Slay Your To Do List: Cruelty-Free Ways to Master Time Management
I don’t have enough time to do everything?
How many times have you uttered these words? What about:
I feel overwhelmed?
I hear them a lot (and I know I’ve said them often too).
We waste time and procrastinate in the name of time management (often because we don’t know where to start, or because we feel overwhelmed).
The challenge with time management is more in how we do the manage part than with the time part. So, how do you manage it effectively? There are tons of ideas if you search on the internet, but here are a few and how I’ve used them.
Gather Information
A key element of effective time management is having the information you need. You may have some of this information handy and other information might come in time.
Where do you spend your time? You might be able to determine this by looking at your calendar, or through old tasks lists, or you might need to gather data by paying attention.
What distracts you? You might be able to easily answer this, but pay attention over the next few weeks and make notes when you procrastinate, or are distracted, and see if anything else emerges.
Are there certain tasks which you avoid more than others? Make note of these and determine how you can make them better. Sometimes simple awareness is enough to pull you back on course. Other times, you can orchestrate your day to make yourself more successful. Some people will want to get these out of the way first, and other people will want to do something more fun first to build up momentum before tackling them.
What system do you use now? Write down everything you can about the system you currently use. Then look at it and note what works (so you can incorporate it) and what isn’t working (so you can change it).
Control Your Calendar
I know someone who says, “Control your calendar or others will control it” which is a great reminder. But how do you control your calendar?
Put in all your important meetings, tasks, and events first.
Block time for your big projects and any routines you have and create meetings or appointments in your calendar. Create a list of what you do on a regular basis and then block the time to do it. If others can access your calendar, then that time will show as unavailable. If it’s just you referencing your calendar then you know that if someone asks for a meeting during time you have blocked, you either need to find that time elsewhere in your calendar, or need to find a different time to meet.
I have an hour blocked every Monday morning for my Monday planning, 2 hours once a month for a clarity break, 2 hours each month to do my month end and I recently added 2 blocks each month to do content planning and preparation. If I look at my goals for the week, I look at my calendar and allocate the time right in my calendar, or if I don’t have time available, I need to move appointments and meetings or readjust my goals. When I add something to my calendar, I try to add specifics to the notes of the appointment; for example, if I block time for “Learning,” then in the body, I’ll list what modules of the course I want to work on, what TED Talk or DISC webinar I want to watch (with the link if possible). What I’m trying to do is to reduce friction. I don’t want to get to that time block and then waste time trying to remember what is next or what I want to do. This alone can save tons of time.
Eliminate Distractions
This one seems obvious, but how many times are you focused and you see an email float by on your screen, or your phone dings with a notification? There are lots of apps you can put on your phone or computer, but try turning your phone over and putting it on silent and closing your email as a quick way to start.
Ensure you have everything you need before you start so you aren’t wasting time looking for things. Do you need a book or a certain pen? What about something to drink or eat. Don’t let yourself get pulled away by things you can gather beforehand.
Look at your environment with a critical eye. Do you need a quiet place with a door? Are you trying to finish a project while people are coming in and out of your space? Set up boundaries. Many of us are working from home now which comes with new distractions. Maybe you need to get out of your main space. I have a local coffee shop which I love, and I know that when I’m working there, I am more focused and the change of scenery is a nice break. And bonus that I can savour their amazing chai tea while I work (I’m there now writing this blog post).
Use Technology
Technology is a double-edged sword; it’s made our lives easier in many ways, but it’s also made distractions easier.
I use email rules to move newsletter emails into one folder and I sort by sender. This keeps these emails out of my main inbox (which helps me avoid email overwhelm), but also helps me go through them quickly. While sometimes I’m interested in what a certain store might be selling, often I’m not, so I can just look at that folder a couple times a week and delete them quickly.
You can set up focus times in Office365 (and I’m sure something similar exists in other platforms). You can also get analytics about where you spend your time which will give you valuable insights.
Use the focus or do not disturb functions on your phone.
After you’ve tracked where you spend your time and determined what your distractions are, it is easier to address those. If you find yourself scrolling social media, move the app off your home screen or set it up so you have to enter your password each time you log on. Those small barriers can be enough to catch yourself before you get sucked into mindless scrolling (James Clear does a great job talking about this in his book Atomic Habits).
