especially if you end up getting interrupted (or distracted).

Our natural instinct is to prioritize by urgency: we make a start on whatever’s got a hold on our attention – probably something due today or tomorrow. It might not be a very important task at all, and it might not even be truly urgent. (Can’t that email wait a few hours? Do you have to answer all your calls as they come in?)

At the start of the day, decide what one thing is most important. Then, if you want, pick another one or two tasks. Get these out of the way first, and you’ll find that all the urgent stuff still gets done.

Do it: Pick one important task to get done today – something which will give you a sense of satisfaction when you complete it.

#3: Reduce Procrastination

A little bit of procrastination is probably inevitable – and healthy. Often, when you’re idling, your subconscious is still working away on a problem.

Too much procrastination, though, can be a huge problem. If you waste hours of the day because you can’t bring yourself to tackle the tasks on your list, you may well end up working late to finish everything. Procrastination isn’t particularly relaxing, either: you know that you’re supposed to be working, so you can’t really switch off.

If you find yourself wasting a lot of time, look for ways to avoid the distractions that lead to procrastination. Block websites which eat up your time. Turn off your internet connection while you’re writing. Don’t sit down with a book, telling yourself you’ll just read for ten minutes, when you’re planning to clean the kitchen.

Do it: Ask yourself what you’re wasting time on. How can you avoid procrastinating in this way?

#4: Work in Short Bursts

When you try to work solidly for hours on end, you inevitably end up getting tired and distracted. But if you work in short, focused bursts, you can get a huge amount done.

I know writers who’ll write, non-stop, for ten minute bursts at a time. It doesn’t sound like much – but their word count soon adds up. You’ll probably want to work in longer bursts (maybe 30 minutes or an hour).

There’s a well-known adage that work expands to fill the time available. When you know you’ve only got half an hour to clear your inbox, you work faster. You’ve almost certainly experienced this before: perhaps when you had a deadline coming up, or when you were trying to get something finished off before 5pm on a Friday.

Do it: With your next task, set a timer for 30 minutes and see how far you can get!

#5: Track Your Time

This is a slightly more involved technique, so I’ve saved it for last. If you’ve tried out the other tips on this list and you want to improve your time management even further, then try keeping a time log.

A time log is simply a record of what you’re doing when. It might look like:

• 8am – Started on emails
• 8.30am – Finished emails. Read online news site.
• 8.40am – Started big report

You can jot down your log on paper, or keep a spreadsheet.

Alternatively, if you work mainly on a computer, you can track your time using a software application like Rescue Time. This won’t be foolproof, but can give you a good starting point for seeing where your time is going.

Tracking your time can seem tedious – but it’s a great way to become more conscious of how you spend the day. The act of keeping the log itself often helps people to avoid procrastinating, just like keeping a food log often helps dieters lose weight without even trying.

Do it: For one day, write down everything you do. Are there any surprises?

If you’re new to time management, what is it that you struggle with most? And if you’re an old hand at this, what tips would you share? Let us know in the comments.

 

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Why do we have to work so hard to learn Time Management, to master it?
Shouldn’t we be born with the ability to work efficiently?

The problem is that we have the tendency to want to take the easy way, the short way, and as many have said before me, “A shortcut can often lead to long delays”.

Even though multitasking, relaxing and other shortcuts might feel as though they save time, working focused on one task at a time and obeying the rules of Time Management, is the real time saver.

How I learned this the hard way
I used to multitask all the time. I felt that if I could do 4 things at half speed I would get twice as much done. I planned my days, worked hard, but my results started getting worse and worse, I wasn’t working faster, it took about as long time as it used to, but the quality of my work suffered.

After about 3 months I realized the problem and started choosing one activity at a time to work on. I now focus 100% on the task I have chosen until it is finished. Quickly my results improved and the time it took to work through the day became less and less.

Improving your Time Management skills

To improve you need to be willing to learn and change your habits.

This requires a certain amount of humility, you aren’t perfect today, and you have room to improve.

3 techniques that will make you a better time manager

1. Batching Tasks

Each time you start a new task it takes time to “warm up”, you have to gather all the materials you need and it takes a while before you find a flow. Once you are done you need to put everything away, which wastes several minutes as well.

By spending longer time on each task you decrease the amount of time you spend “Warming up” and “Cooling down” every day.

