Have you ever thought of making a personal documentary to tell your story or maybe the family story?

Well that is the idea behind relate your story.

Darin Johnson talked to me about the idea of making a professional personal documentary and it makes total sense.

We all have a story to tell and typically wait too long to think about sharing that story.

Or by the time we are ready to talk there is nobody around to listen or record the tale.

With all the new technology at hand you would think we might be more apt to tell and share our past, think again.

Maybe that is a project for one of my classes, record the family story!

Maybe that is something we need to do at the end of our school mile stones, make a personal documentary of record.

Imagine sharing your primary school video of advice with your grandchildren?

Hmmm I think Darin is on to something!

I am a full time associate professor at Zayed University, do some radio broadcasting on DubaiEye and also manage to engage in the community with a number of small projects from TEDxDubai to school radio at Wellington International School.

The question people ask is how do I have the time and energy to go from about 5am until 10pm all week?

Here is my guide to getting the most out of your day.

1. exercise

I exercise one way or another everyday.  I walk or run at 5am most mornings. If I cannot walk or run int he mornings I swim a kilometer at lunch.

2. eliminate redundancies

Get control of your email! I answer mine only once a day in the morning. If people really need to contact you they can call and few if anything needs an immediate answer.

Cut down your surfing the net, again give yourself an hour and then turn off the computer.

Set times for your activities and respect them.

3. Juice

Fresh fruit and vegetable juice is essential to your well-being! I have a juicer that I use at least 2x a day.  It is easy, healthy and fun!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s79A23YddHk[/youtube]

4. You Time

There has to be a time during the day when you do your thing, something that has no connection to work!

No work phone calls, turn off the mobile!

You need a distraction.

While this is not an exhaustive DIY list it is a guide to how I manage to pack my week with many varying activities and for the most part succeed at them all.

I am sure you are repeating those words, time theft and wondering what can I be talking about.

Well, if you are anything like me you spend a bit of time on the email. messages come in and people think, dream and hope really, that you will put your life on hold and tend to their needs!

Not so long ago, 15 years maybe, we got the mail a couple of times a day delivered to the office, a few memos and probably a stack of phone messages that we worked our way through and then re-started the next day!

Life was good, life was easy, life was organized and we lived with reasonable time expectations.

So why do we put up with the demands on our time that are unreasonable?

I want to go back to the better days!

Tim Ferriss author of the 4 hour work week he did this long ago, went back to the old way of dealing with demands on his time, he looks at his email once a day!

It is liberating in more ways than one!

This past weekend I did it!

Here is the new auto reply on my email account!

Thank you for contacting me via email.

I only look at my email account weekdays in the morning before 10am.

You can expect a response by tomorrow.

Alternatively weekdays I am in my office and can be reached at 00971 4-402-1455. Leave a message on the machine I do listen and return them.

I am also on twitter JAMESED_ME and Facebook, James Piecowye, these are alternative ways to contact me.

Again thank you for your message.

James

I cannot tell you the liberation I feel by just telling people that I own my time and I will get to their needs in good time!

And if a person really needs something they can call me, they can come to the office but they cannot just send an email and expect me to jump.

I fell like I have gone back to the future!