Time Management 101
Time management, productivity, efficiency- all these terms are used interchangeably in the work place, and at home, to encompass the same idea: getting more done in the same amount of time. Or, in easy terms, working smarter, not harder.
There’s a lot of buzz around the idea of good time management leading to greater success in business at the moment, and with so much information out there, it can be hard to really understand the basics. Utilizing good time management, however, can increase productivity, free up our valuable time to do what we love, and decrease our stress levels.
But how do we become “good” at time management?
The first thing you really need to do? Realize exactly how much time you actually have.
I don’t want to waste too much time discussing this, so I will just quickly share with you my own eye-opening calculation in the chart below. Your math may look different, you may have different responsibilities or more people dependent on you, but I highly recommend you do this exercise for yourself.
So what do you do with those left over 50 hours in a week?
Schedule them. The author of Better Than Before, Gretchen Rubin, discusses this theory in more detail while describing her four tendencies. The tendencies are a post for another day, but there are three things that help with scheduling your time that are versatile enough to work with all personality types.
The first one? Make Appointments.
Even if it’s with yourself, schedule an actual appointment. It doesn’t matter if it’s something as small as a sink full of dishes, schedule it and act like you have a responsibility to get to that sink on time. This works especially well on side-projects. I made an appointment with myself to write this article at 2:00pm today at my local café and here I am, at 2:01pm, one page in. Scheduling works. Your time is valuable, your life is like a business, and you are the boss, so run it!
Second, as often as possible, have someone else hold you accountable. Most of the population is made up of people who may not do things for themselves but will absolutely do everything they are supposed to do as long as there is an outside force holding them accountable. Even monetary risk works for these people, which means having someone hold onto a sum of money until a project gets completed can work wonders as well.
The last one, and the one that helps me the most as someone who questions everything, is knowing my why. If there is not a good reason for me to do something, I won’t do it. Yes, that absolutely means I am the type of person who will not go to the doctor until I am dying. But it also means that if something is not worth my time and effort, it is not getting done.
Therefore, if you find yourself struggling to get work done, ask yourself why you want to get it done in the first place. If you don’t have a good enough “why” behind your action, it may be time to scratch it off your to do list.
This is already getting a little long, but here’s a few more simple tips that help get things done on a day-to-day basis:
-Use time-blocking to work on longer projects. Instead of procrastinating it because it is way too much to do, block off one hour, and for one hour just get as far as you can. Set a timer, and when it goes off, stop, take a break, and soak up your success!
-Take a walk or stretch break every two or three hours. Burn out never got anybody anywhere, so try to add fresh air in if you can.
-Use shorter to-do lists. Create an “eventually” to-do list with all the little things you would liketo accomplish, but keep it separate from your “vital” daily list. No “vital” list should have more than five items on it. Once those five are crossed off, you can take out the “eventually” list and go crazy.
-Always complete your least favorite task first (for me its exercising), before your brain realizes what you’re doing. If you have time to dread it you didn’t move fast enough.
Side note: dreading something doesn’t help anything get done. Listen to your favorite song and get really into it right before you have to do something you don’t want to do. No need to suffer twice by worrying about something before it happens.
Til next time,
-T-