Not all habits are bad you know…
Creating good habits in your life and business are a simple way to get more done and still have time for fun. If you’re anything like me, then living life and being happy is extremely important to you. Here are five time management tips that help me, as well as my clients, reach our personal and business goals.
1. Map out a month in advance: (at least! )
You know how fast time flies, so planning out a month in advance should be very easy. I personally plan out 3 months at a time. It keeps me focused and my eyes on the next big things that are happening.
Put aside about an hour or so, pull out all your calendars… the online one and the backup paper calendar. Be sure to highlight all the big dates coming up. Especially with the holidays coming in on us so fast. You’ll want to include all the holiday parties. Kids school events. Big business launches. Travel. You name it!!
By knowing all at once what is coming up, you can better plan for your needs.
2. The weekly project plan:
Each week (Sunday works best ) map out the entire week coming up. Review all the musts and like tos. Get the family together to review the plan in advance. Let them know “this is going to be a very busy week” and this is what we need to do collectively as a family to manage this together…
By calling in the people who are nearest you, you’ll be better supported than if they think you just don’t have time for them… that their needs are not important. Be sure everyone’s needs for the week are addressed up front.
3. The “Lists”:
While mapping out your calendar and reviewing the week ahead, it’s helpful to jot down your needed “to-dos” and tasks for the week. What are the priorities?
I LOVE index cards. It’s the simplest way to keep lists. I use a color coded system that coincides with my color coded calendar. So for ex: I use yellow for family/ Purple for marketing needs for my biz/ Red for client needs (billable hours ). I have other color codes as well, but these are the ones I use most often while I’m writing out lists on the index cards.
4. Block out the time:
This is by far the hardest habit of all… Creating the blocked time to accomplish your above tasks and STICKING to it!!
By blocking out the time, you are maximizing the hours that you currently have. I personally have blocked out time before, but finding myself doing “other things” during that time. But when I do STICK to it it is such a rewarding feeling!!
Block out time and cluster similar tasks. Make all your phone calls in one block of time. Follow up with all your networking needs in one block time. Do all your errands in one block time. Anything that shaves a few minutes is a helpful way to streamline systems in your own home.
5. Set a limit:
When blocking out time for specific tasks, it’s also very useful to put an expectation on your time frame. This is actually a fun trick!
Parkinson’s Law states that “the amount of time that one has to perform a task is the amount of time it will take to complete the task.”
So for example… when you sit at your computer to write a blog. Schedule the block time and give it a set amount of time. If I know it generally takes me 45 minutes to an hour to write a blog post, I need to set that schedule on my calendar. If I block out time form 9-11:30 to do a blog post, by Parkinson’s Law the task will fill that time allotted. BUT, if I allow myself form 9-10 on a Monday morning to write a blog post I will likely complete the task in that amount of time.
I know these habits all seem so simple, but just knowing about them doesn’t give us the same results as Doing them.
