I am sure we have all experienced the troubles of a frustrating day. You wake up infinitely hopeful that you will accomplish an entire list of goals, but then life happens. Thankfully, there’s good news.
If my business experience has taught me one true thing, it’s this: maximizing your productivity, happiness, or impact can be accomplished. Through personal time management, you can get your schedule, and goals, back on track.
Here are 7 tips to get you started.
1. Know Your Values + Goals
Many people spend energy trying to be more efficient without first doing what's important: setting goals. Being without clear goals is like being lost on your way to a new city. And you know what? Driving faster doesn't help if you are going in the wrong direction. In this way, the compass is more important than the clock.
2. Check-In on How You’re Spending Time
Are your days slipping by without your goals being achieved? If so, it’s time to take a look at how you're spending your time. You can track this by setting a timer to go off every 15 minutes. Whenever it sounds, write down exactly what you are doing. Alternatively, divide your day into 15-minute blocks and record each activity you do.
Once you have your time logs, examine them. How do they compare to your goals? Are you spending time on where your priorities are?
3. Remember to Schedule in Some Fun
From a time management perspective, if you don’t have anything scheduled in the day that brings you joy, it’s hard to stay on track. This might sound like an unusual time management strategy, but trust me. There needs to be some enjoyment in that hustle!
4. Identify Why You’re Procrastinating
Are you procrastinating because you work better under pressure, or are you afraid of failing? While we may be able to label procrastination, it helps to take a look at what’s driving it. For instance, people often say I have great self-control. In truth, I control my environment to eliminate things that I might use to procrastinate.
In fact, I usually start my day with the one task that is causing me the most stress. Based on the theory that I can stand just about anything for 15 minutes, sometimes I only give it a quarter of an hour. If I still find myself procrastinating, I review my reasons for setting that goal.
5. Know Your Strengths + Delegate
One way to expand your time is to get others to help you with it. The key to delegation is to hand off any tasks that someone else can do significantly faster or more easily than you can.
If you're protesting that you don't have anyone working directly for you to whom you can delegate tasks, no problem. Consider delegating to a peer, a superior, a supplier, or even a customer. Treat delegation like networking: who in your network would be best for the job?
In some cases, you will need to invest up-front to train someone so he or she can take over a task from you. The long-term savings are usually worth the up-front time and costs.
6. Yes, You Can Say No
Saying "No" can be the most powerful time tool you can master. When someone asks you to do something, ask yourself how important this is. Does it help you achieve your goals? Is this a task you would be better at than most people? Don't always look for reasons to get out of things, but be strategic about what you take on.
7. Take Care of Yourself
It isn't possible to be "on" all the time. Take the time you need to look after yourself — body and soul — so that you can reach peak efficiency when you need to. Have a list of things you like to do. Find out what activities energize you, and spend more time doing them. This will give you the power and energy to be more productive when you return to work.
Finally, a word of advice. Time management is NOT about adding stress. It is about giving you the time to be the person you really want to be.
If you want to talk more about time management one-on-one, let’s get in touch. I can show you how these tips can be used as a way to create more alignment in your life.