2. Planning Your Weeks
By organizing your weeks to streamline processes and batch tasks you will save a lot of time.

It also grants you the calm to know that you will be doing all your tasks during the week. I have noticed in myself, and others, that it is easy to feel as though I should be doing more each day, but once I started using a weekly schedule I didn’t need to feel this way, since I knew the tasks would be handled at the right time.

3. Prioritizing you day

Most of us fail to start with the most important (and often most time consuming) task. Instead we hide and do simple tasks such as checking our email.

The problem with that approach is that it leaves the most difficult tasks to the end of the day. If you instead organize your day to have the most difficult tasks first and then have them getting easier and easier. It will motivate you to work faster since your day will be over once you have finished the final simple task.

It will take time to learn and require a lot of discipline, but if you put your mind to it you will quickly start saving 5 minutes here and 5 minutes there.

The information is out there
There are hundreds and hundreds of books on Time Management, thousands of blogs write about it, I write about it. If you want tips, you don’t have to look far.
What you need to do is make the decision, the decision to work on your Time Management skills.

Some of you might say that you don’t have the time, how are you going to spend time reading about Time Management when you already have so much on your plate.

But that is what is so great. You will save yourself hours, each day, by implementing the easy techniques I mentioned above. All of a sudden it will feel as though your days are almost empty.

If you feel like you have too much on your plate to read about Time Management, start reading only 5-15 minutes every day, I am sure you can fit that it, and you will notice how you will be able to fit more and more into your schedule.

Reward yourself

One last piece of advice I want to leave you with is; that you should reward yourself for your efforts.

If you successfully improve your time management skills and free up 1 hour per day, don’t fill it only with lots of new assignments, give yourself a little time off, and enjoy the benefits you have given yourself.

This was a guest post by Daniel M. Wood a well-known speaker and writer on Personal Development, Sales Technique and Motivation. Visit his blog Lookingtobusiness.com and download your copy of his free e-book, Double Your Income.

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I won’t remind you that airlines tell you to fit your oxygen mask before helping others. You already know that, and you know how the analogy goes.

I won’t waste your time patiently explaining why it’s important to have time for yourself, as though it’s something that only really matters because it lets you help others.

You have the right to private time to play, relax, goof off, or do whatever the heck you want. I don’t need to explain that to you, and no-one needs to give you permission.

The problem that you face isn’t knowing why time to yourself is important. It’s finding ways to get that time on a regular basis.

Here are four things to try.

#1: Block Out Time in Advance

Ever marvel at how you can keep a couple of days free in your calendar when you know you’ll be travelling?

The rest of the time, it seems like every day is packed full: you can’t imagine just having a whole free day open up in the middle of the week.

When you’ve got a meeting, a long trip or a vacation, your calendar stays clear. You’ve blocked out that time in advance, so you don’t fill it up with work or other commitments.

To get more time for yourself, do exactly the same thing. Figure it out in advance:

• Plan a “weekend off” several months ahead, so that you don’t end up filling it with the usual social obligations, chores and so on.
• Find an afternoon once or twice a month where you can escape to the theatre, to a gallery or out into the countryside – whatever makes you feel re-energised and alive.
• At the start of each day, pick half an hour when you get to do whatever you want: maybe reading a chapter or two of a novel, taking a bath, or going for a jog. You can find half an hour if you look ahead.

#2: Get Your Own Space

Ever settle down for some quality time on your own, only to get interrupted by a housemate or family member? Perhaps you’d just poured yourself a glass of wine and settled down with a magazine when your spouse came in to switch the television on, or maybe you were listening to an audio book when your kids started a screaming competition.

It’s hard to recharge your batteries when you’re surrounded by other people: even if they don’t mean to interrupt you, they often do. Find somewhere you can close the door and get away from it all. (If you’ve got children, that might mean escaping to a coffee shop or somewhere else out of the house.)

#3: Say What You Need

It’s absolutely okay to say to a friend I’m not coming out tonight. I need some time by myself. Sure, some extroverts may be puzzled – but they’ll soon get used to it.

Similarly, it’s fine to tell your partner, kids or housemates that you want some quiet time. Obviously you can’t enforce constant silence – but you can ask them to keep it down for an hour while you read or take a nap.

Be clear and assertive (not aggressive) about what you need, and encourage others to behave the same towards you.

#4: Experiment With Different Times of Day

Not all hours in the day are equal. You might find that it’s easiest for you to get some peaceful time on your own before the rest of the household is awake: perhaps you get up early to meditate, exercise or read.

