Time management is not rocket science,
it’s being focus, minimizing distractions and delegating.
Getting things done it’s not about getting things done, it’s about engaging with what’s going on – David Allen
Focusing on one thing today is very challenging. There is a lot distractions, thing that suck the time away from you and something you don’t even realize it.
Do you remember the “you got mail” sound?
Every time you got an email?
That sound it was a big deal, today the email notification sound is an interruption, something sucking the time away from you.
Do you have any time vampires?
Depending on your lifestyle you might have different things “forcing” you to waste your time. Thing not adding real value to what you want and need to-do. Email is not the only necessary evil today, here is a list of time vampires.
- Email – the to-do list you let others write on
- Phone calls – do you really have to take that call?
- Transportation – any movement not adding value to the process is waste. Read about waste here
- Defects – producing errors, mistakes, or lack of something necessary
- Thinking what you have to-do
- People distracting you
- Information overload – consuming information when you don’t need it
7 Time management tips
Before you even think about adding new software and tools to your arsenal. You should look these 7 areas first.
- Block time for what matters
- Put first things first
- Say no more often
- Delegate more
- Focus on one single task
- Know where you are spending your time on
- Minimize distractions
What matter to you
Your calendar is not just for doctor appointments.
If something is that important to you, then block sometime in your calendar.
You should be blocking time for everything that matters to you like family time, fitness, writing, reading, studying, anything that you must do at a specific time and date.
Putting first things first
What is the one thing you must do today to get you closer to your goal?
That is the question you should be asking. Everything else can wait.
When you choose “urgent” over important, what you are really choosing is other peoples priorities over your own
Say no more often
Some of us are people pleaser by nature. We like to say yes to everything. But the truth is that we don’t have time to do everything and the idea of learning time management is not to put more in your plate. time management should be to help you do more with less, to help you be more effective with your time and to give you some time back to spend it doing what makes you happy.
Not everyone is in a position to say no.
for example, in the military if you are ask to do something as long is moral and legal you have to do it. Here is where you can turn to the person asking you to do more and say…
Which one you want me to do first?
That simple question will keep everyone in check and help you to be focus on the task in hand.
Delegating is no just about people
When people talk about delegating, the first thing it comes to mind is assistance form another person but that is not the only way you can delegate.
What about delegating to tools, software, services.
Here are a few examples of delegating.
- Social media posting
- Transcription of video and audio files
- Online Research
- Sending invoices to clients
- Email marketing and follow-up
- Weekly and Monhtly Google Analytics reports
Social media scheduling and posting is one you can delegate today without hi ringing anyone. You can use either Bufferapp or Hootsuite to schedule and post to your social media profiles.
Sending invoices to clients can be delegated to programs like Freshbooks and WHMCS.
Email marketing and followup can be delegated to a service like Aweber.
Focus on 1 thing
Multitasking is a myth because your mind can only truly multitask when comes to automatic behaviors like walking and listening to an audio book.
For activities that require conscious attention, there is really no such thing as multitasking, only task switching. Flicking back and forth between different demands.
It can feel as though we’re super efficiently doing two or more things at once.
But the fact we’re just doing one thing, then another, then back again, with significantly less skill and accuracy than if we had simply focus on one job at the time.
Know where you are spending your time on
The easiest way to see where you are spending your time and if you are spending it “right” is with the time management wheel
Actually visualizing time is an awesome way to quickly understand how you spend your time. After all, the first step in becoming more productive is understanding where your time is going now!
It’s simple to download (click pay with a tweet) to share it either Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Linkedin and then print it out. Using colored pencils, give each activity a unique color, and then color in each hour of the circle based on the activity you usually fill that time with.
Minimize distractions
Minimizing distractions is one of the hardest things to-do.
You have to do your best to turn off any app you are not using. All it takes is a whistle from one of these apps offering the thrill of an unexpected communication, and bam, we’re off course. But we don’t just lose the time spend answering a message when this happens, we also struggle to rediscover the “flow” we were enjoying before we were disturbed.
