Questions of the day –

1. Are you looking for better health?
2. Do you wish you could find more serenity in life?
3. Have you thought you would like to learn more about investing?

These recurring questions feel like familiar companions! The real puzzle is identifying what hinders us from pursuing our aspirations. The culprit? Time! It’s easy to contemplate the advantages of going to the gym, yet transitioning into workout attire and breaking a sweat presents a separate challenge. This time constraint also impacts our quest for inner peace and financial growth. Remember, Rome wasn’t erected in a day – great achievements require time to develop to excellence!

Note: This blog liberally borrows ideas from the book “Become the Boss of You” and the companion workbook.

Sharpening your Tool of Time Management –

The secret sauce of time management is like a hidden talent we all have—it’s in our DNA! We effortlessly sprinkle the basics into our daily routines, weaving them into the fabric of our day. Mastering time wizardry starts with getting cozy with the concept of time itself. Once we grasp that our actions shape the world around us, we upgrade from time novices to time warriors. Managing time is all about leveling up our actions and, you guessed it, leveling up ourselves!

In our blog post “The Importance of Time Management,” we illustrated practical examples of utilizing tools from our book “Become the Boss of You.” We explored tools like the Pareto Principle to boost productivity and efficiency and shared simple life hacks to kickstart your journey. Emphasizing the distinction between living well and merely existing, we stressed the significance of effective time management.

We understand that time management can be a paradox. The very act of feeling overwhelmed with current tasks can often hinder our pursuit of learning to manage time efficiently. That’s why our blog post, ‘Finding Time to Find the Time,’ is here to address this struggle. We offer valuable insights and practical tips for those seeking to improve their time management skills.

What distinguishes productive individuals is their ability to achieve tasks or promptly deliver quality results. It’s their adeptness in self-management, often misconstrued as excellent time management. They grasp the essence of time’s constraints, adapting by organizing activities, prioritizing meaningful tasks, and seizing control of their lives. As a constant force, time necessitates adaptation; managing time is akin to managing one’s life.

Mastering the basics of time management is a journey that starts with a deep understanding of time itself. It’s not just about scheduling tasks or setting deadlines; it’s about comprehending the nature of time and how it influences our actions. As we progress in our time management skills, we realize that events unfold through our actions. This understanding is the key to enhancing our time management and, consequently, ourselves.

How We View Time

Any honest person will admit at some point, whether consciously or not, that they regret wasting the precious commodity of time. Time is a judge that separates true greatness from mere folly. So accurate is the phrase, “It has stood the test of time.” Time also possesses great power, steadily consuming all material things.

Some say time is the only resource evenly distributed to everyone, showing no favoritism. We all get 24 hours in a day, and the true challenge lies in allocating these hours to be productive, happy, healthy, or achieve any other life goals. Effectively utilizing our 24-hour day is a central theme running through this book because proper action is that important.

The proper pace and focus

Tasks require a proper pace and focus on being done correctly. However, these may vary among individuals based on skills and environments. Rushing or lacking focus rarely leads to success. Our unique skill levels, personalities, and attitudes influence how we structure our time and act. Providing the correct time and focus for an activity is essential to avoid rework.

Warning: No Bullshit Zone Ahead

Not paying attention to the proper pace and focusing on high-priority tasks is a huge mistake. We all know people who desperately try to catch up but remain exhausted. They work long hours, leading to inefficient actions and inevitable mistakes. These fatigued individuals find themselves trapped in a cycle of errors and rework. Rework is time spent that could be better used to improve our lives.

Rework is not the act of returning to a project to perfect it. That’s the continuous process of improvement. Rework is fixing mistakes, often due to a lack of focus, frequently stemming from exhaustion. Physical, mental, and emotional fatigue do not align with effective time management or a fulfilling life. As you read further, you’ll realize that avoiding rework is crucial and wastes the boss’s time.

Bandwidth and rework

Assigning an unrealistic workload to even the most competent person can render them incompetent. Overloading someone will often lead to time spent rectifying mistakes and redoing tasks correctly. When you have capable individuals in your life, allow them to work at a pace and focus that yields the best results, especially for high-priority items. In business, this is typically seen as efficiency, which, while necessary, differs from effectiveness. Ensure you keep yourself from overloading yourself to the point where you lose your bandwidth. The boss must have the time to be the boss. Therefore, we suggest you limit the number of projects you are working on simultaneously, especially high-priority endeavors.

Efficiency and Effectiveness

Efficiency involves doing things right naturally and with proper focus to minimize rework. Effectiveness, on the other hand, entails knowing what to do. Being efficient without being effective won’t lead to success in life. Efficiently doing the wrong things is hard work and may get you compliments, but it doesn’t equate to winning in life. The concepts of efficient and effective action will be recurring themes in this book.

Attitude about learning to control your time –

There are many tools that we can master to improve our ability to live optimally. Habit, a positive attitude, and open-mindedness are serious to start. Regarding time management, the attitude that “time is not free” is possibly the most critical.

Prioritizing Tasks

When it comes down to the daily work of life, we all do things. We all perform functions and have to organize them and do what is important. We often mention the Pareto Principle in Become the Bos of You, but what if you don’t know if something is a top priority? How can you sort that out?

If that truly is a stumbling block for you, I suggest you pick up a copy of the “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Steven Covey. That book has a good chapter that includes the use of the Eisenhower Matrix. Covey puts these tasks into quadrants and explains why we want to avoid some and focus on others in an easy-to-understand way.

The matrix works like this:

1. If it is urgent and important, roll up your sleeves and finish it as soon as possible. Using our terminology with the proper pace and focus it deserves.
2. If there is no sense of urgency, but the task is important, plan and schedule it so it gets done on time and with the proper pace and focus.
3. Tasks that seem urgent but are important can hopefully be delegated to others.
4. What if a task is neither urgent nor important? Well, let it die a natural death.

Use the technology that is at hand to get things done properly.

There are many distractions and downsides to our age of technology, but there is also a huge upside. Use it! Most people have more than one app on their phone to enhance time management that they may not even know about. Our calendar app, Google Calendar, and Outlook are examples of ways to schedule and avoid overcommitting. Some apps, such as Microsoft, combine these tasks in one app to make things even easier.

Goals

I am still working on my goal-setting book. It will be out soon, and it will be helpful. For now, know that defining your goals and setting time frames for completion is very important. There are a lot of nuances to goal setting that are very helpful but understand that humans are natural goal setters. Like all things in life, you use them or lose them. Set your goals and keep them in front of you.

Some other life hacks –

Here’s a nifty life tip: Have you ever heard of the Pomodoro Technique? It’s like a magic spell from Harvard that whispers, “Work for 25 minutes, then bam! Treat yourself to a 5-minute break.” Or, do what I do! For the first 6 hours of my day, I go for a full hour before my break and then add the coffee to the rendezvous. Because, let’s face it, coffee is life’s little high-five in a cup, am I right?

 

In conclusion, I hope this helped you out. Check out our book and the other blog articles. Also, don’t be shy to pay it forward by sharing the blog with others.

Peace, Ishall DoGood

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