Why would I talk about Time Management? I’m a psychologist right! But like so many women  I needed to learn this skill too.

I went in search of many YouTube videos, free courses, planners (diaries) etc. The list went on & on & on. The one thing I realized was, that no one size fits all.

But one thing became very clear, I needed to tailor my time management system to suit me, my lifestyle and my business.

Let me be honest, I may be at a different time in my life to some of you, my children are now all adults.  I don’t have the constraints of fitting my business around my children anymore. But for a long time, I did just that.

I worked when they went to school, I worked after they went to bed at night. I was lucky I could be flexible most days. So for me, it wasn’t so much a time management schedule I had, but what I know understand to be time blocking.

I would focus on one thing at a time during that time block, when the kids were at the school for instance, and get at least one task off my To Do list. Yes, it didn’t always go to plan. But more often than not I got what I needed to be done in the timeframe needed.

I’ve now incorporated a Not To Do List which helps me remember to hand things back that are not my responsibility. That took a long time for me to implement but I finally did it. I do have a free resource you can access here to help you do the same.

Why would you need a planning system?

Well to me, and you, the first reason might seem obvious, you have a life outside of business and other stuff you needed to get done too. Some of which you may dislide doing, I know there are things I dislike doing I use a power hour for stuff I dislike. But you need to stay focused on tasks to keep your life and business/job working properly.

We can all be very guilty of going down the rabbit hole on days we don’t have planned out better. Distractions from social media, TV shows and books, all of which I’d much rather be reading, instead of getting tasks completed are all too common. You also want to have balance in your life. You want time off for you, your self-care (first thing I schedule each week) your parnter, your children, maybe you have grandchildren, family, friends, plus hobbies, etc, not just work!

But where do you start?

You need to take into consideration some key points and questions before you set up any time management system suitable for your lifestyle.

You need a calendar or planner, online or paper (That will be a personal choice).

It doesn’t matter which, but get one! You need one especially if you have children anyway. I always kept a calendar by the phone plus a planner in which I recorded what needed to be done for my children first and then business/volunteer work. It kept me on schedule and up to date in getting things I needed to be done.

Ask yourself these questions:

1. In what way does my business/career impact my life now?“
2. What way do I want it to impact my life?“

Could those two questions be at odds with your life’s goals and your business/career goals?

1. What stage am I at in my life right now?

A woman with children is going to have different needs and time constraints than one who doesn’t. Think about what you really want in life but I would suggest you look at it from the basis of life/work, not work/life.

1. What is the hardest thing about prioritizing in your day or week? Be honest with yourself.

If you have a business.

1. What is your overall brand or mission statement about?
2. Are you staying on track with this right now?
3. Will your time management system keep you on track with this?
4. Does my business goals for this year fit in with my mission/brand statement?
5. How can I break these down into quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily goals/priorities?
6. What phase is your business in right now? e.g growth stage, brand awareness, etc. So what do you need to be focused on in that phase right now?
7. What are you struggling with in business right now?

Check you actual time allocation on projects/to do list tasks.  

These are things on your to do list, use time tracking for a week or so to record what you’re actually spending time on. Get real about where you’re spending your time, i.e. as you sit down to write a blog post are you getting distracted by social media from your phone? You need to block out other distractions while focusing on one task at a time. ( you can use Toggl, Hours, apps to check this or just record you start and finish time for each task).

Pick one method below that suits you and try it for a few months.

You’ll be better able to work out what suits you best and what to tweak after that. Remember this may be a learning curve for you so it may take longer to implement or get the right system working.

Remember our goal with getting an efficient time management system in place is to reduce our stress levels, our anxiety levels and get what is our responsibility done (not others responsibilities done). Not add to our ever growing to do lists.

Which of these 3 Time Management systems will work for you?

Time Batching

 You might pick this one because you need you to be flexible in your planning. This also means you have to allow enough time to complete the project and a bit over.

You have thought about what stage you are at in your life and you need to be more flexible with your time. This can be especially true if your children are younger, so rigid time scales won’t work for you.  You need to allocate similar tasks to time blocks or time batches i.e. Appointments 10 till 12, paperwork 12 till 1, lunch – you get it the idea.But please know this won’t work when you have small kids at home all day.  

