Once you wrap your head around the idea that time-management is really self-management, time management isn’t something outside of yourself, but an internal part of your very being.

If you procrastinate or waste time, you are not managing yourself and your life as well as you could be.

Instead of asking yourself what is often suggested by time management gurus: what’s the best use of my time right now, ask yourself: what’s the best thing I can do for myself right now?

This works together with thinking about your future self. If you do what’s in your self-interest for getting things done, your future self will thank you. Everything will fall into place. You will begin to automatically do the most important things when you are at your peak during the day or evening. And you will get the more mundane, easier-on-the-brain things done at other times. You will no longer procrastinate or waste time because you realize it’s not going to get you where you want to be.

Instead of thinking about the things you have to do as being “tasks” or even “chores,” think of them as being part of who you are and who you want to become.

To accomplish this, you need to plan your life so that it gives you joy, so that almost everything you do makes you happy to be doing it, and gives you a sense of satisfaction when you’re finished.  Sometimes this will require an attitude adjustment. Maybe scrubbing the bathroom isn’t your idea of something that will make you happy, but if you think about how it will help you live in a healthy environment and gets you moving around (especially is you have a sit-down job), you may find yourself tackling the chore with a little more appreciation for the benefits of doing it, or even happiness that it’s giving you a break from something else when you need one. Not to mention you will be happier when it’s all done.

Just one example of how you can manage yourself in a better, happier, more productive way. Go through all the tasks you have listed on your to-do list and find a way to translate them from chores to happy pieces that make up your life.

Call it Life Management.