Time management is essential to a happy, healthy life. Why is that? Because time management is a misnomer: it’s really life management, which boils down to managing yourself. Rather than worrying specifically about time itself, focus on managing yourself within the boundaries of time and you will be more productive than you have been in the past.
The following insights are gleaned not only from my own experience, but also from my interviews with over 20 authors, speakers, coaches, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, success experts, and otherwise noteworthy people from around the world.
Quick Tips
Let’s start with a series of quick tips. I’ll often share many of these tips near the beginning of my keynote presentation to get the audience in the mode of time management:
- Plan each out day out in advance. Studies show that those who spend 5-10 minutes in planning save up to several hours of time in execution.
- Learn to focus on one thing at a time. The majority of people are constantly multi-tasking, but they rarely single-mindedly focus on the task at hand. This isn’t to say you can’t do multiple things, or even many things, in a given day. It is just to say to be present to the specific task at hand.
- Focus on the most important things first. Obvious, but easier said than done. The tendency to is to focus on tasks of lesser importance. It’s essential to knock out the toughest task first thing in the morning, or the first chance you get.
- Reduce the amount of times you check email. Checking email is perfectly alright and it’s important to get back to people in a timely fashion, just do so at set times during the day.
- Think on paper. When you have thoughts or to-dos come to mind, think on paper. Write it down. Put it in Evernote. Then get back to the task at hand. Research shows that when you write something down, it immediately becomes less urgent. This is become it is no longer stored in your short-term memory; it is now written down to be returned to later.
Insights Gleaned from the Experts
Here are some of the best tips I’ve picked up from my experience and application of these tips as well as from my conversations with some of the world’s experts in time management and productivity.
- John Lee Dumas says to put all of your daily activities in your calendar (that would most likely mean your phone calendar). “If it’s not in the calendar, it doesn’t exist,” John says. This includes activities like meditation and even downtime.
- Prioritize what matters first. Time management doesn’t mean stay busy all day and avoid your family. It means put the most important things at the top of your list. If you have to be 10 minutes late to work because you are on the phone with your brother/sister, then so be it.
- Learn to say no. Not being able to say no leads to anxiety. I’m not great at saying no to people, but I’m improving at it. So can you.
- Think past today and develop a long time perspective. Do something today that your future self will thank you for. You can still enjoy today and reward yourself without going overboard or being impulsive.
- Temporarily imbalance your time. This is a tip I picked up from reading the books of Rory Vaden and Gary Keller. Rather than worry about always being in balance, focus in on getting that one huge task completed. Then watch all of the balance, happiness, and peace flow from the completion of that activity. My focus is to complete my 2nd book! What’s yours?
These tips, insights, and suggestions are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to time management, but hopefully they will get you pointed in the right direction.
Jeff Davis is an internationally-renowned speaker on productivity and time management. For more information please check out his website or give his team a call at (800) 315-4832. Stay tuned for updates about his second book!
