Managing Your time

We live in a world where our time is taken up with so many different things. Some pleasurable, some stressful, some things we just have to do. Managing all these things for work and home is one of the biggest issues everyone faces these days.

We also live in a world full of great technology to help us deal with it all.

So, what do we do? Is it all about using an app on our phone? Do we colour code our diaries, so we can find things more easily? I think it is a combination of all sorts of things. We must find things that work for us. I don’t think there is any magic formula or any magic piece of software that is going to manage our time perfectly.

Here are a few things to help you manage your time better than you are right now…

Planning

Plan as much of your work life and home life as you can. Schedule appointments in your electronic diary, including business meetings and family occasions. Use the reminder setting to help you remember these appointments. Do you have a calendar that you share with your colleagues and one for your family? Having a shared calendar saves so much time when booking appointments. This will help you get it out of your head and not have to worry about remembering important appointments and meetings in your life. Don’t forget there is still a place for that family calendar on the wall in the kitchen. Sometimes a visual aid is quick and easy to access but only when you are actually at home to view it.

Make sure you plan your holidays well in advance so there is an integration of balance in your life. It is important to plan for the downtime so the rest of the time you feel energised and ready for life! In his book Integrate, John Drury speaks about Replenishment “Self-care is about respecting yourself enough to invest the time consistently to learn how to replenish your whole being. Effective self-care strategies position you for sustainable and holistic health.”

Planning your time can not only help you make things more efficient but you will feel more in control and confident because you won’t be rushing around being late and not being prepared for things. It will give you time to be ready for that important meeting or get that proposal out for that new client. It will give you time to create quality work and thus have more wins in your life.

Technology

How does technology play a part in helping with your time? Using apps to remind you what is on your ‘To Do’ list and when you need to go places will help you unjumble everything that is going on in your head. In the old days, we used pieces of paper and post it notes for our ‘To Do’ list. It is much more efficient these days to put it into an electronic format so you can delete and add and remove things as you go. If you cannot find an app that suits you just try an excel spreadsheet. You can carry it anywhere on your mobile phone or tablet and update it as you need to. It can also be in the cloud so you can access it from your computer or anywhere at any time. This is just one way to use technology to save you some time.

Multi-Tasking

There has been a myth around for many years about multi-tasking. Everyone strives for it. Not everyone is good at it. Some people say it is easier for a woman to multi-task. I think it is to do with the person and their personality, not their gender. Being able to juggle more than one task at once is not necessarily a great thing. Women can sometimes do it better because they are pushed to do it when being a mum. Men can do this too if they want to. It is all about the mindset. You have to assess whether you can get quality work done and quality time managed if you are multitasking. Little things like getting the washing done and dinner made while writing a blog can be done. But your monthly report with all the analysis and figures that go with it maybe something you need to do autonomously! Sometimes focussing on one thing at once is better for the stress levels too! Look at the Quality of the work you are producing not necessarily the Quantity.

Your Team

You may be a sole trader or work on your own a lot but having an assistant or team can really help you manage your time. It gives you an opportunity to get help on different tasks whether you are in high-powered business or Solopreneur working at home. People around you can lessen the load. You can delegate down or up to help you out. Sometimes just having a meeting with some colleagues and thrashing out all the different parts of a project can help you manage the time for everyone better. Sometimes sitting down with a mentor or business coach who is also part of your team and having a coffee helps you to work better by sorting out your goals and what to focus on and therefore working more efficiently.

So Planning, Technology and having a Team to delegate to are just some of the ways to help you manage your time. If you are looking for some more information, we are happy to discuss what options may be available to Streamline your business needs.