I know what you're thinking, "I just said that today." We've all heard these words so often that we never take the time to listen to what we're actually saying.

We hear and use these words so frequently that we never question their accuracy. Instead we convince ourselves, without a doubt, of their truth. I want to make a point here and now:

You cannot "make" or "manage" time. You can only create and manage personal events.

Webster's dictionary says, "To manage something is to 'handle,' 'direct' or 'alter' something for a purpose." You cannot manage time because you cannot handle, direct or alter time for any purpose. You cannot speed up time and you cannot slow time down.

You can only control and manage the events that you personally carry out in the time that already exists.

So, the next time you hear the words, "Time Management," remember, there is no such thing as "Time Management."

"Event Management" is the only way to successfully pretend that you are actually managing time.

By the way, organizing your daily events in segments of 15 minutes or less throughout the whole day will give you the perception that you are actually capturing and slowing time down.

The "Hidden" Principle Of Success

It is common knowledge that there are success principles that, when followed diligently, yield great success in any area of our lives. So why is it that so many people who have achieved obvious and significant success in one area of their life lack significant success in other areas of their life? If we truly knew how it was that we became successful in one particular area, would we not want to apply those same principles to all the other areas of our life?

We would be right in saying that if we are significantly successful in one area of our life and significantly not successful in other areas, then we either:

1. Don't care about being successful in those other areas of our life.
2. Have accepted the false truth that, "In order to achieve significant success in any one area of life, we must sacrifice all other areas of our life."
3. Perhaps we don't really know exactly how we became successful in that one area. There may be other principles of success in action behind the scenes, of which we are simply not aware, apart from the obvious ones that have caused our success such as passion, determination, perseverance and focus of consistent effort.

If we assume that the real reason is point number three, what other possible principles of success are in action behind the scenes - ones of which we are not aware of or that we refuse to pay attention to?

On a daily basis, there are two types of "events/activities," that we all engage in: Present-Based events & Future-Based Events.

Present-based events allow us to maintain a certain level of comfort and happiness in our life. However, no matter how much time and dedication we put into these events, they will not cause any significant change in our present life or lifestyle. These present-based events alone will not create a new and better future significantly different from the one we currently experience.

Two Examples:

1. No matter how much time we put into cleaning our house, the house cleaning event will not move us to a nicer home in the future. It will only keep our present home clean.
2. Reading positive mental attitude books will almost always makes us feel good about the possibilities of a better future. However, no matter how much we read, our future will never differ from our present until we apply what we've learned from our reading and actually do something that will directly create a different future.

Future-based events are the source of change in our life and lifestyle; they create our new and better future. However, unless we know exactly why we are engaged in this type of an event, we can easily get discouraged to the brink of quitting. When we engage in a future-based event, immediate results are often not seen. The results of future-based events "show up" in the future.

Two Examples:

1. People who weight train don't expect to look and feel great the same day they work out. Quite the contrary; the exhaustion and aches experienced after weight training often last a day or two. People choose to go through the pain and struggle of working out so they can look forward to feeling and looking great in the near future.
2. Sales people can listen to motivational CDs and practice their presentation all day long, but until they pick up the phone and contact somebody about their product or business they will never create a future that is different from their present; they will only continue to experience what they presently have in the future.

If we busy ourselves all day long with only present-based events, we will be guaranteeing our future lifestyle to look exactly like the one we currently have in the present. The key to success lies in truly understanding and differentiating between a present-based and a future-based event. When making a list of present-based and future-based events, we may be uncertain whether an event is present-based or future-based because either could be justified. The deciding factor will be based on the actual goals we have set for ourselves in the different areas of our lives. We first need to know exactly what we want to achieve in the future, so we can then set up a game plan to achieve it.