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THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE

As any financial planner committed to achieving the best outcomes for your financial future will tell you, having clarity about the lifestyle you want is one of the very first important foundations to developing a great financial plan.

Many people complain that they don't have the TIME to do the things that they really want to in their life. One quality of life formula that could therefore be:-

Quality of Life = Lifestyle Clarity x Time

Once you have clarity of what you want to do with your lifestyle, time is the next essential ingredient. The quality of our lifestyle is in direct proportion to how we choose to use our time. But when was the last time your really looked at how you invest your time (life) NOW?

It's About Time

The first step is to look at how we currently spend our normal week. Sketch out in five minutes a typical week for you now, being as specific with the times and activities as possible. For example, you might start with: get up on Monday at 6:30 am, catch bus at 8:00 am, get to work at 8:30 am, leave work at 6:00pm, get home at 6:30 pm for dinner at 7:00 pm, help the kids with homework at 8:00 pm, watch TV 9:30 pm, go to sleep at 10:30 pm and so on right through to Sunday.

Now score yourself out of 10 based on how much that week makes you feel happy and fulfilled. Many people score 3-4 out of 10. But even if you are scoring an 8, there are always things that you can do to make your week better. How we live each hour, each day, each week, each year, translates to how we live our life.

We can all achieve a better lifestyle by a little simple planning. It is simple - it takes some time, but it is simple. Time seems to be our constant challenge to enjoying our lifestyle, but we actually have more control over our time than we give ourselves credit for.

Few people ever sit down and draw up a schedule of how they spend their time and when they do they often find it surprising. For instance, how much of your week is now spent on things that you don't really enjoy? Many of us feel we have to do things that we don't enjoy, for example, certain responsibilities. But is there an imbalance? Can you change your schedule to do a little more of the things you love but hardly ever give yourself time for and a little less of the things that that don't "turn you on"?

Sometimes just the smallest things can make the biggest differences. What is one small thing that you could do this week - something which isn't that hard to do - but would make an immediate improvement on your lifestyle?

Ian Hutchinson (G.Dip.Psy, B.Bus, APS), Founder of Life by Design®, has built a reputation as Australia's leading lifestyle strategist. He has studied overseas with some of the world's leaders in lifestyle planning, and his lifestyle strategy work has been profiled throughout the media. His entertaining presentations are in demand throughout the world including Europe and the Middle East. Life by Design® can be contacted by phone on (02) 9979 4949, or visit www.lifebydesign.com.au.

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