Alternatively, you may be barely human until your third coffee of the morning. Perhaps your best time to focus on yourself is in the evening, once the kids are in bed.

Other options are:

• Your lunch hour (get out of the office if you can; if you stay at your desk, you’ll still have your mind on work)
• Stopping at a cafe on the way home from work
• Taking some time for yourself while your partner or flatmate cooks dinner
• Swapping childcare with a friend at weekends, so you both get some time to relax

What other tips do you have for getting enough time to yourself? Share them with us in the comments.

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Do you feel as though your work, studying or chores always end up taking too long? Do you feel as though you could be more effective if only you could stay on task?

Maybe you’re convinced it’s a question of will power, or organization, or motivation. The solution, though, might be very simple.

One of the easiest ways to get dramatic improvements in your productivity is to use a timer. You can grab the one from your kitchen, use the alarm on your phone, or try one of the popular free online timers like e.ggtimer.com or Tick Tock Timer.

When you’ve got a timing ticking away, you’ll suddenly discover a new sense of focus which you never knew you had. Here are five specific ways in which your timer will help:

Writing and Working Faster

A lot of the writers I know – of fiction and of non-fiction – use timers to focus for specific periods. It’s all too easy to get distracted when you’ve told yourself that you’ll spend a whole morning on that report or article or short story … when you’ve got thirty minutes to sit down and focus, you’re much more likely to get on with the task at hand.

Timers work particularly well for big tasks without an obvious end point, like clearing your emails. You might not be able to face getting through the whole backlog at once – but spending fifteen focused minutes every day will go a long way to clearing it.

Studying More Effectively

If you’re in school or working towards a qualification, you’ll be spending at least some of your time studying. Your brain can’t focus on learning for hours on end – experts think that it’s best to concentrate for between 25 and 45 minutes, then take a break to recharge.

Next time you sit down to study, try setting a timer for thirty minutes. It’s a lot easier to stay focused and motivated when you know you have a break coming up.

Getting Through Chores

I hate doing chores, and often end up putting them off – which only means they end up being more of a pain! You might well feel the same. One technique that works really well is to spend just five to fifteen minutes on something – it’s surprising how much you can get done. Even I can just about stand to clean the kitchen for ten minutes!

FlyLady popularized the idea of using a fifteen minute timer to tackle chores, and hosts of fans around the internet testify to the effectiveness of this.

All we ask is that you set a timer and spend 15 minutes a day decluttering. That’s it. Anyone can do anything for only 15 minutes, even if you have to break it down into 5 minutes segments.

(Declutter 15 Minutes a Day – 5 Great Tools That Make it Easy! on FlyLady.net)

Limiting Your Procrastination

We all need to take breaks in order to remain productive. The problem is, it’s all too easy for a twenty-minute break to turn into two hours of browsing the net and giggling at pictures of cats with silly captions.

When you decide it’s time for a break, set a timer. Give yourself around ten – twenty minutes, depending on what you feel you need. Once that alarm goes off, get straight back on track with your next task. (It helps if you’ve made up your mind what to do next before taking your break.)

Making Phone Calls

How often have you been on the phone with someone for far longer than you meant to? It’s easy to lose track of time when you’re chatting, only to realize that a whole hour’s gone by. If you’re making a call, set a timer going (preferably one which has a silent alert, like a pop-up on the screen). Once the alarm goes off, you’ll be reminded to draw the conversation to a close.

If you’re conducting an interview by phone, this is also a good technique to make sure you don’t have to keep one eye on the clock – you can chat away with your full focus on the conversation, and when your alarm goes off to tell you there’s five or ten minutes to go, you can draw things to a close.

Have you tried using a timer to improve your productivity? How did it work out for you?

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“Which Direction I (You Are Here)” Courtesy of Vido Drago

Whether you’re studying on a college program, for a career qualification, or just for personal interest, you’ll want to make a success of it. But few of us have the luxury of being able to just study – life has to go on as well.

You’ve probably already figured out that having a plan helps you to study consistently (rather than giving up, or cramming in hours of work just before exams). But how can you make sure you actually stick to the plans which you’ve made?

Be Realistic

Firstly, be realistic. Many of us are prone to over-estimating how much we can get done – and studying is a high-energy, intense activity which requires a lot of concentration. You simply can’t focus at that level for hours at a time.

