Manage Your Time Like it's All You've Got!
Behavioral Tools that Get Stuff Done
Your time is filled by behaviors—yours and other people’s. But is your time filled with productive behaviors? Or is it filled with other people’s priorities and your own fun procrastinations? When you abandon your own priority tasks and give your time to outside influences, you’re inadvertently procrastinating your own priorities.
To a large extent (much larger than you may think), you can control your time if you accept these two principles:
- You can largely determine and limit the time you spend on specific tasks
- You can influence how much other people’s behaviors use (and perhaps waste) your time.
You will find practical tools in this book for using your own antecedents, behaviors, and consequences. If any of these tools seem to you like a drastic change, there is no need to commit to using it forever; just try it as a test. If it works for you, you have a new tool. When these tools work, you’ll be minimizing time-wasting and maximizing behaviors that use your time like it’s all you’ve got. It is.
Drive thy business, or it will drive thee.
— Benjamin Franklin
A Standout from other Time Management Books
By Darnell Lattal, PhD
Three things make this book unique, a standout from other time management books:
- The authors share their engaging and honest perspectives, and the book is full of fun, personal examples, and exercises so you can actually change your behavior.
- Instead of just wishing you the best of luck, the authors provide solid principles to build new patterns of behaving by applying the science that underlies behavior change. While the topic is said to be about time, don’t be fooled. It is about living life well.
- This book helps you find purpose in managing time in order to live a values-driven life.
Get the Self- & Time-Management Planner by co-author Shauna Costello
One size doesn’t fit all. It would be easy to skip the introduction and just start using the planner, but that is not the inspiration behind this planner. Through self-reflection and an I Do, We Do, You Do method you can find the simplest way for you to prioritize what is important in your life. Don’t do it like me; do it like you.
About the Authors
To the reader’s benefit, these three authors are clear-eyed thinkers grounded in the science of behavior, giving us all a chance to address the tips and strategies they offer against a plan for self-improvement. Look for the pink folder as you read this book. Consider the sage advice and how the owner of that folder’s story is a clear demonstration of managing time to reflect a life of accomplishment and caring, a life of purpose that gives joy. See if this book can help you increase the kind of impact on your world that you want to have, bringing you a feeling of satisfaction that today, and every day, you used time for a good cause. What’s in your pink folder?
Allison King, Ph.D., BCBA
Allison King is a woman who cares about her world. She makes it easy for you to master principles of self-change that can then apply to every aspect of your life. Allison is driven by accomplishing her goals and yet she does so in a way that leaves you believing she has all the time in the world—just for you. That is a gift. As you read this book, look for that in her turn of phrase as she writes about her journey through time, knowing with unblinking realism that this commodity we are seeking to master is not ours forever. She states, early on in the book, “Remind yourself every day that your time is finite. Do something that helps you really feel that fact.”
Shauna Costello, MA, BCBA
Shauna Costello is a direct, clear, and open person who invites you in to see her as she is. She is a feisty time manager. So much of what she writes about is her determination to surround herself and those who depend on her with all the tools she can to keep moving forward while living life as she knows best for her. She emphasizes our uniqueness, that we are not the same, and therefore how we manage the conditions that surround us will be different. She celebrates diversity. She says, early on, “Don’t do it like me; do it like you! . . . whatever life will throw at you.” There is no cookie-cutter approach from this wonderful human being.
Janis Allen
Janis Allen was the instigator of this book and her stories bring It to roaring life. Janis insists that you don’t dawdle. While telling you to get going she offers a wonderful hand to help you do just that. This book is fun because of the stories as well as the direction offered. Janis is a storyteller without comparison—each of her stories has a well-chosen purpose. For me, Janis’s central message is value yourself. I find that very difficult to do at times, particularly her advice on saying no without guilt. Consider her advice: “I protect my time like a mama bear protecting her cubs. That means full-time vigilance for intruders and a willingness to act.”
ACE Approved CE: Behavioral Techniques for Managing Your Time
Instructor: Janis Allen
5 hours, 1 minute
6.0 BACB, 3 credits towards Supervision
Price: $72.00
Course Description: From a behavior analytic perspective, our own behaviors and behaviors of other people that use time productively or waste time. To a large extent (much larger than you may think), you can control your time if you accept these two principles: 1. You can largely determine and limit the time you spend on specific tasks, and 2. You can influence how much other people’s behaviors use (and perhaps waste) your time
A look inside the book
