Time Management
Which of these sound familiar to you:
‘I just don’t have enough time.’
‘I don’t know where my time goes.’
‘I don’t know how to fit this all in.’
‘If I just had more time to do xyz.’
Time management is a topic I explore with nearly all of my clients because it affects everything you do, and do not do. If you are struggling with this one, you are not alone.
Sometimes the issue is procrastination. Sometimes the issue is poor time management, other times you are simply trying to do too much. As your coach I will help you understand what might actually be the problem and how to overcome it using practical steps.
Parkinson’s Law
Cyril Parkinson wrote an essay published in ‘The Economist’ in 1935 in which he identified:
‘Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion’.
(You can read the article Here)
Parkinson’s observation is still relevant today. Imagine the deadline; two weeks away, how long will it take you to meet that deadline? Answer, two weeks. If you were given two days to do the same you would likely achieve it. How do we use this observation to our advantage?
Simple Strategies For Effective Time Management
1. Create your own deadlines
It sounds obvious but make your own deadlines and keep them tight on purpose.
The faraway deadline will feel far away… until suddenly it doesn’t, and things become a panic and a rush!
In simple terms if your work deadline is two weeks away ask yourself what can you do with your own calendar/diary to impose a ‘fake’, earlier deadline to ensure you work towards your goal and buy yourself time if the project takes longer than anticipated. This will help ease the ‘last minute wonder’ or ‘cramming’ and you are likely to produce better quality work with a better outcome and with less stress.
2. Set Clear Goals and Prioritise
In his well-cited speech in 1954 Eisenhower stated:
‘I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.’
Using tools such as ‘brain dumping’ can help you to identify what are your priorities, what is urgent and what is important. I would encourage you to also ask ‘What can I let go of.’
Break down your longer-term goals into small actionable tasks and schedule everything that IS important.
3. Schedule and Automate
Having a daily / weekly / monthly schedule to keep you on track will benefit you in the long run.
Automating quick tasks that recur, such as taking the bins out every Tuesday, eliminates the need for you to try to remember not only your important tasks but also the more menial day-to-day tasks that require your attention freeing your mental bandwidth for the important tasks.
Use tools that work for you, and disregard what doesn’t, consider exploring:
- Using a timer the Pomodoro Technique
- Batching like tasks together
- Turning your phone off when doing deep work
- Setting alarms and reminders
- Using paper or electronic diaries/calendars
4. Set Boundaries
Boundaries are essential to maintaining control over your precious time. As a child my Father would repeat to me the following:
‘Saying yes always means saying no somewhere else’.
The message was simple. If you say yes to one thing this likely means having to turn down something else, choose wisely.
The ability to protect your time using effective boundaries is a skill you can develop even if you have a history of people pleasing. Coaching is really effective at establishing how you can create better boundaries for yourself.
5. Delegate and Outsource
Recognise that some tasks can be delegated or outsourced to free up your time and energy. Delegating allows you to focus on what is truly important and meaningful.
Consider:
Hiring a cleaner / cook or housekeeper. This can free an enormous cognitive load as well as a physical time burden.
If this is a reach what about a meal delivery service? Or automating your weekly food shopping to be delivered?
Sharing meals with friends who batch cook so you cook once but receive a variety of meals from each other?
What about a gardener to mow the lawn?
How about a childminder who helps with the school run a few times a week?
My personal favourite, what about a robot vacuum?
These are just suggestions for those of us for whom chores take up a lot of our free time. You will have your own specific needs.
Identify areas of your life that take up your time and explore how these can be outsourced, get creative work out where your time drainers are and explore solutions.
Using tools that work for YOU is the key to successful time management, explore and experiment do not be afraid to try something you haven’t used before. Approach time management in a playful way and you’ll be amazed at how seemingly simple strategies will buy you back some precious time to do what you love.