That Old Time Management Chestnut – Chomp! Chomp! Part 2

Hello Superstar!

I was recently invited as a guest on my good friend Angela Lee’s Health & Well Being radio show (http://therock926.com)

Our first chat was about Life-Work Balance. We had lots of calls and text about various challenges such as lack of time, feeling guilty for working away, not being able to slow down, working long hours, juggling family and work commitments.

So from there I thought it would be a good idea for the next show to have a whole session on the old chestnut of Time Management. This brought a whole bag of questions about “to do” lists and goals and where to find more information on effectively managing yourself and your gift of time.

Funnily enough, we didn’t have time to explore these questions in depth during the show so I promised to write a post reflecting my notes on the topic.

For those who were listening thanks for your contribution. And thank you Angela.

I trust this will help – Here goes….!

From the moment we are born we are using up our gift of time. The average life expectancy in the western world is said to be around 80 years plus. This means we have about 4150 weeks of time to use up. Each of us has 168 hours in a week – 24 hours in a day.

As entrepreneurs we know only too well that bad time management can lead to stress – overwhelm – arguments – missed appointments – missed deadlines – penalties and fines and even more stress.

Think of your time and money as being valuable resources. Which of them do you think is more valuable to you?

For me Time is much more valuable – You can always find a way to have more money. You can work longer hours, you can sell your things, you could start another business, get a job, you could develop an investment portfolio. There are so many ways to find more money.

However, whatever we do, we are spending our limited gift of time.  So consider how poorly we are treating this gift if we spend it doing things that don’t enhance our lives or produce something meaningful. It’s time that we can never get back.

Taking control and taming how you spend your time so that you don’t waste it is something you have to get in place for the long term.

It’s not a quick fix!

It takes focused intention to create a new system of working, which turns into a new habit that then becomes your way of doing things. It will help you stay in integrity, which ultimately gives you peace of mind and well being.

It’s about maximising time – it’s also about maximising fun and freedom.

As a society we believe we all have too many things to do and not enough time to do them in.  However it has been reported that in an 8 hour work day we probably spend 4.5 hours actually doing productive work. What do we do with the rest? Make tea, check emails, answer calls, make calls, chit chat, file papers, check the mobile device…..

Here Are 10 Top Tips For Starting To Manage Yourself  With Your Gift Of Time…

Above all else have a clear vision of how you want your life to be and why – this will help you to prioritise and keep you focused.

1. Start a Time Journal
   • Record how you are spending your gift of time – for one week
   • Identify where you are spending gift of time ineffectively both for your business and your lifestyle.
   • Identify where you can free up time on non-important tasks – like watching TV, so that you can either have more family time or time for yourself – or more useful time for your business.

2. Schedule in some Planning time
   • Have a regular time to plan for the week and month ahead – so that you clearly see if you are on track. Sunday afternoon is usually a good time for this.
   • Having some kind of plan will mean that you have something to work with – you can always change it if it needs tweaking – after all you are the CEO of your life
   • Don’t forget to plan in some “me time” for some extreme self care. This includes men as well as women. Plan time to meditate – walk – drink water – eat healthy – exercise – massage – for your personal and spiritual development. You are vital in the whole scheme of things and if you fall apart then so will everything around you.
   • Plan not only for your work or business but also plan for family time – break time – travel time – admin time – delegation time.

3. Have a daily to do list – set up a method of prioritising so that your list is productive. You can find information on the web on effective ways of prioritising and getting things done. Below is my “to do” list method.

• I write down everything that I think needs to be done.
• Allocate the time each task should take me. When I do this it can sometimes add up to more than 24 hours!! This shows me that they can’t all be possibly done today.
• Break down the longer tasks into smaller chunks.
• Then I prioritise the ones I have to do today within the time I have.

• Important – due soon. Just do it
• Important – not due soon. I ask myself do I have to do it? If yes – then I do it
• Not important – due soon. I ask why am I doing it? Can someone else do it?
• Not important – Not due soon. Then why is it even on my list?!!! It ok to say NO! No-one is going to shoot you if you take things off your list!

