Last week, we discussed paying attention to your thoughts about time, particularly when it comes to tracking and recording billable hours. People often want to move to the time management strategy aspect first, but paying attention to your thoughts is a critical component, regardless of the strategy. It is crucial to dial in your mindset and thoughts to master your time. Start with that post before diving into this one!

This week, we’re going to talk time management strategies.

My go-to strategy for time management

Your calendar.

Become best friends with your calendar. This means putting everything on your calendar.

What does this do?

Many things:

1. It lays out your day and week from start to finish so you feel calm, prepared, and knowing what to expect.
2. You are more in control of your day and can get out of firefighting or procrastination mode. Other people’s agendas are less likely to take over.
3. If a task is on the calendar, it’s more likely to get done. You can learn to show up for appointments with yourself the same way you show up for clients, colleagues, family, and friends.
4. You can close the to-do list tab running in the back of your brain, and you can stop trying to remember all the little tasks that you’ve written on random post-it notes or that newest organizational app you downloaded.
5. Everything is organized and in one central place. No more scouring 5 different to-do lists for “What am I going to do next?”
6. You can enjoy activities such as hobbies, rest, and recreation guilt-free because you know when the other work is going to get done.

The process:

1. Brain dump everything you think you need to do for the week on one or multiple pieces of paper.

For example, I have master lists for all areas of my life: personal, Vantage View Coaching, Knoxville Counseling Services, and East Tennessee Collaborative Alliance.

2. Go through the list and ask if there is anything you don’t want to do.

Our brain is great at coming up with all the things we possibly could do (clean out the garage and sell items on Facebook), but ask if this a want or must-do. If you don’t want to do it, cross it off. Let it go. The garage will always be there. Free yourself of the guilt of letting another week go by with the garage a mess. Or, leave it on the master list if you want to do it, but it’s not a high priority for the week.

3. Identify the high priority items for the week.

4. Put down all existing appointments and meetings for the week on your calendar.

5. Schedule the drive or prep time you need before and after each meeting.

6. Look at your list and designate time for when you’re going to do those tasks.

• Call client Smith about her divorce case. Monday at 10:15. 10 minutes.
• Call and schedule a dentist appointment. Monday at 1 pm. 5 minutes.
• Write a blog for the website. Thursday at 2:30. 1 hour.
• Record time for the day 4:45- 5 pm.

 And so on.

I recommend scheduling the high priority items first thing in the morning before you check your email.

This method requires you to accurately understand how much time each task is going to take you. Some people are great at estimating how long tasks take and others are not. Do your best until you gather data from the first few weeks of practice.

7. Put any social events for the week on your calendar and when you’re going to drop off and pick up kids, take them to activities, etc.

8. In between tasks on your workday calendar, schedule breaks.

Yes, schedule breaks for 10 – 15 minutes a few times every day.

The brain has optimal concentration and focus for about 45 minutes at a time, and then it needs 15 minutes to recharge. Think of your phone getting down to 2% battery – Do you recharge it? Or do you continue to use it until it dies? Your brain’s battery is just as important.

To recharge, step away from work to do a mindfulness exercise, hydrate, walk around, chat with a friend, water your plants, dance, sit in the sun, whatever it is. You will be more energized when you come back and better able to get that work done. 

When you schedule breaks, you feel less guilty about taking them because this is the activity you have designated for this time slot. You can see that everything else has a place on the calendar, and you can trust you will get to it.

9. Schedule time to process through your email. Yep, put it on your calendar.

Email processing 11:00 – 11:30 am., 3:30 – 4 pm.

This way you are not in reactive mode with email and interrupting your current project to put out a fire because you know time is allocated to give email attention. If something is a true emergency, people will find a way to get in touch with you. Close the email. It will be more than okay – you will be much more productive!

And then, when you do process your email, you can decide where to put any new tasks. Attend to them when time is available on your calendar.

10. Add in rest, hobbies, and recreation.

This allows you to participate in these activities guilt-free. You’ll be able to think, “This is what I am supposed to be doing at this time. I will do x task tomorrow at 2 pm.”

If this seems very detailed, that’s because it is. But if you schedule your tasks, you will have way more control over your time. It also helps you see where you could be more efficient or if your workload is too much and you need to ask for help.  

When you live by your calendar, you will be more intentional with your time. Squandering 20-30 minutes here and there with mindless scrolling sessions (which add up!) will decrease because you won’t be deciding what you feel like doing at the moment. You already know what comes next. The decision is already made.

If you do happen to have some time open up, you can then choose how to use it: You could attend to one of those lower priority items from the master to-do list, or you could even do something fun (remember that?).

Challenges you will run in to

Especially for the first few weeks, I find these challenges are pretty common:

• Accurately knowing how much time a task will take.  
• Sticking to your calendar if you don’t feel like doing that task at that time.

But practice makes perfect. So, for the first week, practice brain dumping and calendaring everything. Work on gathering data about how accurate you are with time estimations. Then, practice starting and stopping tasks on time and notice what roadblocks you run into. I bet one of your roadblocks will be sticking to your calendar, especially if it’s not something you want to do.

I practice this method to have full control of my calendar. Speaking of, it’s been 1 hour since I started this blog, so time to wrap it up and send it off to my editor for the next step.

Want to get more control over your time in 2021? I can help! Schedule a call and let’s put it on your calendar 😊

P.S. I know not everything in life goes according to plan and your actual day may not match 100% of how you calendared. Life comes up, and you can allow yourself to adjust and move items as necessary. But I guarantee this method will make you feel calmer, more prepared, and ready to tackle the week.