Take time to save time—sounds weird, doesn’t it?
But if you master this, you will be in the driving seat of your time – and giving yourself the greatest chance of getting done what you need to each week. How good would that be?
This is part of our Get Back Your Time series of practical and time saving strategies to help you make the most of your 1440 minutes in your day.
So what do we mean by Take Time to Save Time?
Step 1
Set aside time each day—maybe only 5-10minutes to get clear about what you want to achieve and how you will go about it. Get into a habit of doing this at the same time.For us, we prefer to make this list up at the end of the day for the following day—then we know what we have planned for the next day. The best part about this approach is you clear your mind to enjoy the evening and then the next morning get straight into things when you feel fresh.
Step 2
Write down your Action List and categorise these tasks into A, B and C in importance. Choose say 3-5 important tasksfor the day. We don’t suggest any more than this because then you’ll just start to feel overwhelmed simply by looking at your list!
Step 3
This is the vital action here…schedule these in your diary! And a key tool to help you with this is your phone, diary or appointment device or book. Get one where you can see a week-at-a-glance and use it daily. We recommend this type because you can quickly see what you have coming up in your calendar. Write everything that you need to accomplish in this device or book, plus your appointments. Don’t make your brain your e-planner or diary—it’s not a productive use of space for starters!It also allows you to clear your mind.
(Check the Pink Shoe Power book or your Profiler results for more on using a calendar to suit your Time Management Style.)
If you aren’t able to get one of these tasks done,schedule it for the next day. Don’t beat yourself up about it, because there is every chance it wasn’t your fault.
Step 4
Review your achievements and acknowledge what you have completed. Don’t beat yourself up over what didn’t get done—it’s too late then. Instead, look at what part of your Time Management Style hinders you from completing the important things and make a small step to ensure it gets done first the next day.
So in summary, the core time management steps you need to take are: 1) set aside time each day to get clear about what you want to achieve (we prefer the end of the working day to do this, but it’s your time so decide what works best for you), 2) write down your tasks –3-5 things you need to get done, 3) schedule these in a phone or diary or scheduler that allows you to see your week at a glance. 4) And very importantly,acknowledge what you achieve!
***** Making the most of your time is about making new habits that work for you. To get new habits ingrained, be very regular about them daily until they are just part of what you do!
*** Oh, and don’t forget to tell us about your successes—or challenges!