• I delegate the things I can’t do today either to someone who can or to another day.
• I always halve the times I’ve allowed to each task as this give me focus and frees up some more time. For example if I feel it’s going to take me 20 minutes to write a blog post, I tell myself I’ll do it 10 minutes – I turn of the phone, I don’t check emails or knocks at the door – it gets done!   This works on the theory of Parkinson’s Law – “The task expands to fit the time allocated for it.” Try it and see if it works for you.

4. Have an objective or outcome for each task on the list

• Why am I doing this?
• Why will is succeed?
• What will happen if I choose not to do this?
• Is it the right thing to do now?
• Also have a timer to keep within allocated time for each task?

5. Control your media VAMPIRES
   • Email – stop social media notifications. Unsubscribe from unimportant newsletters. Answer them at a specific time in the day and keep the time short.
   • Social media – allocate a specific time of day to interact. Ask yourself why you must interact. Choose two or 3 maximum to be active on. Get in and get out as quickly as you can.
   • Letters – open – act – file off your desk – add to do list.
   • TV – sell it! – Or schedule time to watch informative programmes.
   • Telephone – chit chat only on your “me time.” For important calls – stand up to make and take calls, this will keep you alert to the fact that you want to sit down soon, so you keep the call short.

6. Have a “Clear Desk Policy” – tidy everything away from you desk each night. This helps by getting you to file away anything that is not important and get ready tomorrows tasks by writing them on your “to list”

7. Hire Staff for your home

Consider hiring someone to do your cleaning – gardening – ironing – laundry etc.

It may at first seem indulgent, however, check with your time journal how much time you are spending on regular menial chores – Find out how much it would cost to hire someone who loves to do it. Weigh up whether it’s worth the £20 or £30 having that cleaner come in for 2 hours a week say, so that you can spend your gift of time with your family instead.  Not only will this give you your time back but you will create income for someone else’s family too. Share the love.

Have shopping delivered –  It won’t hurt you once in a while.

8. Outsource and delegate for your business

Hire a Virtual Assistant – They are worth their weight in gold for a business owner. They can free up so much time for you to do what you love and they love doing things that you don’t. If cost is an issue think about delegating more tasks to your current staff and spread the load.  

9. Be patient with yourself

As I have said before it will take time to turn things around for peace and harmony to reign –so stick with it. Let everyone know that you would like their co-operation to make the changes. This will cause less stress for them as well as you.

10. Mind your mindset –

Think healthy – think happy – keep your energy levels up and stress levels down with positive thinking and Tapping. Consider hiring a coach or mentor to hold you accountable and keep you on point.

Making it a priority to manage yourself and your life with how you spend your gift of time will bring you untold benefits. You will have less stress, more peace of mind, be integrity with your values and get important stuff done so you achieve your goals and hearts desires.

The books I mentioned on the show are –

7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Steven Covey

4 Hour Work Week – Tim Ferris

Time Management For Entrepreneurs – Abigail Barnes

Take Time for Your Life  –  Cheryl Richardson

You can also find useful information on –

YOUTUBE

GOOGLE SEARCH

I would love to know about your “to do” list tricks and tips and how you manage your gift of time.

What sort of things do you do in your “Me Time”?

If you are curious to learn how I help my clients achieve their heart’s most wanted desires in their life, lifestyle and business – sign up for my Cheat Sheet that will tell you –

How to Manifest Your Heart’s Most Wanted Desires with 9 SoulShift Principles –

Just by Being You – –

You will also be sent a 9 Day Mini – Course on how to implement them for success in your life and business. 

Thanks for taking time to read my words  If you gained value from reading this post and you feel it would help someone else please Tweet – Like – Share and Comment below –

If you have any questions please leave them in the comments too. I’m only too happy to help you make a difference in the world and live your best life. 

With Love -Together We Can!

Jennifer  x

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