5 Strategies for Better Time Management10 min read
Are you struggling with having enough time in your day? Do you wish you had more time to relax, be with your family, take on a hobby, or start a side business? Time management is important for boosting productivity levels and getting more done in your day! If you wish the days didn’t pass so quickly, here are 5 strategies for becoming more effective in managing your time.
For the longest time I thought it was normal for life to be a frantic blur of going, doing, and completing.
I thought having a to do list that never ends was normal, and helped me be organized.
I thought it was rude if I didn’t respond to everyone who texted/emailed/PM’d me right away.
I thought the point of life was to try and keep up with it all and not let any balls drop.
The more I dove into personal development, the better I understood that success depended on me prioritizing the “critical few” and avoiding the “trivial many.”
I started surrounding myself with examples of what success really looked like, exploring the things holding me back, and focusing on what I could change to rewrite my life and achieve my biggest dreams.
Changing my internal narrative about ‘being too busy’ was the first step in a cascade of changes that led me to cut my work week in half, while getting paid more per hour, and launch a business that had always been a ‘someday’ dream of mine.
If you find yourself struggling to get everything done, are feeling behind, and don’t know when you’ll ever get to the things that bring true joy and meaning to you, here are the 5 reasons you don’t have enough time in your day and how you can start to change that.
// 1 // “I can do it all”
We’re often raised to believe in the notion that we can do anything and everything.
While it’s true that through hard work and perseverance you can accomplish anything you set your mind to, it’s certainly not true that you can accomplish EVERYTHING you set your mind to.
The other way this mindset often gets infused in our belief system is through the race to success.
People, particularly us women, often take on the goal of pleasing everyone around us.
So, if you, and every other person on the team, and the boss, all ask me to do something today, as a woman, I am more likely to say yes to everyone… at the expense of myself.
We are taught to believe that doing everything perfectly for everyone around us will get us recognized. In reality, it gets us trampled in the process.
ANA MCRAE
This is the first lie you need to let go of if you want to succeed and find happiness.
It does not all need to get done.
It does not all need to get done by you, either.
Spreading yourself too thin serves no one.
When you put the pressure on yourself to do it all, you end up doing a lot of things poorly.
Learn to say no.
Learn to prioritize.
Learn that not all things are created equal and devoting your time to some is much more important and impactful than spreading yourself across all.
// 2 // A list will keep me organized
Ha! How’s that belief working out for you?
There was a time when I thought that if I put something on a list I would somehow (magically) find the time and energy to make sure it got done.
The only thing a list does is contribute to your overwhelm!
Suddenly you find yourself with four lists… You know there are another couple laying around somewhere, but you don’t know where…
And let’s be real, you never actually go and look at the lists because they are so freaking long!
And it’s nice out, and you’re tired, and lounging at the beach sounds so much more appealing than facing the hard things and plugging away at the mundane tasks.
A list will not keep you organized any more than a dog will keep your house clean.
The key to accomplishing key tasks in a timely fashion is by time blocking.
- By dedicating specific chunks of time to specific outcomes.
- By planning out your day and your week ahead of time.
- By being crystal clear on what qualifies as a key task and what can be disregarded.
// 3 // An unproductive hour is a waste
In your race to get everything done and crossed off your list, do you often feel guilty if you aren’t being productive every minute of every day?
I used to be in a negative state where I would have a hard time playing with the kids or spending time with my husband because I could vividly picture all of the things still left on my list.
It was a terrible mindset to be in.
The ironic part was that when I got everything done on the list but spent no time with my family, I felt super sad at night and regretted how I spent my day. If I didn’t make it through my list but laughed and played and lived in the moment, the day was a success in my eyes.
Finding the balance between doing and living is essential to making productivity sustainable in your life.
ANA MCRAE
You can’t always be 100% on.
Our bodies are built to do hard focused work, and then COMPLETELY relax. Without prioritizing rest and recovery, you will burn out. It is not sustainable to always be productive and it is perfectly okay to take the time to just be.
If you
- Struggle with carving out time for self care
- Can’t put away the phone and be present with your kids
- Don’t know what your most productive hours of the day are and how to utilize them
You can certainly improve. Time management is a learned skill as much as tying your shoes is.
// 4 // Must check every buzz and beep
Stop checking your phone.
Period.
In today’s media centered world, we have conditioned ourselves to believe that if we miss one notification, we are no longer in touch with what’s going on (and may as well live under a rock).
The more we distract ourselves with notifications, the less in touch we are with ourselves, our lives, and the people who matter most.
Your addiction to your phone is not only damaging your productivity levels, it is also preventing you from forming authentic relationships with real people.
I did a social media cleanse almost a year ago, and it changed my life. I was less anxious, more productive, and had so much more time for passions that truly fulfilled me.
If you don’t want to completely give up social (even for a few weeks??), you should at the very least build a healthy relationship with your email and your phone.
In the time management course I go through so many
- Tips and tricks on how to keep your phone from disrupting your flow
- Hacks for keeping email at bay
- Strategies to prevent distractions from taking up brain space
// 5 // I’ll wait until tomorrow
This can be the hardest mindset to break.
Believing that TOMORROW you’ll start eating healthier, or exercising, or tackling that big dream of yours, is nothing but a lie.
Making breakthroughs in your life requires acknowledging the fact that waiting for motivation to strike is not a sustainable method for reaching success.
Motivation doesn’t strike. Action creates motivation.
When you do something even when you don’t feel like doing it, you put a small win under your belt, and then you are more motivated to do it again.
On the other hand, every time you put something off; every single time you don’t follow through on your commitment; every instance of letting excuses get in your way, causes you to stop trusting yourself and allows quitting to become your norm.
Stop giving up on yourself before you’ve even given yourself a chance!
Start small, so that you can get small wins under your belt. From there, you can build up to your desired outcome.
It shocks me how little time we spend in school learning about what drives us and how to rewire our brains to achieve bigger things.
We spend decades of our lives believing that doing everything perfectly is the right way to do anything; we start to think that a to do list is a must do list; we build up anxiety about tasks unfinished, yet spend our time scrolling through social media; and we always put off showing up as a better version of ourselves.
In reality, simply by switching what you believe about productivity and success can go a long way in helping you crush the biggest goals in your life.
Through my time management habits, I’ve been able to cut my work week down from 40 hours to 20 hours, while getting paid MORE per hour because I could provide more value to the company faster than anyone else.
It allowed me to launch this business helping other women build their dreams and live a more balanced, authentic life.
For more details on my journey from miserable 9-5 cubicle life to overflowing amazement at the life I get to live today, jump over here.
In the end, time management is not about getting through your to do list, it’s about having more time for that which fulfills you.
If you’ve been struggling with time management for a while and are interested in one on one coaching to help you break through your limitations and achieve your wildest goals, I would love to work with you!
I challenge high achievers to overcome perfectionism and procrastination so that they can go from average to unbelievable and build a life exploding with joy.
If you are searching for more balance, happiness, and success in life, join our email community.
Related posts:
- The Ultimate Guide to Setting Goals and Achieving Personal Growth
- A Sunday Routine For An Amazingly Productive Week
- Self Care Is Critical: 10 Ideas To Start Today
What dreams of yours have been on the back burner for years because you are “too busy”? Let me know in the comments below!
