Now that you know what time management is, you decided to improve yours? Then you need to start with figuring out what you are currently spending your time on. For a time period that makes sense for your life, measure and write down what you do every day and how long it takes. It sounds like a drag. It will probably feel like one, too. But you need to understand what you’re working with before you can change it.
Arm yourself with a stopwatch, a notebook (link for some cute ones here 😉 ) and write down everything, diligently.
Are you surprised by all the time drains in your life? You may also find out that you were more productive because just the fact that you were thinking about your activities, you cut down on time wasters.
Do you have all your data now? Let’s dig in!
Define your goals
Ok, so this is a bit of a side step: define your goals. I specifically said you should first write down what you do with your time so your actions would be biased by this step.
Before you analyze your activities, review your goals. In case you don’t have them, spend some time figuring out what they are. For example, my goal for 2022 was to learn Spanish. I just got my Duolingo annual summary and apparently, I was in top .1% learners. I am not saying it to brag (ok, maybe a little), but to point to the fact that once you commit to a goal, don’t take half measures. Go for it!
When you develop your goals, make sure they are SMART:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant
- Time-based
I will take a deeper dive into SMART goals in the future, but for now, just remember: make them something you can work on now and where you can evaluate whether you are making actual progress.
Pareto Principle
I know you’ve heard of Pareto Principle! 20% of your actions are responsible for 80% of your results.
As you are reviewing your activities, review which ones are the most impactful. Obviously, those are more impactful and should be handled first, before you engage in time wasters. I find it helpful to know which activities are in the less helpful 80% bucket, so I can eliminate from this group when I’m in a time crunch.
Eisenhower Matrix
Keep this page as a handy reference!
Eisenhower Matrix is a handy chart with four squares on it, based on each item’s importance.
Take a good, hard look at each item in your notes. They will either be important or not and either urgent or not. It’s definitely a continuum, so a lot of judgement will be involved. When you look at each task you did, ask yourself: did it help me achieve my goals? Did it really have to happen right then?
Once you are done, you will be able to see how you are really spending your time and are your activities supporting your goals. Obviously, you want to be working the most on your ‘schedule’ tasks – those are working towards your long term goals (like my learning Spanish) rather than putting our fires (like running to Target or Walmart late at night to pick up supplies for your kid’s school presentation that they forgot to tell you was due in the morning) or just wasting time on unimportant, non-urgent tasks (like going down TikTok rabbit hole). Some emergencies can’t be avoided, but it’s important to know how much time you are allocating to triage rather than actual progress. It’s hard to accomplish long term success if you never have a chance to plan for the future.
Do I really have to do it myself?
I feel like a lot of women ask this question around the house on a regular basis…
When you are faced with an unscalable mountain of work, ask yourself if you really have to be the one doing the work. During the pandemic, for example, many discovered the blessing of getting their groceries delivered. It’s an urgent and important tasks – after all, we all have to eat. This would put it in the ‘do’ quadrant of the Eisenhower Matrix, but there is a rather simple way to delegate this work. Take a look around. Are there other tasks you could have somebody do for you? Virtual assistants have grown in popularity in recent years and they are a wonderful concept. You can have somebody else handle the lower value added tasks for you, leaving you free to spend your time as you want.
Are you armed with a list of tasks you really want to accomplish now? Next week, we will move onto discussing time management techniques in your daily life.