Sometimes, being realistic about your studying plans might mean looking at the other commitments in your life. Do you need to ditch something else in order to have time to study effectively? Can you cut down on social activities to give yourself a couple of weeknights free for studying?

Find Your Best Time of Day

Are you a lark? Some people are at their best in the morning, before the demands of the day have crowded in. If that’s you, then try setting your alarm 30 minutes earlier so that you can spend this high-focus time on your studying.

Or are you an owl? Without the constraints of a school day, you can choose to study late at night, if that suits you. For parents, this can be a good time because children are in bed and the house is quiet.

Even if you think you know what time of day’s best for you, try experimenting for a week or two. Perhaps your lunch hour is a great opportunity to practice your French vocabulary, or maybe you can drive to a coffee shop on the way home from work and study there until 6.30pm.

Have a Place to Study

As well as finding the right time to study, you’ll want to find the right place. Your studying environment can make all the difference when it comes to sticking to your plans. You’ll want to find a place where:

• You’re not likely to be interrupted
• There are no noises intruding (music etc is fine – but it should be noise which you choose)
• You have enough space to spread out any studying materials that you’re using
• You’re in a studying mood – so the family den may not be the best place

If your schedule is very packed, you’ll probably want to study somewhere in or very near your home, so that you don’t spend much time simply getting there. If you have more time, you could try picking a study location a little further away – this can be useful because once you’re there, you’ll be much less tempted to wander back home the moment you get bored!

Mix Things Up

It’s easy to get bored with a study plan if you’re constantly working on the same things. Rather than trying to trawl through the whole of a particular topic in one week, try mixing up your plan a little. Working on one topic one day and something completely different the next will help you to stay energised and fresh.

You can also try a mix of different learning methods. There’s no one “right” way to study. Consider:

• Taking notes from books as you’re reading
• Reading for half an hour, then writing down notes from what you remember
• Listening to audio material while commuting
• Watching videos
• Going to seminars or classes
• Talking to fellow students about what you’re learning
• Writing an article or blog post based on what you’ve been studying (perhaps a beginners’ guide)
• Drawing diagrams or pictures to help you remember or understand a concept

Build in Flexibility

How often have you made a perfect study plan, only to have it fall apart as soon as something unexpected cropped up? Life happens – and sometimes you’ll have to cancel a planned study session in order to deal with an interruption or an emergency.

Be prepared for this in advance: when you draw up your studying schedule, allow some “spare” time which you can use if you need to catch up. Even if your week goes perfectly, you may find that some areas of study simply take longer than you expected – and this buffer time lets you allow for that.

Track Your Progress

Finally, it’s easiest to stick with a plan when you can see that it’s working! There are lots of ways to track your progress: for example, you could tick off study sessions on your calendar, or award yourself a gold star at the end of each week when you’ve successfully completely all the studying which you’d planned.

You can also review the material that you’re learning: perhaps taking a quiz or practice exam at regular intervals. If you can see that you’re making constant improvements, you can remind yourself to stick with your studying despite day-to-day fluctuations in your motivation levels.

If you’re studying – whether formally or informally – do you have a plan? What helps you to stick with it?

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What’s your guilty reality TV pleasure? The Bachelor? Survivor? America’s Got Talent? Of course, the granddaddy of them all — American Idol — just started a new season. Some 30 or 40 million fans have been waiting six months for American Idol to kick off. If this season is anything like last season, expect at least 50 hours of American Idol on your TV. No, that’s not a typo.

Last year I gave you a few ideas on what you could have done with those 50 hours instead of watch American Idol. For example, you could earn an extra $1,000, read several books, start writing your own book, burn 43,000 calories jogging, learn the waltz, and others. But, who am I kidding? If you like the show, you’re not going to listen to me. Heck, I’m not even going to listen to me because I’m going to watch this season!