Batch Activities and Avoid Multitasking
Starting is often the hardest part (hello Newton’s laws and physics again), and once we get going, we are in the groove. See where you can batch activities as you can get more done in one smaller chunk of time than adding up individual chunks. For example, I try to plan my social media once a week as by the time I log into the different websites I need, I can easily (and often quickly) get a few posts prepped. My mind is focused on this task and adding a few extra similar tasks does not add in a bunch of extra time.
Think about what other activities you can group (and then add them to your calendar). I will often batch tasks in a bucket called “small things” and allocate an hour. These tasks are those small things which eventually need to get done (and may eventually become time sensitive), but that I avoid as they are tedious. I’ll set a timer for 60 minutes and then see how many I can get crossed off (bonus that I can generally cross off quite a few which is motivating for me).
Build in Rest Time
We have a productivity maximum. We can’t just go forever. So, figure out where you start slowing down and getting distracted and stop before that time. That length of time might differ depending on activity so that’s OK.
Build in breaks to your schedule. It’s so easy to just jump from one thing to the next with virtual meetings, or working on our computers. Your brain (and your body) needs an opportunity to look away and to move, so build those into your schedule. Sometimes five minutes might be enough, but other times, you will need more time. Pay attention to what activities drain you more and build in longer breaks when you do these activities.
The Pomodoro Technique is a great method; choose one task and work on it for 25 minutes and then take a 5-minute break. After four rounds, take a longer (10-15 minute break).
Prioritize
This can often seem like the most challenging – everything is important, isn’t it? It might feel like that, but we can’t thrive in that environment.
Michael Bungay Stanier asks a coaching question which I think is one of the best questions to help us prioritize.
“If I say yes to this, what am I saying no to?”
If you already feel overwhelmed and you take on something else, then you are saying no to something; it might be your mental or physical health, or perhaps it’s the quality of what you are working on. We do not have unlimited resources.
I often coach people to ask about timelines when people ask them to do something. Often, we feel like we need to do something right away, and maybe they don’t need it until next week. Be clear about their expectations and whether you can meet them. Recently, I’ve been practising this when people ask to meet; I ask if it is time-sensitive and if not, I try to schedule it for the following week to ensure I keep capacity to meet the goals I’ve set for that week. If it is time sensitive, then I look for open blocks in my calendar, and if I don’t have any, then I need to decide what I’m saying no to if I book the time to meet. Typically, people just set the meeting and dig themselves a deeper overwhelm hole.
The Eisenhower Box is a great tool for prioritizing tasks. To use it, you rank your activities and tasks on whether they are:
Important or not important
Urgent or not urgent
That gives you four quadrants which allows you to prioritize:
Important & Urgent – do these now
Important & Not Urgent – schedule these
Not Important & Urgent – delegate these (if possible)
Not Important & Not Urgent – delete these
Want a sheet to help you with these? I got you covered (sign up at the bottom of this post).
Track What Works
In the beginning, you will need to spend extra time prepping, organizing, and creating a system that works for you. Don’t be afraid to throw out ideas that just don’t work (but give them a fair chance first).
Spend time brainstorming routines you already do, and ones you want to do. Think about what activities you do on a regular basis (or you want to do regularly).
Create a system to track your tasks. Maybe a weekly list on a pad of legal paper is great for you, or perhaps you use Outlook Tasks. If you don’t use anything, then start with something and build in time to reflect on what felt easy, and where there was resistance, and then adjust to reduce the struggle.
Start small and try to improve one thing at a time. We have a tendency to want to do it all, and then we crash because it’s not sustainable all at once (read this blog post for more information).
Time management is an ever-evolving process. While the core ideas will remain, how you implement them may change. You will add or delete routines, or perhaps you need different focus or break times.
Next Steps
“The hardest part is starting. Once you get that out of the way, you’ll find the rest of the journey much easier. ”
Just start somewhere. It can feel overwhelming (notice the trend here?), but starting is often the hardest part, so start with one thing.
Gathering information is a great beginning. Block time in your calendar (preferably this week) to do this. Then at the end, identify the next step and block that time. Then just play and experiment.
Let me know what is working for you!
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