Since being released from quarantine, my days have been long, hectic and tiring. Running the day to day of the business, starting coaching with new clients, working on marketing strategies for the business owners that I work with and taking care of home and family. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining at all, it’s just felt like recently no matter much I organise, plan and schedule I am still not getting everything done. Like writing this column for example, its Wednesday 5pm now, I have been up since 5:30am and not stopped since the moment I opened my eyes, but I am just about going to submit this to the editor on the second of the deadline.
The fact is that you can study time management and take time management courses for your entire life and you will still never learn everything you need to know to get the most out of yourself while doing your job in the most efficient way.
The two important keys to time management are the ability to set priorities and the skill of concentrating single-mindedly on one thing at a time. Since there is never enough time to do everything that needs to be done, you must be continually setting priorities on your activities. Perhaps the very best question that you can memorise and repeat, over and over, is, "what is the most valuable use of my time right now?" This question, "what is the most valuable use of my time right now?" will do more to keep you on track, hour by hour, than any other single question in the list of time management strategies.
The natural tendency for all of us is to major in minors and to give in to the temptation to clear up small things first. After all, small things are easier and they are often more fun than the big, important things that represent the most valuable use of your time.
If you find your to do list constantly outweighs your time, I suggest setting clear priorities on your work each day, before you begin. Then, discipline yourself to start on your most important task and stay at that until it is complete. This will relieve so much of your stress almost immediately.
I feel like I can only give you some small golden nuggets here to try, but, if you’re really committed to having more time, then you need to look at a behaviour you might change and look at the skill set your working with. If that’s something you may need coaching with, please do reach out to me on Instagram or via my website.