But you’re nuts if you think I’m going to waste 50 hours. Here are my 5 rules for watching reality TV efficiently:

1. Never forget the price of an hour. Quick, what’s the average life expectancy for someone in the United States? According to the Center for Disease Control, it is 77.8 years; but the guys in white lab coats at the CDC got it wrong. Sleep and work take 313,176 hours of our life. This leaves us 368,352 hours — 42 years. That’s our real life expectancy. Watching a couple of hours of TV might not seem like a big deal (most people watch 4 hours and 35 minutes per day!), but if you only have 8 real hours a day, those two hours suddenly represent 25% of your day! Next time you start flipping mindlessly through the channels, ask yourself if you really want to invest 25% or 50% of your day to TV.
2. Never watch live TV. This is so obvious I questioned including it, but you’d be shocked at the number of people who still watch those, uh, those short annoying things that interrupt the show. You’ll save about 20 minutes for every hour of TV you watch. This one is a no-brainer. Get a DVR and use it.
3. Never watch the elimination episodes. This should save you about 15 hours and at least a dozen brain cells. How they can create an hour-long show around a 30 second elimination both infuriates and impresses me.
4. Never just watch TV. American Idol ain’t rocket science. There are a thousand things you could be doing while watching. Here are a few ideas: pay bills, read a magazine, exercise, write notes to family and friends, surf the web, connect with Facebook friends, pack tomorrow’s lunch, fold your clothes, or give a massage.
5. Never watch TV alone. If you’re going to kill two hours watching the latest reality show, you might as well make a party out of it. Invite friends over and encourage them to bring somebody new each week — this way you get to expand your network, connect with your friends, and watch some TV at the same time.

I once went two years without watching any TV, and guess what? I didn’t miss a thing. I do watch some TV now, but I make sure I am conscious about what I’m watching and how I’m watching it. If you follow these 5 rules, you’ll still enjoy TV but you’ll achieve more.

And remember, the other 8 hours are your most precious time to create a more financially secure and rewarding life. Don’t spend all of this time watching others try to achieve their dream while neglecting your own.

For a limited time, you can download several free resources (assessment, poster, audio interview, video, and more) at www.other8hours.com and learn more about my new book, The Other 8 Hours: Maximize Your Free Time to Create New Wealth & Purpose.

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Is it possible that you are (at least partially) responsible for your hectic, over-scheduled, and downright crazy schedule? Some of your time pressure is legitimate. You have HOA meetings to attend, kids that need a ride to soccer practice, household chores that need to be finished, and a host of other responsibilities. But studies show that we have more leisure time now than we have in the past.

While you may have more “leisure” time now than before, it won’t feel like it if you fill your free time with activities that aren’t enriching. Still, the challenge is freeing up more time in an environment where it feels like there are more and more demands on your time.

If you look closely at how you spend your time and discover that you may be your own worst enemy, try the following two strategies:

Abstaining

Don’t be a time slut. If you’re the type of person who can’t say no to favors and requests, others will take advantage of you. If you sacrifice your other 8 hours to benefit someone else, they will keep coming back for more and more until you’ve got nothing left to give.

So wise up!  Make it your policy that your default answer is, “I’m sorry, I just can’t help you with that.” If that’s too strong, follow it up with “because I’m working on a deadline, have a previous engagement, late for an meeting/appointment, taking care of my sick mother, getting checked for a rare and contagious disease, etc.” Whatever you say, you’ve got to have a sense of urgency in your voice, and you’ve got to extract yourself from the conversation as quickly as possible by saying, “Let’s catch up soon though.”

Balancing

Be more like the Governator. You may have heard that the Federal budget deficit is over one trillion dollars. That means the federal government is spending a whole lot more than it receives in taxes. This is similar to someone who gets into credit card debt. Few know this, but state governments can only spend as much as they make. If the Governator wants to add a program, he has to subtract the money from somewhere else. This is called pay-go, as in you pay for things as you go.

Your job is to adopt a “pay-go” type of policy with your time. Before you agree to join a non-profit board, train for a marathon, volunteer at a local soup kitchen, help a friend move, start a Bible study, take a night class, or help your neighbor have a garage sale, you must eliminate that time from something else. Picture a balance that you need to keep level. If you add something to your schedule, you have to subtract something to keep it in balance. This will help protect your time by forcing you to limit your commitments.

I preach that the way to create new wealth and purpose is to invest your other 8 hours. You might not have 8 hours, but you probably have more time than you think. Abstain and Balance to free up more time so you can start a business, write a book, or create something.

Robert Pagliarini writes for CBS MoneyWatch and is the author of three books including the latest, The Other 8 Hours: Maximize Your Free Time to Create New Wealth and Purpose. For a limited time, you can download several free resources (assessment, poster, audio interview, video, and more) from the book at www.other8hours.com.  Copyright 2009 CBS Interactive, Inc.

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