You already know this stuff
While I tried to avoid quoting a lot of time management books in this book, I did include a lot of quotes that you’ve probably heard before:
- Time is Money
- Less is More
That was intentional. It shows that you already know this stuff. Most of the ideas I included are not earth shattering; in fact, many are common sense. You’ve probably even applied a number of these ideas to your own life at one point or another. But sometimes it’s helpful to be reminded.
Quick Recap
Despite my intention to keep the messages simple and put them in a logical order, the fact is that you’ll forget most of the principles in just a few days. That’s ok, I’m not offended. Studies show that we retain less than half of what we learn. That’s why it’s helpful to re-read books from time to time. But this book is about time management, so I’m not going to suggest that you re-read this book anytime soon. Instead, here’s a quick summary that you can refer back to whenever you need a refresher:
- One
- Two
- Three
Follow Your Own Advice
Now that this book is done, it’s time to follow my own advice and apply some of the principles I’ve written about. So, my final piece of advice for you is to do the same thing. While I’ve included a lot of ideas in this book, it’s certainly not exhaustive. There of plenty of other good ideas that will allow you to clear the cutter from your life and maximize your time so you can make the most of this short time we have on earth. If you didn’t find all of the ideas you were hoping for in this book, no worries. You can read others, but perhaps the best thing to do is to develop some ideas of your own. As I said in the beginning, a lot of these principles are just common sense. We already know what to do; it’s just a matter of doing it. So consider writing a book of your own, or at least a long article, with your ideas about how you can better organize your time to get everything you want out of life. Then go follow your own advice.
What now?
Now that the clutter is removed from your life and the memories are captured, now that many of your tasks have been eliminated and your recurring ones are on autopilot, now that you’ve arranged your life so you can work from anywhere, anytime, for as long as it takes but not for some artificial forty-hour work week, now that you’ve learned to say no to requests that don’t move you closer to your goals, what do you see when you look into your crystal ball? Probably a lot of empty time. That can be scary, but it can also be exciting. You have a blank slate, and you can fill it with whatever you want. But do fill it, because the time will pass either way, and wouldn’t it be nice to start tackling some of those bucket list items and creating bigger, better memories?
Once you’ve reached your destination, it’s time to dream new dreams and set new goals. Start working on some of those higher levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy. You may want to spend some time trying to make the world a better place. If you have a lot of money, you could become a philanthropist. That’s what some billionaires do once they’ve made their fortune. But it doesn’t take a lot of money to make a difference. If you help just one person live a better life, you’ve done your part.
Pass It On
In the insurance industry, like a lot of industries, we work off referrals. The goal is to do a good job for the client so he or she will tell recommend us to their friends. While most people don’t like sharing our circle’s contact info with other people, even if they did a good job and our friends could use their services, many of us will tell our friends when we receive good service or find a good solution. In fact, isn’t that what we do when we leave a good review on Yelp, Google, Amazon, TripAdvisor, or some other review site for a product or service?
I’d ask that you do the same. If you liked this book and got some helpful ideas from it, tell your friends about it so they can benefit too. If it can make a difference in your life, then it can certainly make a difference in theirs. But tell them to buy their own copy! Or give it to them as a gift – you’ll literally be giving them the gift of time.
Further Reading
Here’s a list of books on the topics of time management, getting things done, and money that have influenced me. I’d recommend each of them. (short summary)
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
Eat That Frog
The Richest Man in Babylon
The Alchemist
The One Thing
Getting Things Done
The Paradox of Choice
Lessons Learned
From each book