Blog

Updated July 27th 2023

Does this look like a lady who manages her time wisely? 

Somehow for years I associated good time management with being a boring sort of person, lacking adventure and spontaneity. I even had a picture in my head of a prim and proper man waiting for a train and just as it pulled into the station, he’d glance at his watch and approach the platform. However, nowadays I’m firmly convinced of the vast benefits associated with it.

First step: Find your value behind this commitment
Finding your motivation to internally commit to good time management is key to your success at it. You need to see what values you have that are congruent with adopting this behaviour. Having a look at some of the advantages listed below could help you with this.

• Be less stressed and in the flow
• A focused mind
• Less procrastination
• Achieving your goals
• Better finances
• Greater self esteem and confidence
• Better relationships with others
• Less guilt/stress due to respecting other people’s time
• Increase your productivity
• Feelings of accomplishment
• Enjoy and appreciate your leisure off without worrying
  ….And all without taking yourself too seriously because that is a serious matter!

80% of your productivity is down to 20% of your efforts
The 80/20 principle refers to the phenomenon where 80% of your productivity is brought about by 20% of your efforts. Being successful isn’t just about working smarter or harder; it’s about working smarter on the right things. The key is to focus your energy on producing the 80% of everything you do – which is also the 80% that matters.

The best time managers spend more time planning and training staff to take on delegated tasks than in a flurry of email and phone answering activism.

Some questions to ask yourself:
What is the best use of my time and energy this week?
Will doing this make a difference in the next 6 months?

The Key is Planning
With planning you can get a lot more done, more effectively and in less time. Because of this, I now find myself putting aside time each Sunday to plan my week. I begin by sourcing a piece of foolscap and creating headings which sum up the main areas of my life:

1) Family
2) Friends
3) Career/Work
4) Health
5) Significant other
6) Finances
7) Spirituality
8) Physical environment
9) Fun & relaxation 🙂

Then come the bullet points
Under each heading, I list what I would like to get done this week as it relates to each area. For example, if you would like to make more money, under the heading of finances you could write, ‘time for creative brainstorming around sourcing better leads’ and under health, ‘less burgers and more green veg’. Then with seven days to play with, you slot each ‘to do’ into a day and time. For example, go to that vegetable shop around the corner on Monday evening on my way back from work.

WARNING: Prioritisation
If your goals have taken steroids, I advise highlighting the most important ones to take precedence in your diary. We don’t want Mrs Doyle from Father Ted creeping her ugly head so there is no need to mend the roof, build a shed and organise a rock concert in one week.

With the Sunday best approach (above) however you can seriously give this theory a Father Jack kick up the backside. This is because, using this tried and tested approach, it quickly points out when you are on the wrong track.

Now you have time for a life
You cannot sustain the same output endlessly without rest and fun. Not only that but what’s the point in living life without having a life? So while you are scheduling enough time for bedtime, I urge you to put to bed the idea that work defines you or without you, things will fall apart. Apart from the fun part of being able to live a bit, when you get a rest and have fun, the brain performs better. Better still, inject fun into your work and success will come more easily to you anyway.