Page 188 - Talane Miedaner - Coach Yourself to a New Career_ 7 Steps to Reinventing Your Professional Life (2010)

176 COACH YOURSELF TO A NEW CAREER

or two until everyone left at about eleven p.m. As an unexpected
side bonus, he was actually more productive after this much-
needed mental break. Now, that is a notable example of managing
appearances and working smarter! Remember, if you can’t carve
out some time for yourself, you’ll be blocked from finding a new
career or starting a new business.

Eliminate All the Big Time Wasters

Unplug the TV. On average, people
watch twenty-four hours of TV a week.
You will never “find”
If you hide the TV in the closet, you’ll
time for anything. If
be dumbstruck at how much extra time
you want time you
you suddenly have to focus on finding
must make it.
your new career or starting that busi-
—CHARLES BUXTON ness. Encourage the whole family to
detach from the TV and engage in other
activities as a way to support you in your
new venture. If family members won’t participate, then move the
TV to a room where you won’t be tempted.

Automate, Systematize, and Delegate

It takes some time to set up the systems needed to handle the time-
consuming tasks of modern life, but once you’ve done it, you’ll reap
the benefits for years to come. You need to free up as much time as
possible from mundane daily tasks in order to create the time for the
job search, for getting new training, or for starting your own business.
It is well worth the initial investment up front for the long-run savings
in time. If you haven’t set up bill-paying online or automatic debits, do
it now! This is one task that is time-consuming and easy to automate.
Another way to create more time for yourself is to teach the
kids how to do the laundry and cook simple meals. It will help
them in the long run, as they’ll need to learn this stuff eventually.