I remember a story about a woman with a family, husband, job, and many varied interests. She tried getting everything managed but always seem to drop the ball somewhere. After reading an article about managing your time, she realized that if she got up 15 minutes earlier, then she’d have the time she needed. Delighted she continued to add 15 minutes periodically to her daily schedule until … one day she realized that she had to get up 15 minutes before she went to bed.

Do you ever feel like that? Learning how to set priorities and saying ‘no’ to some things can be a challenge to some of us. How many hours per day do you already have committed to job, family, church, or other activities? How much sleep do you require to stay healthy? Here are a few suggestions on how to use those little pieces of time:

1. With Kindle, Nook, iPad, and cell phones that give you access to internet and many apps, you can take care of reading emails or books or paying your bills on line while waiting to pick up your children or another family member. DO NOT do these tasks while your car is moving unless you are not the driver, please!

2. If your job requires travel, then you probably spend time in airports or on planes. Use that time.

3. Do you have a deadline to meet for a project at work or to submit an article? Move that to the front of your priority tasks.

4. Let your list of things to do act as a guide. The most important things rise to the top like cream. Take care of those first. Everything on the list will move up in priority in it’s own time.

5. When there is a conflict between two responsibilities, then delegate one of them to someone else.

Hope these help you with your juggling act. BTW – don’t forget to take some time for yourself. If you don’t charge your own battery, then you won’t have the energy when you need it.