Summary

Award-winning reporter Carolyn Castleberry brings workable solutions to help women discover and apply the right strategies for time management in their lives, freeing them to invest themselves in what really matters.American women are in a time crisis. There's just not enough time. They are doing more but enjoying it less. Fueled by both internal and external pressures, they run from task to task without pausing to ask themselves, "Do I really want to do all this stuff? Why can't I get a handle on managing my time?" How can they find true time balance in their supercharged, over-scheduled lives?Carolyn Castleberry, anchor and co-host ofLiving the Lifeon ABC's Family Channel, has not only asked herself these questions, but she has interviewed countless accomplished newsmakers over the years. Determined to bring workable solutions to women, she commissioned a national survey on women and time. Roughly half of those surveyed feel busier than they did five years ago (50%), don't feel there's enough time to get everything done (45%), and say they don't have enough time for themselves (43%). One in three women (34%) described themselves as overwhelmed.This book delivers proven, effective strategies for time management. First, it offers women a chance to take a self-test to see where they fall on the "time-balance scale," a tool to assist the reader in diagnosing her time management style in order to apply the right strategies and biblical principles to fit her needs. Castleberry describes five major groups of women when it comes to time management: the Overwhelmed, the Procrastinators, the Pressured, the Self-Stressed, and the Balanced. Once diagnosed, readers discover the unique factors standing in their way of effectiveness. They explore the time traps that need to be avoided -- those habits, decisions, and disempowering thoughts and words that literally steal time. Then with smart biblical strategies in place, readers will discover how to select their true priorities and invest their talents, careers, and selves in living to do what really matters.

Author Biography

Carolyn Castleberry is an international television co-host on ABC Family’s Living the Life. She has authored Women, Take Charge of Your Money and Get Answers About Your Money. As an award-winning reporter and television anchor, her reports have been featured on such major media outlets as CNN, FOX & Friends, Family News in Focus, and print publications across the country. She lives in Norfolk, Virginia.

You Don't Have Time for This?PART ONEGET READY TO TAKE BACK TIME1. Time Crunched2. This Is Your TimePART TWOTEN + TEN = TIME3. The Overwhelmed10 Smart Strategies to Tame Time Traps4. The Procrastinators10 Smart Strategies to Overcome Time-Stealing Habits5. The Pressured10 Smart Strategies for Stellar Decision Making6. The Self-Stressed10 Smart Strategies Using Thoughts and WordsPART THREEINVESTING TIME AND TALENTS7. Time for Your Loved Ones8. Time for Work That Matters9. Time for Money Matters10. Now Is Your TimeWhere Does the Time Go?Personal Strategy NotesAcknowledgmentsNotes

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Excerpts

1Time CrunchedThere is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.-- ECCLESIASTES 3:1 NIVAs a young woman, I took time for granted. Not anymore. Some of us understand intuitively that time is our greatest gift -- ours to invest for a lifetime. For others, like me, it takes a defining moment to realize that moments, hours, and days are all we have -- a defining moment followed by a complete shift in life priorities. It may be losing a loved one. It may be giving up on a dream. For me it was having two healthy babies and losing two babies, one in the second trimester of pregnancy. For years I had been a career woman and wasn't even sure I had time for kids. Time was all about me. But having and losing children -- struggling for the dream of motherhood I hadn't even realized was hidden deep within me -- caused me to reevaluate my time in a big way. More on my story in a moment...as we say on TV.First let's talk about you. After all, it's about time. Yours. In decades of television and radio interviews, I've heard one consistent theme: American women are in a time crisis. "There's just not enough time," everyone seems to say. We're doing more but are less satisfied. Fueled by both internal and external pressures, we run from task to task without pausing to ask ourselves,Do I really want to do all this stuff? Am I investing my life where it matters?How do we manage to find the time to balance our supercharged, overscheduled lives?To prove that I wasn't just imagining this time crisis, I commissioned a national survey on women and time (go to www.carolyncastleberry.com for the full scoop on how we put this together, who we interviewed, and verbatim comments from our participants). Sure enough, in an online survey of three hundred women, we found that 74 percent of them weren't happy with how they spent their time. That's three out of four!Half of our group felt busier than they did five years ago (50 percent); nearly that many didn't feel there was enough time to get everything done (45 percent) and said they didn't have enough time for themselves (43 percent). Here's another finding that confirmed what women are saying -- one in three women (34 percent) described herself as overwhelmed. Listen to what some of the women said are their greatest time traps:"Too many demands on my time from people who do not consider that I have other things to do""Too many activities at one time as a single mom""Expecting too much from myself""Letting others tell me how things should be done""Lack of ambition or drive to get things done""I just have a lot going on. I am a full-time everything."How Do You Feel About Your Time?Whether or not you are also a "full-time everything," how do you feel about how you are investing your time? We asked the participants in our survey to tell us how much they agreed with several statements that measure perceptions in these four important areas impacting time management: Outside Pressures Attitudes Smart Strategies Time WastersA significant proportion of women felt stress and dissatisfaction about time management. Based on these attitudes toward time, we identified five groups of women, each with distinctive characteristics. Chances are you'll see yourself in one of these "time groups" -- which range from women who felt overwhelmed when it came to time management (34 percent) all the way to those who were very organized and comfortable with their ability to effectively use their time (26 percent). The remaining 40 percent felt they needed some help in managing time and had specific challenges that keep them from doing so.If you're looking for your basic, how-to-do-more-stuff time-management book, this isn't it. Instead, we'll look at the real reasons we're not investing our time the way we want to. You'll b