How often are you distracted by things that don't move your agenda forward, and then wonder why you seem to have run out of time? If you're not sure, take notes on this for just half a day. The results may surprise you. If you are "normal" and honest about it, the results will shock you. And you will find huge opportunities for freeing up time you can use more wisely than you presently do.

Here are some questions to get you thinking about this exercise.

• Do you reach for the phone, simply because it rings?
• Do you respond to an e-mail, simply because it's in your In box, or do you shuttle it to a ToDo folder for later?
• Do you engage in "polite conversation" until your next appointment is almost upon you?
• When faced with more than one activity to do, is your choice based on which one really matters more or on something else?
• Is your day fragmented by interruptions and low-value tasks?
• When your mail arrives, do you open every piece or quickly pull out the urgent mail and save the rest for later?
• Do you eat "fast food" in an effort to save time? If so, you are actually wasting time--huge, painful, expensive swaths of time. Not only do you take an immediate performance hit, but you are ensuring you will have medical problems and loss of function that you would not otherwise have.

Life is about choices. Make them wisely, and you will avoid wasting the limited time you have. You must be proactive about this. Letting the choices make themselves is also a choice--and it's one that leads to poor results.