These 8 Things Are Wasting Your Valuable Time Everyday
A Formula to Stop You from Overcommitting Your Time
When I dive into time coaching clients’ schedules, I consistently discover that people misdiagnose themselves as having a “productivity” problem when, in fact, their bigger issue is an overcommitment problem. When they have committed to more external projects and personal goals and obligations than they have hours for in the day, they feel the massive weight of time debt. One of my coaching clients suffered from a huge amount of false guilt until he realized he had the unrealistic expectation that he could fit 160 hours of tasks into a 40-hour workweek. Effective time investment begins with accepting the reality that time is a finite resource. The single most important factor in feeling like a time investment success or failure is whether or not your expectations of what you will accomplish align with how much time you have to invest. Time investment success (External expectations) + (Internal expectations) ≤ 24 hours — (Self-care) Time debt stress Here’s an example of this breakdown:
If You Don't Have Time, It's Because You're Afraid
Source: PicJumbo. One of the most common excuses for not improving a habit is arguing, “I don’t have time”. This is a lie. You do have time. But you say you don’t because you’re afraid. Afraid to ship your art, say, “This might not work”, press publish, strength-train, make time for yourself, etc. If you weren’t, you would find time. Saying “I don’t have time” translates to, “I’m busy” and, “I have a lot on at the moment”. But are you working hard on the right things? If not, it’s because you haven’t asked yourself The Focusing Question, found your ONE Habit and distinguished the vital few from the trivial many. Finding time isn’t that dissimilar to overcoming your fear: you make what your putting off a priority, you make it a must. Here are a few examples of how you can do that. How to Prioritise Track Your Time: You do have time. Checking Facebook. Use time tracking software like Toggl or Timely and learn how you really spend your time. Start by saying no to ONE activity or effort.
How a Themed Schedule Can Help You Stay on Task
I’m a writer, a productivity coach and a speaker. Since I work from home, I have work-related activities that may carry over into my home life if I’m not careful. I’m also a stay-at-home parent who has responsibilities during the week that can bleed over into my work life … if I’m not careful. So what keeps me on the right tasks at the right times more often than not? It wasn’t something that happened overnight. It took discipline — discipline that was forged over a period of time in large part because of a framework I put in place that fostered it and allowed it to flourish. The framework I built revolves around assigning themes to periods of time. A theme is defined as “a unifying or dominant idea.” Here are my themes, listed by day: Monday The focus on Monday is on the creative aspects of my business, Productivityist. Tuesday Every Tuesday is a Daddy Duty Day. Wednesday Like Tuesday, Wednesday is also a Daddy Duty Day. Thursday Friday Friday is generally Meeting Day. Saturday Sunday
Measure Your Time
“You can’t change what you don’t measure.” I’ve read this quote, or something very similar to it, in all kinds of contexts—running, professional, budgeting, eating, etc. This post will look at the statement in the context of time management. In What Would You Do If You Had More Time, I wrote “The first step in optimizing your time is to find out where all your time goes… Keep a time log for at least a week… Success in any endeavor always begins with assessment of where you are right now… Discover your time leaks, your time stealers, to get rid of them.” You can download a printable or a digital (Excel) time log from Laura Vanderkam’s website (author of 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think). Since I am on the computer most of the day anyway, the Excel version was best for me. When I started tracking my time, I was looking for ways to streamline my morning routine. You’ll note that in the category “Personal Care” I include making my bed. And so the process goes. Like this:
Time Assets vs. Time Debts: A Different Way of Thinking About Productivity
Late in his career, Steve Jobs famously drove his car without a license plate. There were all sorts of theories about why Jobs decided to drive without tags. Some people said he didn’t want to be tracked. According to Callas, Steve Jobs discovered a loophole in the California vehicle registration laws. Once he realized this, Jobs arranged a special leasing agreement with his Mercedes dealer so that every six months he would drop off his current car and receive a new Mercedes SL55 AMG to replace it. After hearing the story, many people responded by saying something like, “I guess that’s what you do when you have a lot of money.” Time Assets vs. Most productivity strategies focus on short-term efficiency: how to manage your to-do list effectively, how to get more done each morning, how to shorten your weekly meetings, and so on. We often fail to realize, however, that there are certain strategic choices that impact our time on a larger scale. Time Assets in Real Life Assets Speaking. Debts
3 Time Management Tips That Will Improve Your Health and Productivity
Time management can be tough. What is urgent in your life and what is important to your life are often very different things. This is especially true with your health, where the important issues almost never seem urgent even though your life ultimately hangs in the balance. No, going to the gym today isn’t urgent, but it is important for your long–term health.No, you won’t die from stress today, but if you don’t get it figured out soon, you might.No, eating real, unprocessed foods isn’t required for you to stay alive right now, but will reduce your risk of cancer and disease. Is there anything we can do? If we all have 24 hours in a day, how do we actually use them more effectively? And most importantly, how can we manage our time to live healthier and happier, do the things that we know are important, and still handle the responsibilities that are urgent? 1. I call this division of your time and energy “half–work.” Here are some examples of half–work… 2. 3.