You decide which tasks are your top 3 priorities that you will complete that day and focus on getting them done. You can also use a power hour in which you take one hour to get smaller regualr items off your to do list that you dislike but need to be done i.e. accounts updated.

This method also looks very similar to Pomodoro which I talk about next but usually, you use this method when you have shorter time available to get stuff done.

Pomodoro method

You need to think about what type of personality you have. Does strict rigid planning even work for you or your lifestyle?

Sometimes we need to use something like the Pomodoro method instead. Pomodoro works basically like this: you focus on something for 25 minutes, then take a 5-minute break, then work again for 25 minutes. After 2 hours (including the breaks) you take a 30-minute break.

This method does allow you to be more focused on what you’re doing as you allocate your time to getting one specific task done e.g answer emails in 25 minutes. You will often find that students use this method to study also.

It’s a good method to use as your brain can only focus for so long anyway before it needs a break. Plus it’s a great brain training method if you need to learn how to stay focused and be more clear in getting your business brand out there to clients.

Task scheduling method

This is a method you are probably most familiar with. This one starts with setting goals for the year, then the quarter, moving on to the month, week, and day.

Your aim here is like the “eating the elephant” scenario, one bite-size chunk at a time. If you do a lot of project work you will be most familiar with this method too.

It’s where something similar to Trello can come in handy as well. With this method, you can prioritize what’s important each quarter to your life and career/business and break it down into daily To Dos.

I would recommend making that no more than 3 main tasks to be completed daily. It can also, like the other methods, show you how quickly progress can be made on your workload.

What else do you need to consider?

1. If you decide to rejig your working methods and implement a stronger time management system, then I suggest getting someone on board with you. A buddy system works well for accountability. This could be a friend or family member, a mentor with a similar interest as you or/and is at a similar life stage as you. They’ll understand better if you don’t get something done when the baby keeps you up all night if they have a small child too. 
2. With all of the above in mind, you also want to be perceived as efficient, consistent and effective at what you do. Proper time management will allow you time for this and more importantly, allow you to have a life outside of work. It allows you to see you day physically laid out with all the business/career goals for that year, quarter, month, week and day outlined. It keeps your business/job on track and professional. If you have a business remember this is a business, not a hobby! So treat it like that and others will also take you seriously.
3. Speaking of taking yourself and your business more seriously. You need to believe in you. Doing visualizations and affirmations are brilliant for this. A great affirmation I heard from Denise Duffield Thomas “It’s my time and I’m ready for the next step” this could be in your business or life, you choose.

Summary (For those of you who need to skipped ahead)

1. Review your lifesytle and if you have business then it too. Use the questions above or join my free group for further training.
2. Get a mission statement and goals for the year, you don’t have to have a business to have a mission statement. Maybe create a family mission statement from which you set your goals.
3. Get a planner(diary) paper or online which ever suits you.
4. Pick a method of time management that suits you, your lifestyle and your business/career. Time management is a system, a tool for your business/career and lifestyle. So how can it best serve you and your life?
5. Work out your goals and break down into bite size pieces -year, quarter, month, week, day. Make sure the daily ones are small enough for you to do in the time allocated. If you have a business then make sure these goals fit with your brand and mission statement. (So make sure the method you choose ties in with your business goals/needs. Don’t be afraid to keep changing it up and trying until you find one that suits you)
6. Get a buddy to help you -do it together for accountability not comparison. Choose wisely they have to be positive and on your side at all times, but are also willing to be honest with you when they see you are slacking off.
7. Get a support system in place. If you have a business this also includes a mentor.
8. Most importantly remember this about your life not just your business/career. Have balance in all you do, at the end of the day your children, partner, family, and friends are more important so make scheduling self-care and time off each week your first priority.

If you want more information about time management, goal setting and self-care, plus loads more topics then check out my book The Building Blocks Of Self-Care. 

Work With Me.

Remember you are allowed to ask for support. No one is an island. If you need extra support then you can also work with me. We all struggle with stress and overwhelm from time to time. If you find this has become a problem for you and you’d like some support then schedule an appointment with me.