As a leader, one of the biggest blockers I see facing my teams, no matter the role, is time management. This is extremely common and up until about 18-months ago, I wasn’t aware of how much of a blocker time management was for me.
I’ve worked closely with coaches, read books and continuously tweaked my processes with an attempt to least improve the way I think about time. I believe time management isn’t rocket science, it is predominantly a mindset shift.
Focus
Fact: Humans are not good at multitasking. More accurately, we’re terrible at it!
We’ve been led to believe that being able to multitask is the sign of extreme intelligence. If you’re a male like myself then you’ve also heard how multitasking is a gender trait, gifted only to those of the fairer sex.
However, I am very pleased to say that when it comes to multitasking at least, all genders were created equal.
Fact: You cannot “find the time” in a day. You can only make the time!
There is only a finite amount of time every day in which to do anything. Every person on the planet has the same amount of time. You may have heard this before but time is the only resource you can never get more of.
Time is a great human-leveller.
How you spend your time, why you spend time on something and most importantly, who chooses what you do with your time are all elements you can control.
Fact: You are not an outlier, the above applies to you also
Now that you know we are all on the same playing field, rather than thinking about how many tasks you can do at once to find more time in your day. Rather think about how you can improve your focus on fewer, important tasks.
You have a calendar — USE IT!
If a full calendar gives you anxiety then you’re not thinking about your calendar in the right way.
Do you book out time in your calendar your tasks and activities? Calendars are not only meant for meetings. Set aside time in the day for YOUR tasks also.
- Only you should define the importance of activities in your calendar!
- Use colour coding.
- Split your days and activities.
- Schedule specific times to check email and Slack.
- Block out times for breaks (walks, lunch, meditation).
You’ve probably heard many colleagues tell you how “busy” they are. You may even like the sound of that and wish you too were busy. I often say that being busy is a term, disorganised people use. If you own your day and your time, yes your day can be full and fulfilling but it doesn’t have to be busy.
“A busy calendar and a busy mind will destroy your ability to do great things in this world. If you want to be able to do great things, you need free time and you need a free mind.” @naval
Your To-Do Lists
Fact: Doing one thing well & to the end is better than doing 10 things half-arsed!
To-do lists work!
- Keep them simple.
- Start granular (daily) and progress to weekly or even monthly as you get better at setting and achieving your tasks.
- Schedule time before your day or week starts to put your lists together, otherwise, you are being reactive. Putting a task on your list and crossing it off after the fact doesn’t count!
- Backlog groom your lists — don’t keep tasks there for the sake of having tasks to do.
- Be ruthless when ranking your lists by importance!
I use Trello for my lists because it’s so easy and as a product nerd I love a functional kanban. I have 4 simple lanes: Pondering, Next Up, Today and Done
Concentration-span of a Flea
Productivity is not about time management, it’s about attention management.
- Be aware of distractions (not beware of distractions). Understanding what are the potential distractions in your day means you can attempt to control them.
- Acceptance is the first step. Just accept that distractions will happen and learn how best to manage them.
- Not all distractions are created equal. Again, identify the types of distractions to your day and understand how to prioritise which you let disrupt your flow and when.
- Take a break! Not many people can concentrate for hours on end and be productive. Take notice of your time limits. If you can concentrate for only 40 minutes at a time that’s fine. Get up, walk around, meditate, eat or whatever will help refresh your brain. You’ll be more productive if you take the break than if you force yourself to sit there longer than you can handle.
Fact: Email is someone else’s to-do list, not yours!
When I made the conscious decision to check emails only twice per day (10 am and 4 pm) I took charge of one of the biggest distractions we all face on an hourly basis.
Eat That Frog!
“…if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that this is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long.” Mark Twain
- That task that you just don’t want to do, the one you keep pushing off, is almost certainly the most important task on your list.
- If you’re ruthless you’ll notice that few key tasks will provide more value than the rest of your list combined.
What is blocking you from eating that juicy green frog? Do it!
