Make time for the things that matter

Time management isn’t easy. The world is a busy place. We’re constantly connected, everything is always-on, and there’s more for us to get done than ever before. The lines between work and personal life are blurred, and they’re getting blurrier. We’re working longer hours and despite our best efforts in automating and simplifying our lives, we somehow find even more things to do.

When it comes to keeping all those things moving, we’re amateur jugglers at best. We drop the ball more often than we’d like to admit, we miss deadlines, and we often deliver poorer quality work than we’re capable of. We can’t stay focused and our personal and professional lives suffer because of it.

When this happens we tend to offer the reason: “I didn’t have time!”. It’s our go-to excuse for when we didn’t do something. We don’t discriminate either, we use it in our work and our personal lives just the same. What’s interesting is that we never seem to have time for all the things we don’t want to do. We never have the time to respond to that person’s email, submit our expense claims, or organize our filing. Those things usually get pushed aside.

But what about the more important stuff? Unfortunately it happens with that too. Personal goals such as reading more books, going to the gym for a workout, or eating healthier meals. It happens in the workplace when we fall behind on project milestones or don’t make time for meeting our employees. It happens when we spend too much time at work when we should be spending it with our family.

But what’s really happening?

Due to poor time management we get less stuff done, people lose faith in us if we aren’t delivering on our commitments, and perhaps most importantly; the emotional stress we experience can lead to health problems like heart disease!

Quite often when we talk about time management solutions we look at different methodologies, applications, and frameworks. We train people to manage their time better by using advanced follow up features in their email client and by making complex project milestone trackers. We focus a lot on the tools but not a lot on the individual’s perspective.

The tools and frameworks have their place. But mindset can play just as great, if not greater role in determining whether or not you’ll achieve something, and how well you’ll achieve it.

So what can you do about it?

Take ownership for your time

The word ‘ownership’ is thrown around a lot these days. What does it really mean? In this context ‘ownership’ means your time is yours. You decide how it’s spent, you decide what to do with it. Stop saying you “didn’t have time” and start saying you “didn’t make time”. It’s a 180 shift. It’s the difference between exclaiming “it’s their fault” or “it’s my fault”.

Now that’s a different concept! It’s easy to externalize blame. Don’t take the easy way out. Be conscious of it and change where you place the responsibility.

It’s perhaps true that there are many things competing for your time. If you tried to do everything in one day you might really need 48 hours instead of 24! So when you’re committing to things that will take your time, it’s arguably more important to focus on when you will say ‘no’ than when you will say ‘yes’.

In our personal and professional lives we tend to over-commit ourselves. It’s easier to stand from far back and commit to something. It feels better in the moment because we’re not letting the other person down. But when that something finally rolls around we realize we’ve overstretched ourselves. Say no to things that will waste your time. When you commit to things you can’t deliver, you actually diminish people’s trust in you. It’s far better to say no up front than say yes and fail to deliver later.

Break down goals and focus on the right stuff

When you focus on too many things at once it’s hard to achieve them all. If you do achieve them somehow, they’re usually not completed to your best. Why’s that? Think about a really busy day at work; back to back meetings, constant phone calls, lunch at your desk. It’s go-go-go from 8:30am until 5:30pm. You did a lot of stuff, but did you really move a things forward? Did you feel productive? Did you really produce quality work? Probably not! On the other hand, it’s often the days we clear our schedule and sit down to work on that key project that we feel like we’re achieving something. That’s because we have focus.

Prioritize the important stuff. Set goals at a higher level and set only a few. You can’t focus on twenty things at once, so what really needs your attention? Break your goals into bite sized chunks and define smaller, realistic tasks that will help you achieve them. What do you need to achieve today, this week, this month?

Recently I set a few personal goals for myself. I wanted to get healthier, read more books, and learn about new and interesting topics. So I broke those goals down into actionable tasks I can achieve each day or each week:

• Exercise and stretch every single day to get healthier.
• Read for at least ten minutes, three times a week (and often once I got started I’d end up reading for much longer!).
• Watch two new TED talks every week in order to learn about new and interesting topics.

I found a mobile app called ‘Done’ to set reminders and track when I achieved those goals. When I did achieve them I would tick them off and they disappear off the list – very satisfying!

Small, achievable tasks make us feel good. Set your goals, define your daily tasks, and start working at them!

Stop wishing you can do it and just do it

It’s always easier to start tomorrow. We tend to look at people who have already achieved something great and wish we were in their position. The thing we often overlook is all the hard work that they put in to get there. It’s like climbing a mountain and reaching the summit. Looking down from the top is always easier than standing at the bottom staring upward!

When watching a talented artist paint a beautiful canvas we wish we could paint like that. But do we really want it? If we did, then most likely we would have done it. Find the thing you are passionate about and make it your goal. Appreciate the hard work and talent of others but don’t be envious. Learn from their journey and use their lessons to begin on your own path.

Find a positive motivation for what you want to achieve. There are all kinds of motivations out there but in my experience I’ve found positive motivation to work most effectively and for the long term. In the workplace a manager might tell you that if you don’t complete a certain task you will miss out on your bonus. This kind of negative consequence motivation may work for a short period but over the long term you will find yourself asking why you continue running, only avoid getting hit. Find a reason to achieve, make it personal, and make it positive.

Ultimately, time management is…

…a lot about mindset! Take ownership for your time and make room for the things that matter. Focus on your most important goals and break them down into tasks you can achieve regularly. Don’t just wish you can do something, develop a positive and personal motivation and make it a reality!

Make time for the things that matter. What matters to you?